DHIKR (Arab., "remembrance, mention") is an important Islamic concept and practice best known in the West as a form of Ṣūfī ritual. Because it signifies a kind of prayer, the term dhikr is usually translated as invocation, since it involves the repetition of a name or names of God, often within a set phrase such as "Praise belongs to God." The sources frequently discuss it in conjunction with supplication (duʿaʾ, "calling [upon God]"), which normally adds a request to the mention of a name or names; supplication may take the form of a personal prayer in any language, while dhikr employs Arabic names drawn from the Qurʾān. Both are fundamentally voluntary and in any case need to be distinguished from the daily prayer (salāt), which is incumbent upon all the faithful.

Studies of dhikr in Western languages usually emphasize the bodily movements and the techniques...