In our gatherings I see people doing silent dhikr, remembering Allah quietly in the heart without moving the tongue. Where is the proof for this dhikr-e-khafi? I worry it might be a made-up practice.

You have seen sincere hearts remembering Allah quietly, the tongue at rest, and you want to know whether such a thing has roots. It does, and they run into the Book of Allah itself.

Listen to how our Lord teaches us to remember Him.

“And remember your Lord within yourself, in humility and awe, below the loudness of speech.”

Qur’an, Al-A’raf 7:205 · meaning

Note the two conditions, brother: within yourself, and below the loudness of speech. Silent, inward remembrance is not something anyone invented; it is the posture the verse itself describes. The Naqshbandi practice of dhikr-e-khafi, the hidden remembrance, rests on these words and asks for nothing beyond them.

And why should the heart’s quiet whisper reach Him? Because He knows what is never spoken.

“And We have certainly created man, and We know what his soul whispers to him, and We are nearer to him than his jugular vein.”

Qur’an, Qaf 50:16 · meaning

He does not speak here of the raised voice at all. He speaks of the whisper of the soul, the thing that never reaches the lips. The One who is nearer to you than your own jugular vein does not need your voice lifted in order to hear you; a name breathed silently in the heart arrives before Him complete. The truest longings a person carries are often the ones never said aloud, and in the same way the heart’s silent dhikr can be the most honest speech of all.

So set the worry down. What you witnessed in those gatherings is not an invention but an obedience, the heart doing what its Lord invited it to do, without display.

One small step: Tonight, before you sleep, close your eyes and say the name of Allah silently in your heart eleven times, letting the tongue rest and the heart speak.