[Carfanate]

This is a summary I wrote:

As in most contentious issues the position of the Deobandi Akabir fall in between the excesses of the extreme Sufis (e.g. Barelwis), who tend to grant blanket legitimisation and exaggeration to every concept, and the literalists (e.g. Salafis), who dismiss anything and everything that is beyond their chaotically varying intellects.

Zikr Khafi (Silent Zikr) is Afdhal (most superior) by Ijma’, except where specifically prescribed by the Sunnah (such as the group Takbir during Eid ul-adha).

Zikr Jahr Mufreet (Loud Zikr with excessive loudness) is impermissible in all situations, by Ijma’

Zikr Jahr (Loud Zikr without excessive loudness) is permissible for individual ibadah, as long as no one else is disturbed, and as long it is not against the laws of the Shariah (e.g. Loud tilawat of the Qur’an is permissible whereas reading the Zuhr Salat loudly would not be).

Zikr Jahr practices involving chanting in unison, which have no precedent in the Sunnah, and which are likely to be mistaken for Sunnah Ibadah by the participant or the uneducated passer-by, is Bid’ah.

Zikr Jahr practices employed in the privacy of the Khanqah, (such as chanting in unison) which have no precedent in the Sunnah, are permissible as specific medicinal prescriptions to aid the mureed temporarily in combating spiritually harmful maladies such as concentration deficiency, laziness etc. They are akin to repeated recitations of trilateral words and guttural noises, exercises of the tongue, and other actions not found in the Sunnah, employed by the experts of Tajweed, to aid their students gain proficiency in reading the Qur’an correctly. Zikr Jahr practices are also permissible for teaching a group of people. These actions become Bid’ah when the participants of such exercises view them as Sunnah Ibadah.