The level of the dhikr changes according to the one who is doing the dhikr. Some people recite the name of Allah because they are blessed with the gift of Islam. Some recite His name because of the tradition and the community. And some recite His name because of their gratitude for their dhikr; such that their heart breaks into pieces, their tongue gets tied, their mind turns upside down. They are totally bewildered before His magnificence, they are in awe with His muhabbat. They know that everything exists through Him.
Dhikr has two kinds; the dhikr which awakens fear and terror, and the dhikr which awakens passion and muhabbat in the reciter. The dhikr which awakens fear and terror is the dhikr of the one who recites Allah in his own essence. He knows that the reason he is reciting His name is because Allah is reciting him. And he knows that he will be able to recite Him, only through reciting Him again.
The other dhikr is the dhikr of the one whom Allah has recited in the eternity where no beings, not even the world exists. Upon this, that person understands that Allah recites him since before time and until after time.
In spite of this, the desires of his nafs has muddled his dhikr and mixed in things which give him ignorance. There is a great difference between the person who reaches the presence of al-Haqq through having comprehended the dhikrullah and the person who reaches the presence of al-Haqq through having comprehended His blessings and his gifts. Know that the servant’s remembrance of Allah is only possible through Allah remembering His qull. Just like the dust under the raindrops…