Zikar is best understood through its performance.
In singing and chanting one purifies one's being, even one's mind.
Then one develops into a Zakir, who is the embodiment of Zikar,
and the vehicle of the Message of God.
The Zakir is the mureed perfected in Zikar.

The moral of Zikar is humility and in its performance the ego
is absorbed like the shadow when light is turned on it.
Zikar is important for those needing power and inspiration,
while meditation is for those desiring calm and peace.
Each are necessary for those who seek God in all forms,
and each is only of value when practised;
then each fulfill its purpose better than any explanation can give it.
             Hazrat Inayat Khan, Original Texts 1923-1, p. 278.