The Timing of the Awrād
Counsel of al-Sayyid al-Shaykh Muḥammad Ṣāliḥ b. ʿAbd al-Ghanī b. Ṣāliḥ al-Jaʿfarī (ḥafiẓahu Allāh)
Shaykh of the Jaʿfariyya Aḥmadiyya Muḥammadiyya Ṭarīqa in Egypt and the Islamic world
When should the murīd complete his awrād? What happens when work, travel, family responsibilities or unforeseen circumstances prevent him from reciting them at their usual time? And should a missed wird simply be abandoned? In his practical counsel on the subject, al-Sayyid al-Shaykh Muḥammad Ṣāliḥ al-Jaʿfarī (ḥafiẓahu Allāh) explains the timing of the awrād and the balance between maintaining their prescribed order and recognising genuine circumstances that make this difficult. Readers can consult his original counsel in The Timing of the Awrād (PDF).
The principle is one of both discipline and ease.
The murīd should honour the appointed time of his wird and strive to maintain it consistently. But when genuine circumstances intervene, the door of remembrance is not closed.
The Awrād Have Their Times
The awrād of the spiritual path are not intended to be recited randomly whenever a person happens to remember them.
They have an order.
And they have their appropriate times.
As discussed elsewhere in the teachings of Sayyidī Shaykh Ṣāliḥ al-Jaʿfarī (raḍiya Allāhu ʿanhu) and Sayyidī Shaykh ʿAbd al-Ghanī al-Jaʿfarī (raḍiya Allāhu ʿanhu), there is wisdom in the particular adhkār prescribed to the murīd: in their words, their number, their method and their timing.
The murīd therefore seeks to preserve that order.
This itself is part of spiritual training.
When the wird has an established place within the day, remembrance ceases to depend entirely upon mood or convenience.
The seeker knows:
this is my time with Allah.
The Morning Wird
The morning awrād naturally belong to the beginning of the day.
There is a particular beauty in beginning the day with remembrance of Allah before becoming absorbed in the concerns of the world.
Before work. Before business. Before the demands of other people. Before the mind becomes scattered across the responsibilities of the day.
The servant turns towards his Lord.
This establishes an orientation for everything that follows.
The tongue begins with dhikr.
The heart begins with Allah.
And the day begins beneath the influence of remembrance rather than heedlessness.
The Evening Wird
Likewise, the evening awrād have their place.
As the activity of the day begins to settle, the seeker returns consciously to Allah.
Whatever occurred during the day — ease or difficulty, success or disappointment, distraction or presence — the wird gathers the servant once again.
There is great wisdom in this rhythm.
Morning remembrance opens the day.
Evening remembrance gathers it.
Between the two, the murīd lives his responsibilities while remaining connected to the spiritual discipline entrusted to him.
The awrād thus begin to give shape to time itself.
What If You Cannot Complete the Wird at Its Normal Time?
Life does not always unfold according to our plans.
A person may be working.
He may be travelling.
He may have family responsibilities.
An unexpected situation may arise.
He may simply find himself genuinely unable to complete the wird within its usual period.
What should he do?
The counsel of Sayyidī Shaykh Muḥammad Ṣāliḥ al-Jaʿfarī (ḥafiẓahu Allāh) provides important ease here.
The murīd should strive to perform his awrād at their appropriate times, but if circumstances prevent him from doing so, he should not abandon them altogether.
He completes them when he is able.
This distinction is important.
There is a difference between deliberately treating the wird casually and being prevented by genuine circumstances.
The first weakens discipline.
The second is part of ordinary human life.
The path recognises that difference.
Do Not Allow a Delay to Become Abandonment
One of the dangers for the seeker is the thought:
“I missed its proper time, so there is no point doing it now.”
That thought can turn a delay into abandonment.
A person misses the morning wird once.
Then he leaves it altogether.
He misses another portion.
Then gradually the regularity of the awrād begins to disappear.
The better response is to return.
If you were prevented, complete what you can when you can.
Then return to the normal order.
The important thing is not to allow an interruption to become a separation.
This is one of the meanings of steadfastness.
The seeker falls behind, then returns.
He becomes distracted, then returns.
Circumstances interrupt him, then he returns.
Again and again, he returns to the remembrance of Allah.
The Wird Trains the Seeker to Become Consistent
This reveals one of the deeper purposes behind prescribed times.
Allah Most High has no need of our schedules.
The discipline is for us.
Human beings are easily distracted.
If remembrance is left entirely to the feeling of the moment, the nafs will continually find another priority.
- “I will do it later.”
- “I am tired.”
- “I have work.”
- “I need to check something first.”
- “I will start tomorrow.”
The prescribed wird interrupts this pattern.
It creates a regular appointment with remembrance.
The seeker learns that just as there are times in his day that belong to work, food, sleep and family, there must be time that he consciously preserves for Allah.
Consistency Is More Important Than Enthusiasm
A person may begin the path with great enthusiasm.
He wants to recite everything.
He wants long periods of dhikr.
He wants to complete many voluntary practices.
But enthusiasm naturally rises and falls.
The spiritual path cannot therefore be built upon enthusiasm alone.
It requires istiqāma — steadfastness.
Our Master, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, taught that the most beloved deeds to Allah are those that are most consistent, even if they are few.
This Prophetic principle illuminates the wisdom of the daily wird.
The murīd is not being trained merely to have occasional moments of intense devotion.
He is being trained to remember Allah every day.
When energetic, he remembers Allah.
When tired, he remembers Allah.
When spiritually uplifted, he remembers Allah.
When the sweetness is less apparent, he continues to remember Allah.
It is this constancy that gradually forms the seeker.
Discipline Without Unnecessary Hardship
There is a balance here that must be understood.
The existence of a prescribed time does not mean that the seeker should make the religion unbearably difficult for himself.
Nor does the existence of allowances mean that the prescribed time has no significance.
Both extremes miss the wisdom.
The murīd strives to maintain the proper time because discipline matters.
When genuinely prevented, he makes use of the ease available to him because the path is not intended to break him.
Then, when circumstances return to normal, so does his routine.
This is disciplined flexibility rather than carelessness.
Work, Family and the Wird
This counsel also connects naturally with the wider teachings of Sayyidī Shaykh Muḥammad Ṣāliḥ al-Jaʿfarī (ḥafiẓahu Allāh) concerning the responsibilities of the murīd.
The seeker does not live outside the world:
- He may be a student.
- He may have employment.
- He may be responsible for children or elderly parents.
- He may have responsibilities towards his spouse, family and community.
The spiritual path does not teach him to neglect these trusts.
Rather, it teaches him to establish the remembrance of Allah within a life of responsibility.
This is why understanding the timing of the awrād practically matters.
The objective is not to create a spiritual life that can only function when nothing else demands our attention.
The objective is to become a person who remembers Allah while faithfully fulfilling the responsibilities Allah has placed before him.
Protect the Time of Your Wird
Where possible, the murīd should therefore protect the time he has established for his awrād.
If the morning wird takes a particular amount of time, account for it.
If the evening wird requires quiet, create that quiet where possible.
Put the phone aside.
Move away from unnecessary distractions.
Do not begin scrolling through messages and then complain that there was no time for dhikr.
The modern world is remarkably effective at consuming small portions of time.
Five minutes here. Ten minutes there. Another twenty minutes without noticing.
The seeker should learn to protect some of those minutes.
Not every empty moment needs to be surrendered to a screen.
Some moments should belong to remembrance.
Do Not Rush Through the Wird Merely to Finish
Protecting the timing of the awrād also helps protect their quality.
When the seeker continually postpones his wird until the last possible moment, he may find himself rushing simply to finish.
The tongue moves while the mind is elsewhere.
The numbers are completed, but attention has been scattered.
The murīd should strive for something better.
The purpose is not merely to reach the final bead of the subḥa. It is to remember Allah.
This does not mean that perfect concentration is a prerequisite for dhikr. If that were the case, many of us would scarcely begin.
Rather, it means that the seeker continually works towards greater presence.
He gathers himself.
He recites.
When distracted, he returns.
When the mind wanders, he returns.
Just as he returns to the wird after missing its time, he returns inwardly whenever his attention wanders.
The path is full of returning.
The Wird Gives Structure to the Day
When maintained over time, the morning and evening awrād become more than items upon a spiritual checklist.
They become pillars within the day.
The seeker wakes and remembers Allah.
He enters the affairs of the world.
Then he returns and remembers Allah.
Day after day, this rhythm repeats.
And gradually the distinction between “the time of dhikr” and the rest of life begins to soften.
The formal wird teaches the tongue remembrance so that remembrance can accompany the servant beyond the wird.
The prescribed time trains the heart so that Allah is not forgotten outside that time.
This is among the fruits of consistency.
Always Return
Perhaps the most reassuring lesson in this counsel is that spiritual discipline does not require the seeker to pretend that his circumstances will always be perfect.
They will not.
- There will be difficult mornings.
- There will be busy evenings.
- There will be journeys.
- There will be responsibilities.
- There will be days when the routine is disturbed.
The question is what the murīd does next.
He does not use one disruption as permission to abandon the path.
He returns.
This is the difference between a temporary interruption and a broken habit.
Protect the prescribed times where you can.
When circumstances genuinely prevent you, make up what you have missed when you are able.
Then return to your normal rhythm.
Do not make the path unnecessarily difficult.
But do not make your relationship with the wird unnecessarily casual either.
Give the awrād their time. Give your responsibilities their rights. And when circumstances interrupt you, return to the remembrance of Allah.
The goal is not simply to complete today’s wird.
It is to become, through days and years of steadfast remembrance, one of those whose hearts remain attached to Allah.
May Allah Most High grant us steadfastness in His remembrance, sincerity in our worship, blessing in our time, and the tawfīq to remain constant upon that which draws us nearer to Him.
Terminology
Wird (pl. awrād) — a regular portion of remembrance, ṣalawāt and supplications undertaken consistently by the seeker.
Dhikr (pl. adhkār) — remembrance of Allah through prescribed words, invocations and other forms of devotion.
Murīd — a seeker or disciple undertaking spiritual training under the guidance of a Shaykh.
Istiqāma — steadfastness and constancy upon the path of obedience to Allah.
Nafs — the self or soul; in the context of spiritual training, particularly the aspect of the self that must be disciplined and purified.
Tawfīq — divine enablement and success granted by Allah.