05 / 07
I serve large jugs at the winehouse
My litanies are a drink infused with ambergris
So my son, recite my litanies constantly,
Or it will be said of you: a false follower
Some of the shuyūkh of tasawwuf have said, “the Path is a war with no ceasefire”. As such the awrād are the weapon of the seeker against his enemies of the nafs, shayṭan, baseless passions and the dunyā.
Every shaykh’s awrād have the keys of their ṭarīqa embedded in them, and through persisting in their recitation the murīd obtains the goal of the path.
As our master Shaykh Abu l-Hasan al-Shadhili has said,
Whosoever recites our litanies shall have what we have.
Also Our master Shaykh ʿAbd al-Ghani al-Jaʿfari said,
Only the awrād of the shaykh will reform the nafs of the murīd, not other than it, in them is the support and secret…
Also our master and shaykh of Tariqa, Shaykh Salih al-Jaʿfari said:
Know that for every shaykh of tariqa are remedies in his awrād for his children (students), who are traversing his path, and in them are vitamins that strengthen and nourish and in them is a healing balm, and in them is that which guides the soul and strengthens the spirit. Whoever wants arrival, know, there is no arrival for him except by the awrād of his shaykh. It is his way and door of his arrival and it is his relief and bounty.
The secret of this support and spiritual upbringing is that the awrād are not from the shaykhs themselves, rather they are inspirations from the Divine presence and/or the presence and instruction of the Messenger of Allāh (ﷺ). As Shaykh Salih al-Jaʿfari said in his famous poem, The Provision for the Path,
The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) brought me the litany as a gift, in sleep sometimes and in the waking state.
Also Shaykh ʿAbd al-Ghani al-Jaʿfari mentioned concerning his father’s awrād,
These litanies, which came by Divine inspiration and meetings in the Muhammadan presence in the planes and moments of spiritual manifestations, were found arranged in his (shaykh Salih’s) noble handwriting in his notebooks and journals as such:
“Allah inspired me with this on such and such day” or “I received inspiration on such and such day” or “at such and such maqām” or “at such and such noble resting place” or ” at the maqāms of Ahl al-Bayt”.
And these are, in our estimation, ecstatic, spiritual communions and special Jaʿfari gifts of our shaykh, May he enjoy Allah’s good pleasure, so whoever wants to be with his shaykh, in his states and thoughts, it’s incumbent upon him to stick to his awrād as it is the provision for his travel and his riding mount for crossing to the barzakh, and it is the honey of witnessing the Jaʿfari presence.
The benefits of the awrād are unlocked only by the idhn (permission) in them. With that being said, attached below are the daily hizbs of shaykh Salih, to give both prospective students as well as others just interested in the spiritual practice of the shaykh an idea of what is expected in his ṭarīqa. There is a different hizb* for each day of the week of similar length, again to give one an idea of what the path entails.
Complete Arabic
Awrad wa Salawat al-Ja’fariyya (Arabic book)
Footnotes
- [*] hizb pl. ahzāb also wird pl. awrād (collection of supplications (duʿāʼ) and/or repetitions (dhikr)).