Question:
What is the best time and method of doing the Naqshband Awrad?
Answer:
When my brother Shaykh Adnan and I were young, Grandshaykh told us to do our awrad between `Asr and Maghrib, Maghrib and `Isha’ and early morning until ishraq, from half-an-hour or one-hour before Fajr until ishraq, and he said “make a seclusion.” He told us to cover ourselves with a bed sheet.
When you cover yourself you know you are in limitation; this is your dunya grave. You cannot come out before you finish your awrad. We cover as if secluding, disconnecting ourselves from normal life, within that square or rectangle. You cannot move right or left while you are doing your awrad. So the connection to your shaykh when you are doing your awrad, he will take you to the Presence of Prophet (s), and from the Presence of Prophet (s), he takes you to the Presence of Allah (swt).
You sit inside the blanket. If it is hot, use a sheet, because shaytan tells you, “You are hot, take it off.” In any worship he comes to tell you a way to stop it.
I used to do it in a loud voice – you can do it in a loud voice or khafi, silently, but when you do it loud you are able to stop the gossips from coming in, because you are meditating on what you are reciting. By covering yourself it is as if you are secluding yourself completely from the outside world. You feel that pleasure there, day after day. That key is one of the keys we need on our journey.
Shaykh Hisham Kabbani
