A timer that alerts the user of something to do at a certain time, should be fine.  A timer that sends something to the MUD at a later date, is very probably not fine.
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The code grep posted, I believe is used for two main aims:
1. rate-limit commands being sent to the mud by a user (so they aren't disconnected) 
2. batch a group of commands being sent to the MUD (repetition).
Rather than using a timer to automate the command-sending, I'd encourage using the very easy repetition command and doing the work in blocks.
Something like:
Code:
#ALIAS BATCH {
   #VAR command {"give berry fred"}
   #VAR batch-counter {10}
   #IF (@item-count < 1) {
      #SAY None left.
   }
   #IF (@item-count < 10) {#VAR batch-counter @item-count}
   #@batch-counter @command
   #ADD @item-count {-@batch-counter}
}
(just off the top of my head - I didn't use zmud to verify the syntax above)