They are many. The murīdān-i ākhira (those who seek the hereafter) are few. Among the murīds (aspirants) of the Real (al-Ḥaqq), those who are truthful in their will are even fewer. They are as rare as the kibrit-i aḥmar (red sulphur, a metaphor for something extremely rare). In terms of scarcity and rarity, they have no equals. They are the cause of contention among tribes. They are the source of healing for the land. Through them, servants avert calamities from people. Rain falls out of respect for them; Allah sends down rain from the sky out of reverence for them. Vegetation grows from the earth for their sake. At the beginning of their spiritual state, they wander from one mountain to another, from one land to another, from one ruined place to another. If they become known in a place, they immediately leave it. They leave everyone behind, handing over the keys of the world to those who possess murīd-murād (aspirant and the one sought). They continue in this way until fortresses are built around them and rivers flow through their midst, and the armies of the Real (al-Ḥaqq) surround them. (Fetli, 29)
The murīd (aspirant) is the possessor of waqt (spiritual time), the mutawassiṭ (intermediate) is the possessor of ḥāl (spiritual state), and the muntaḥī (one who has reached the end) is the possessor of nafs (the lower self).
The one who has become weary in seeking murād (the sought) is the one referred to. The mutawassiṭ is responsible for the etiquettes of the stations and is the possessor of talwīn (transition from state to state). For he rises ever more from one state to another... The station of the mutawassiṭ is to endure hardships to attain the sought, to observe truthfulness in states, and to behave with proper etiquette in stations. (Ādāb, 16)
Murīds excel through action, those in the intermediate stage through adab (etiquette), and the ʿārifūn (gnostics) through himma (spiritual aspiration). It has been said: Himma is what takes you from your nafs (lower self) to lofty desires. The value of each person is their himma (a person's himma shows their worth). (Ādāb, 18)
After awakening from heedlessness, the first thing a murīd must do is to find a shaykh who is trustworthy in religious matters, known for honesty and reliability, and acquainted with the path of the tariqa (Sufi order). When the murīd finds such a shaykh, he should devote himself to his service, believe that he must abandon opposition to him, and maintain a state of truthfulness. After this, the shaykh should teach the murīd how to turn to Allah, show him the path of the tariqa, facilitate his sulūk (spiritual journey), and instruct him in the matters of the Islamic sharia (sacred law) that are for and against him. The murīd must first pay attention to his food, drink, and clothing. Only by observing these matters can he make progress in his state. (Ādāb, 26)
In our view, the guidance (hudā) of the shaykh who is with Allah, on the path of the tariqa, is not to interpret (taʾwīl) the command given to him with sound knowledge. For us, attaining hudā means to obey the command absolutely, without interpretation. (Tadbīrāt, 230)
The worst thing for a murīd is companionship (ṣuḥba). For the path of the tariqa is based on removing habits and abandoning things considered good. Since companionship leads to familiarity and intimacy, and when separation occurs it causes pain and brings about change in the qalb (heart), we do not approve of it. For this reason, many shaykhs have said: In khalwa (spiritual retreat), intimacy is not with Allah but with the retreat itself for the one who feels intimacy in solitude and loneliness in company. In this state, what befits the murīd is to completely avoid companionship. The murīd's himma should be to find a shaykh. If he finds a shaykh, he should not think of anyone else unless the shaykh commands it, should not befriend the tariqa brothers who are the shaykh's students, nor sit and rise with them. Therefore, he should be like one estranged from his own kind and other creatures (feeling discomfort in their company), fleeing from them and seeking intimacy with Allah. (Tadbīrāt, 234)
The murīd is one who has stripped himself of will. Abū Ḥāmid (al-Ghazālī) said: The murīd is one who deserves the name murīd and has entered among those whose name is directed to Allah.
The murād is one in whom whatever he wills comes to pass, yet his will has been taken from him. The murād passes through all states and stations without hardship.
The murīd and murād are sought together
as proofs of truthfulness in their claims.
If you do not know the state of their conditions,
one is the proof, the other
is the Divine Himself.
If asked, "Who are the murād and the murīd?" the answer is: The murād is one in whom whatever he wills comes to pass, yet his will has been taken from him, and he passes through all states and stations without hardship. The murīd is one who has been stripped of will. As Abū Ḥāmid (al-Ghazālī) said: The murād is one who deserves the name murād and has entered among those whose name is directed to Allah. In our view, the term murīd is used for two people in the same state. The first travels the path of the tariqa amid hardship and difficulty, and those hardships do not prevent him from his path. The other's will penetrates things. This person is one who has realized his will. Yet he is not a murād. (Futūḥāt, II, 130-131)
According to the Sufis, the murād is one in whom whatever he wills comes to pass, yet his will has been taken from him, and he passes through all states and stations without hardship, with delight and contentment of heart; difficulties and hardships are made easy for him.
Murāds are of two kinds: For the first, difficult matters are made easy, and material and spiritual afflictions are removed. He feels the afflictions, his nature does not desire them, but in the inner reality of the matter, just as there is well-being in drinking a bitter medicine, he sees and witnesses that there is good in it with Allah. Therefore, the state of witnessing blessings in overcoming this affliction prevails, and because of this witnessing, he finds pleasure in the hardship and material pain that is contrary to his aim.
Indeed, ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb was among those who possessed this station. He said: In every calamity that comes from Allah, I have seen three kinds of blessings: The first blessing is that this calamity is not in my religion. The second blessing is that a greater calamity has not befallen me—there could have been a greater one. The third blessing is that, because of the calamity, my sins are forgiven and my rank is raised. Therefore, I give shukr (gratitude) to Allah for every calamity.
Without doubt, in the path of this people, there is a subtlety shown by the ḥaqīqas (inner realities) to the one who knows the path of Allah: The shukr for affliction does not accept sabr (patient endurance) for blessing. If one who is afflicted gives shukr, what he will see is blessing, so he must give shukr. If one who attains a blessing shows sabr, what he will encounter is only affliction. This means that he is charged by Allah with the duty of giving shukr for that affliction and bearing the ruling of management in it. In this situation, he must show sabr for what he witnesses. The Exalted Real (al-Ḥaqq Taʿālā) gives him blessings in succession while he is in the state of witnessing. He looks to Allah's right over him and strives to fulfill those rights. He does not find pleasure in what people think is pleasurable, so that he would have to show sabr for the blessings that come in succession. For he is the possessor of affliction. What matters for him is what the Real shows him in its time. According to his time, he is either a possessor of shukr or of sabr. This is the state of the first kind of murāds.
As for the second kind of murāds, he does not feel the usual difficulties. For Allah has given him a strength to bear hardships that even the strong and mighty would find difficult. He bears things that would be heavy for the weak. For him, nothing could be better than this. Rather, he bears it without any difficulty. For he is under the strength and qudra (power) of Allah. Whereas the weak bear it with hardship and difficulty, he finds pleasure in bearing this burden, rejoices in his strength, takes pride in it, and feels no pain. (Futūḥāt, II, 513)
According to the verifying scholars among the people of Allah, the murīd is one who has turned to Allah, chosen Allah, and strives with gayra (zeal) in what Allah wants and is pleased with. The word murīd is also used in the sense of one who has stripped himself of will. According to them, and in our view as well, the highest rank of the murīd is one whose will has penetrated. However, this will is not attained through kashf (unveiling). If his will is through kashf, he is not a murīd but one who knows what will be. Indeed, in the cosmos, having will in what will occur in oneself or another, the occurrence of what is witnessed in his will, and desiring it before it happens are not among the conditions of the murād. (Futūḥāt, II, 514)
Some Sufis have considered the station of the murād to be above that of the murīd and other stations. The first subtlety of this is to suppress the shahawāt (desires) and, as a divine favor, to be saved from facing harm and hardship from them. The second subtlety is to abandon the defects of deficiency, to be saved from the sign of weariness, and to bear the consequences of slips (minor errors). The third subtlety is to prefer the Real (al-Ḥaqq) with pure sincerity, like the one who went to seek fire and was chosen by the Real (referring to Moses who went to Mount Ṭūr to seek fire and was commissioned by Allah, see al-Qasas 28:29-30). (Rawḍa, 486)
According to the Sufis, the form of sulūk (spiritual journey) is the beginner (mubtadiʾ) Sufi after the stage of riyāḍa (spiritual discipline). This person, due to considering companionship with his nafs (lower self), is one to whom the doors of divine attraction (jadhba) and ʿināya (divine care) have not been opened. The fayḍ-i Raḥmānī (effusion of the Merciful) descends from the Essence to the intellect, the nafs, the worlds, the first hayūlā (prime matter), the element, the mawālīd (things composed of elements), and to man. Then, through composition, the manifest (ẓāhir) chain of descent continues.