Remember! It is obligatory upon every murid to show respect and reverence towards his murshid. The respect of parents, teacher and elder brother has its own importance; but the murshid is a unique personality, by virtue of whom a murid attains the mindset of protecting his faith. Adding to this, with his murshid’s blessings, a murid can identify and avoid corrupt beliefs, learns the purpose of life, develops an aversion towards sins and inculcates an eagerness to carry out virtuous acts in his heart. The murid is respected by others due to his murshid, his heart is cleaned from impurity, and he attains the great bounty of fearing Allah Almighty and love of the final Prophet صَلَّى الـلّٰـهُ عَلَيْهِ وَاٰلِهٖ وَسَلَّم. In essence, the murid has every affair of his worldly life and the Hereafter corrected and made easy, due to the blessings of his murshid.

If any fortunate person attains the privilege of becoming the murid of an accomplished murshid, then in order to attain his blessings, he should become an embodiment of respect and manners. Murids who wholeheartedly show great respect and do not observe heedlessness in fulfilling their murshid’s rights, go on to climb the stairs of success and emerge as dear, beloved and chosen devotees.

The saints of Islam and pious elders have described the respect a person must show their murshid. Let’s take a look at their blessed sayings in this regard.

Sayyiduna Zun Nun Misri رَحْمَةُ اللهِ عَلَيْه said: “When a disciple does not keep manners and respect in mind, he returns back to where he started.”^[1]

Someone asked Sayyiduna Khuwajah Qutbuddin Bakhtiyar Kaaki رَحْمَةُ الـلّٰـهِ عَلَيْه   , “How much right does a murshid have over his murid?” He رَحْمَةُ اللهِ عَلَيْه replied, “If a murid carries his murshid upon to Hajj for the rest of his life, the rights of the murshid still cannot be fully fulfilled.”^[2]

Sayyiduna Imam ‘Abd al-Wahhab Sha’rani رَحْمَةُ اللهِ تَعَالٰی عَلَيْه adds,

The greatness of a murid lies in the fact, that he never considers himself to have repaid the favours of his murshid, even if he were to serve him for one thousand years and spends millions on him. A murid who thinks he has repaid his murshid after serving or spending on him, has actually derailed himself