1. He must be a Sunni with correct beliefs.

2. He must be a scholar, i.e., possesses enough knowledge to extract rulings from books.

3. He must not commit sins openly.

4. His spiritual chain of bayꜤah must be connected to the beloved Prophet صَلَّى الـلّٰـهُ عَلَيْهِ وَاٰلِهٖ وَسَلَّم.^[1]

Imam Muḥammad al-Ghazālīرَحْمَةُ الـلّٰـهِ عَـلَيْه , clarifying several conditions and qualities required of a murshid, writes:

The representative of the Messenger of Allah who is appointed as a shaykh must be a scholar, but not every scholar can become a murshid. Only he who possesses these special qualities is worthy:

1. He has turned away from love of the world and the desire for honour and status.

2. He is a murīd of a shaykh whose chain of bayꜤah reaches the Beloved Prophet صَلَّى الـلّٰـهُ عَلَيْهِ وَاٰلِهٖ وَسَلَّم.

3. He acts upon the commands of the Holy Prophet صَلَّى الـلّٰـهُ عَلَيْهِ وَاٰلِهٖ وَسَلَّم.

4. He eats and sleeps little, and performs many prayers and fasts.

5. His temperament embodies the finest traits: patience, gratitude, trust in Allah Almighty, contentment, honesty, humility, and obedience.

6. He has acquired light from the radiance of the Prophet صَلَّى الـلّٰـهُ عَلَيْهِ وَاٰلِهٖ وَسَلَّم through which all evil traits, such as miserliness, jealousy, malice, anger, arrogance, and placing great hopes in the world, have been extinguished by that light.^[2]

Imam al-Ghazālī رَحْمَةُ الـلّٰـهِ عَـلَيْه further states:

Such murshids are very rare. If a person is blessed to find one, and the