Encyclopedia of Islam

Further reading: F. E. Peters, Aristotle and the Arabs

(New York: New York University Press, 1968); Roy 

Mottahedeh,  The Mantle of the Prophet: Learning and 

Power in Modern Iran (New York: Simon and Schuster, 

1985); Mullah Sadra, The Metaphysics of Mullah Sadra

(Texas: Global Publications Associations, 1992).

Mullah Sadra

  

501  J

---

munafiqun

  See 

hypocrites

.

murid

This is an aspirant or disciple associated with a 

Sufi order, who has sworn allegiance to a Sufi 

master (

murshid

  or 

shaykh

). This term, derived 

from the Arabic root irada, or desire, is generally 

used to describe those who participated in tariqas

(Sufi orders) from approximately the 12th to the 

15th centuries throughout Islamdom. This period 

is characterized by s

UFism

’s organization into hier-

archical structures, with each Sufi master guid-

ing his murids along a certain method or path of 

mystical knowledge, which he in turn had learned 

from his master and the long silsila or chain of 

mystical teachers before him. Murids typically 

would undergo initiation ceremonies, in which 

they would be presented with a cloak or a hat. 

Expected to memorize the names of all previous 

masters in the silsila of his tariqa, the murid also 

prepared to learn its particular mystical teachings, 

so that he in turn could transmit them to others 

when he would become a master. The word murid

is still used today in a similar way, characterizing 

the relationship of one who is under the guidance 

of a Sufi master.

Many manuals were written expressing the 

correct relationship between the master and his 

disciple, which was one of complete surrender 

reflecting divine hierarchy, and in particular the 

Islamic emphasis on surrender to God. It was said 

that the murid should be as passive as a corpse 

being washed. Feminine imagery is found in 

medieval Sufi literature as well, with advice that 

this submission should be as a bride to a bride-

groom, and a description of the Sufi master as 

nourishing his murid like a mother does a child.

Sophia Pandya