In the Arabic language, the term mureed refers to an individual who seeks something, while murad refers to the entity being sought. A person on the path toward Allah ﷻ is either mureed or murad, or sometimes, both simultaneously. Many of us began our relationship with Allah ﷻ as murad — we were completely heedless of Allah ﷻ and merely going through the motions, yet Allah ﷻ desired us to be closer to Him, so He sought us and inspired within us the desire to be closer to Him. Once that desire was placed by Allah ﷻ in our hearts, we became mureed, and began to desire nearness to Allah ﷻ and work toward it through the deeds that are beloved to Allah ﷻ. Regardless of whether one is in a state of mureed or murad, the mechanism by which a person comes closer to Allah ﷻ is the same: their dhikr, or abundant remembrance, of Allah ﷻ. Prophet Yahya mentioned that the dhikr of Allah ﷻ is like the fortress of a person against his enemy — for us, that enemy is Shaytaan. The remembrance of Allah protects a person from the whispers and influence of Shaytaan in their deeds, intentions, interactions and thoughts. Dhikr also attracts light into one’s heart, which draws a person nearer to Allah ﷻ. The path of sulook, or seeking nearness to Allah ﷻ, is rooted in abundant dhikr.
