Can Someone Be Called a Disciple on the Basis of Devotion Alone?

Question

Hazrat Sayyid Muhammad, known as Pir Muhammad Shah, with the pen-name “Aqdas,” son of Shah Amin al-Din, son of Shah ‘Ala’ al-Din — a Qadiri, a Hasani and a Husayni ﵋ — was a perfect saint (wali) and a great elder who lived in Ahmadabad, “the ornament of cities”; his shrine is also located there. He had received the khirqa of khilafa (the robe of spiritual succession) from several lineages, and mostly wrote [of belonging] to the Qadiriyya silsila.

Answer

(1) One who has a relationship of moral rectification and devotion with someone and has taken bay‘ah at his hand, or has a relationship of guidance with him in the rectification of the self and purification of character. (2) One who has not taken bay‘ah is not, in the technical sense, called a disciple. (3)

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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