In some remote areas where the people do not follow the urban centers, a man follows one of the shaykhs whom he believes to be a person of knowledge.

The questioner : ... So in some very remote areas where the people are unable to reach the urban centers that have people of knowledge, a man follows a shaykh and thinks that this manThe Shaykh : has knowledge and jurisprudence in the religion, and this manThe Shaykh : is one of the destructive shaykhs; he circumambulates graves, makes some vows, strikes with conjecture, and takes omens. This man follows him, thinking that this man is one of the awliya (close friends of Allah) (Mighty and Majestic), and that this man’s actions bring him closer to Allah (Mighty and Majestic) through this... So if he follows him and thinks that he is a person of true knowledge, does that mean he is judged by one of the rulings?

The Shaykh : This falls under our previous discussion, and I think you were not present. We asked whether the ignorant person is excused or not excused, and we detailed the statement, and we do not need to repeat it now. But I will say a brief word: if this deceived MuslimThe Shaykh : is with that Sufi, deceiver, and destructive one... and so on, if he has exhausted his effort to know the truth and then stopped at thisThe Shaykh : he is excused. But if he is convinced by him without consulting the other shaykhs, while he is able to do so, I am saying this because I understood from you that you are assuming that this person lives in a remote land far from the scholars. If he is unable to come to the people of knowledge, then he is excused in this case. Is that clear?
We know the saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), which he used to preach in every sermon and with which he began, phrases that he (peace and blessings be upon him) made a constitution for this Ummah in all their lives related to the worship of Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He); namely his saying (peace and blessings be upon him): . And if that is the case, it is obligatory for the Muslim to know his guidance (peace and blessings be upon him) in all aspects of his life so that it becomes clear to him what he must adhere to in matters related to the religion, or what he is not required to do because it is not a matter of the religion. This is because the religion has been completed and Allah has perfected His favor upon His servants, as is known from the saying of the Lord of the Worlds: . As for worldly affairs, from the perfection of this religion and the completeness of its rectitude is that He gave Muslims full permission in what is not of the religion to do in their worldly affairs what they wish, on the condition that they do not contradict the religion. As came in the hadith of pollinating the palm trees, which Imam Muslim narrated in his Sahih, that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) passed by a group of people one day who were pollinating the palm trees, and I think you naturally know... what is meant by pollinating the palm trees; is that not so? Pollinating the palm trees is their fertilization, and it is clear now? Pollination is fertilization. So he passed by a group of the Ansar who were pollinating the palm trees, so he asked them about it, and they said: This is what brings the dates as a male food. He said (peace and blessings be upon him): If you had left it as it is; meaning, if you had not pollinated or fertilized it. They left the palm trees as they were, and when the time for eating or harvesting came, they were surprised that the dates came out dry. The dryness here is an allusion that it has no flesh or fat, meaning skin on a pit. So they came to the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) and mentioned that to him, and he said to them (and here is the point): .
The point is that to the extent that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) gave Muslims an explicit, unlimited permission in worldly affairs; because he did not come to complete them and teach them to people, but rather he said: ; to the extent that he explicitly permitted them to expand in worldly affairs with the condition that the Shari'ah requires, which I mentioned earlier; namely, not to contradict a Shari'ah text. On the contrary, he narrowed the circle of the religion for them, saying to them in many hadiths: . And in this came the hadith of al-'Arba' ibn Sariyah (may Allah be pleased with him), who said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) preached to us a sermon that made our hearts tremble and our eyes shed tears; so we said: O Messenger of Allah, give us advice. He said: And in another hadith: . This is a very broad topic, and we have spoken about it repeatedly in some lectures in this journey in particular, so I do not want to add to these words, in order to continue with the topic mentioned earlier.