If a man finds the path to goodness, they say: he must have a shaykh from whom he learns the path; based on His saying—Blessed and Exalted is He:

The questioner : The question is: If a Muslim finds the path to goodness, they say: he must have a shaykh from whom he learns the path; because Allah—the Exalted—says: .

The Shaykh : Allah has spoken the truth: , and Allah—Mighty and Majestic—also says: , and the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said regarding the story of that man who was on a military expedition with a group of the Companions of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), and he was wounded with injuries, so he woke up one morning in a state of major ritual impurity, and the full ritual bath became obligatory upon him, so he asked those around him: Do you find a dispensation for him not to take the bath? They said to him: You must take the bath, so he took the bath and died because of the injuries that were in his body, so when the news of him reached the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), he said: .
There is no doubt that the two verses mentioned earlier and this hadith divide the Muslim world, in terms of knowledge and ignorance, into two groups: a group—and they are the fewer—who are the people of knowledge, and the other group—and they are the more numerous—who do not know; as you heard in the previous verse: The questioner : As it is authentic from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him): , so it is necessary for one who is not a scholar to be a student of knowledge, or at least to ask the people of knowledge, as came in the report from Mu'adh (may Allah be pleased with him) that he said: “Be a scholar, or a learner, or a listener, and do not be the fourth, for you will perish,” meaning: you are neither listening to knowledge nor asking about it; so at that time you live as an ignorant person who does not know how to worship Allah—Blessed and Exalted is He!
So asking the people of knowledge is a matter in which there is no disagreement. As for taking a shaykh of the path, you have known that the path leading to Allah—Blessed and Exalted is He—is this straight path upon which our noble Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) left us, and the scholars are the guides on this path, so they are the ones who must be asked, and it is not permissible for a Muslim to take a shaykh whom he singles out for following and learning from, to the exclusion of the other scholars; because here a grave error occurs; and that is that just as it is obligatory upon us to make tawhid (the oneness of Allah) of Allah—Mighty and Majestic—in His worship, it is obligatory upon us to single out the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) in following him; so it is not permissible to take a single follower from among the scholars, no matter how high and exalted that scholar is in knowledge and virtue, for this status is not for anyone but the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), and that is among the meanings of the saying of the one who testifies: I bear witness that there is no god but Allah, and I bear witness that Muhammad is His slave and His Messenger; so he is the one followed among the people, so a Muslim taking a single shaykh or a single teacher from whom he learns, and not benefiting from the other shaykhs and other scholars in knowledge; this is a deficiency in following the Messenger (peace be upon him); because all scholars should be taken as guides who guide us to what our Messenger (may Allah's prayers and peace be upon him) was upon, and a single scholar, no matter how much knowledge he is given, the matter regarding him and the right of every scholar is as Allah—Mighty and Majestic—said: .
So this is an old Sufi myth that every Muslim must take a shaykh. We say: it is obligatory for every Muslim to be a scholar, or a learner, or a listener, otherwise he will perish. As for taking a single, unique shaykh; this is from the work of Satan.
We ask Allah—Blessed and Exalted is He—to guide us all to following the Book and the Sunnah and to what our righteous Salaf (the earliest generations) were upon, and to keep us away from following the paths, where at the head of each of those paths is a Satan calling people to it, , and all praise is to Allah, Lord of the worlds.

The questioner : And may Allah send prayers and peace upon Muhammad and upon his family, and abundant peace.