Explanation of the Prophet's (peace and blessings be upon him) hadith regarding the straight path.

The Shaykh : Therefore, the hadith came as a lesson for those who take heed in interpreting the words of Allah (Mighty and Majestic): , and the Messenger (peace be upon him) depicted this verse on the ground; he drew a straight line and drew short lines on both sides of the long straight line, and recited the verse: . He (peace be upon him) said: .
I see in my understanding a profound wisdom in this surah; because the Messenger (peace be upon him) depicted the straight path as a long line, and depicted the paths on the sides of the straight line as short lines, and said: . Why did he make the straight line long and the lines around it short? This depiction is extremely magnificent and grand, as if the Messenger (peace be upon him) is saying that these devils standing at the heads of the paths are saying: "O people walking on the straight path, where are you going? Where are you going to reach? Look how long the line is! Come to us, this path is close to reach, close to arrive." And this aligns perfectly with his (peace be upon him) statement in the authentic hadith: . So, for the Muslim to remain straight in his entire life, and this is the greatest jihad, the devil comes to beautify the short path for him, and these are the Sufi paths and others. Why? Because the shaykh teaches the student first that he cannot reach [Allah] except through the shaykh, the shaykh is the one who leads you to Allah, and therefore they deceive these poor people, and they follow the shaykh and surrender. And like the Khawarij who cut out land in Paradise for their followers and open the door of repentance for them in their presence!
The point is: Ibn Mas'ud referred to this reality, saying, "How many are there who desire good but do not attain it!" This is the one walking on the straight line, so he lengthens it, then he comes and takes a path from these paths because it is easier, so he followed his desire and strayed from the right path. Ibn Mas'ud said, "And how many are there who desire good but do not attain it! Indeed, Muhammad—here is the point—indeed, Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) told us: ; because they did not understand the religion, and therefore they, this apparent religion that they held onto, they pass through it as an arrow passes through the target; meaning: with the same force that the arrow enters the animal shot, then it exits from the other side due to the intensity of the strike and the deviation.
Our discussion was about our Muslim brothers, those who do not understand the religion, how do they say what is not in their hearts? They read the words of Allah: and then they do not believe that Allah is in the sky. One of them says, on occasion and off occasion: , and then they do not believe that Allah is in the sky, a calamity of the age!! And what do they believe? Allah exists in all existence, Allah exists in every place, in the caves and sewers and inns and bars and houses of fornication and zina, and so on!! All these are places where they place their Lord and their worshipped, while they consider themselves too high to stay in such places. That is the far astray.