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Question:
I present an issue for your guidance. I entered
discipleship (bay‘ah) under an individual who presents himself as the
custodian (sajjādah-nashīn) of a sacred shrine and the authorized deputy
(khalīfah) of the saint entombed therein. Subsequently, I discovered
that the departed saint never conferred spiritual deputyship upon him or anyone
else during his lifetime, nor did he authorize the continuation of the
initiatic lineage. Rather, a faction of fellow disciples nominated him, and
despite widespread opposition, he assumed custodianship solely through majority
factional backing. In these circumstances, is such a custodian authorized to
initiate seekers into discipleship?
Answer:
If verified that an individual lacks formal
authorization (ṣāḥib-e-majāz), one must never take the
pledge of discipleship at his hands. An authorized spiritual guide understands
the treacherous ascents and descents of transcendental realms, safeguarding
disciples from psychological states that cause an ungrounded seeker to succumb
to acute spiritual intoxication or ecstatic derangement (majdhūb).
Consider this analogy: one person completes formal
medical education, earning an accredited medical degree; another reads diverse
texts, memorizes the properties of ten or twelve pharmaceuticals, and opens a
clinical dispensary. The treatment of one who lacks formal training and an
accredited degree is never recognized as legitimate. A spiritual mentor is
likewise a specialized physician whose function is to heal those inner
pathologies through which an individual loses their spiritual equilibrium. An individual
who has not undergone authentic spiritual refinement himself, nor obtained an
authorized license (sanad) within an authentic lineage, can never offer
valid guidance.
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