by the disciple. When the disciple receives an inward opening, he distinguishes for him spiritual opening from divine opening. Through scent he knows which people of the path are suitable for him and which are not.
He knows the adornment with which to adorn the selves of the disciples, who are the Real’s brides. For Him [the shaykhs] are like the bridal attendant adorning the bride. They are God’s people of courtesy, knowing the presence’s courtesies and the sanctity it deserves.
(The Comprehensive Requirements of a Shaykh)
In sum, a shaykh is one possessing everything the traveling disciple needs in education, wayfaring, and unveiling until reaching qualification as a shaykh, and everything needed when the disciple’s thought and heart become ill through a doubt whose soundness or unsoundness he does not know. Such was Sahl’s experience in the heart’s prostration, and our shaykh’s when he was told, “You are Jesus son of Mary.” The shaykh treats him as appropriate.
Likewise, if someone who goes out to hear from the Real externally, not from his own self, is tried by being commanded to perform something forbidden or prohibited from an obligation, the shaykh knows how to release him from this so that the language of sin does not apply to him, while his station is valid. They are the physicians of God’s religion.
If he lacks anything needed in education, he may not sit upon the platform of shaykhhood. He corrupts more than he corrects and brings temptation, like a pretender to medicine making the healthy ill and killing the sick.
When he reaches this extent, he is a shaykh in God’s way. Every disciple must respect him, undertake his service, and stop
Notlar
Translator’s note TN4793-1: The source distinguishes spiritual from divine opening and retains both the station’s validity and the need to resolve an instruction contrary to prescribed duty. Sahl and the author’s unnamed shaykh are not given additional identifications.
