concerning the gatherings of God’s people: Whoever sits with them and opposes anything they realize in their states has the light of faith removed from his heart by God. Sitting with them is perilous, and their companion is in peril.
(Companionship for Education and for Blessing)
Our companions differ concerning the disciple’s relation to a shaykh other than his own: is his state with him, from the Real’s side, like his state with his own shaykh? All say he must respect him. This is their consensus.
Beyond this, some say his state is the same as with his own shaykh. Others distinguish, saying it is the same only after the disciple knows that the other shaykh is one to be followed in the path. Without that knowledge it is not so. Both positions have an aspect.
The Prophet, may God bless him and grant him peace, tells the woman, “Patience is only at the first blow,” though she had not known he was God’s messenger. The disciple seeks only the Real. Wherever his purpose appears, he affirms and receives it. Men are known through the Real; the Real is not known through them.
The principle is that just as the world’s existence is not between two gods, nor one charged with duties between two messengers with differing laws, nor a woman between two husbands, the disciple is not between two shaykhs if he is a disciple receiving education. If companionship involves no education, he may accompany all shaykhs without concern, for he is not under their ruling. This is called companionship of blessing, though there does not emerge
