Factors of Misguidance
The underlying cause is the scant knowledge and understanding of the Book of Allah, the authentic Sunnah of His Messenger, and the conduct of his rightly guided caliphs. By contrast, whoever seeks guidance from Allah, relies on His help, researches the matter, pursues what is soundly transmitted, and reflects on the Book of Allah, the Sunnah of His Prophet, and the Sunnah of his caliphs—especially that of the Commander of the Believers, the rightly guided leader whose career included events that confused many people, leading them either to excess in his favor or to indifference toward him—

It is related from him that he said, “Two kinds of people will perish on my account: an over-zealous admirer who attributes to me what is not in me, and a spiteful enemy who ascribes to me what Allah has cleared me of.” 1

The limit and core of the matter hinge on two principles: seeking guidance and shunning caprice, so that a person becomes neither ḍāll (astray through ignorance) nor ghāwī (wayward through injustice), but guided and rightly directed.

Allah the Exalted says of His Prophet ﷺ: “By the star when it descends, your companion has neither gone astray nor erred. Nor does he speak from his own desire; it is nothing but a revelation revealed.” 2

Thus He depicts him as neither astray—the ignorant—nor wayward—the wrongdoer. A servant’s well-being lies in knowing the truth and acting upon it: whoever does not know the truth is astray from it, and whoever knows it yet opposes it, following his own desire, is wayward. But whoever knows it and acts upon it is among those of firm resolve in deed and keen insight in knowledge; that is the Straight Path to which Allah, glorified be He, has commanded us—