He also said: “Who is more astray than the one who follows his own desire without guidance from Allah?” 1

Moreover, He informed us that whoever follows the guidance He sends down will neither go astray as the misguided have, nor be wretched as those who incurred wrath were, when He said: “So whenever guidance comes to you from Me, whoever follows My guidance shall never go astray nor suffer misery.” 2

Ibn ʿAbbās commented: “Allah has pledged that whoever recites the Qur’an and acts upon what it contains will not lose his way in this world, nor be miserable in the Hereafter.”

A further requirement of sound guidance is that the seeker examine the Book of Allah, the mass-transmitted Sunnah of His Prophet, the Sunnah of the caliphs, and what reliable, trustworthy narrators have conveyed, and then differentiate all of this from what is reported by those who do not preserve hadith, are suspected of fabrication, or relate mistaken falsehoods because of poor memory, forgetfulness, limited understanding, or weak accuracy.

Once the seeker 3 has gained this knowledge, he should ponder it, compile what is agreed upon, and study what appears at variance until it becomes clear to him that, in reality, it is consistent—even if outwardly divergent—or that some of it is weightier and must be followed while the rest is weaker and, despite its appearance, is not truly evidence.

People err because they do not distinguish between what may be reasonably understood from the texts and reports and what can be known only through analogy and reflection. When mistaken conjecture in knowledge is then mingled with the soul’s whims and wishes in practice, its possessor receives a share of Allah’s words: