What many followers of shaykhs and Sufis attribute to truthful shaykhs may, for example, be lies and impossibilities. Or it may consist of ambiguous statements of theirs that these followers have misinterpreted; mistakes and lapses made by some shaykhs; or their sins and errors, such as the many religious innovations and immoral acts that some commit on the basis of a defensible interpretation or on an unjustifiable basis. The person may be pardoned for this, repent of it, have good deeds through which he is forgiven, or suffer afflictions through which his sins are expiated. Alternatively, such statements may come from people who imitate Allah’s allies through ascetic practices, acts of worship, and spiritual attainments, yet are not among Allah’s God-fearing allies. Rather, they are among the ignorant, the unjust, the transgressors, the hypocrites, or the disbelievers.

This is widespread and has filled the world. You find every group claiming exclusive access to secrets and realities that even the messengers do not claim, asserting that these are possessed by its select few and must be met only with unquestioning acceptance. They support these claims with fabricated hadiths and false interpretations. One example is the statement they attribute to ‘Umar:

“The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and Abū Bakr used to converse, while I was like a black African between them.”

Thus they portray ‘Umar, in the company of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and his friend, as being like a black African, although he was present and listening to their words.

Then one of them claims to have acquired this knowledge through something cast into his heart, and each claims that the lies and falsehood he himself utters constitute that knowledge. Were I to enumerate the various kinds of false claims in this matter, the discussion would be lengthy.

Some of them ascribe poems to the shaykh, calling them “the Quran’s Companion.” These poems stir him more deeply, and their contents bring him greater joy, than the Quran does, although they contain various lies and errors.