commanded to follow the law of the Torah?”
Many of those who go to excess regarding shaykhs hold a similar belief about their own shaykh. They say (1), “The shaykh is divinely protected,” and command that he be followed in everything he does and never be opposed in any respect whatsoever.
This is akin to the excesses of the Rāfidah, the Christians, and the Ismāʿīlīs, who claim that their imams were infallible.
The followers of Ibn Tūmart (2), who claimed to be the Mahdi, maintain that he was infallible. In the Friday sermon, they say:
“The infallible imam and the recognized Mahdi.”
It is said that they killed some of those who denied that he was infallible.
It is well known that all these assertions are contrary to Islam—to the Book (3), the Sunnah, and the consensus of the early generations and imams of the Muslim community. Allah Most High says:
“Obey Allah and obey the Messenger and those in authority among you. Should you disagree about anything, then refer it to Allah and the Messenger”—to the end of the verse.
[Surah al-Nisā’: 59]
(1) (H) and (R) read: “and he says”; (M): *wa-taqūlu* (“and you say” or “and she says”).
(2) (R) reads: “Ibn al-Tūmart.” He was Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muhammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Tūmart al-Masmūdī al-Barbarī, known as the Mahdi, or the Mahdi of the Almohads. He founded the Almohad dynasty, which arose from the ruins of the Almoravid state. His birth year is disputed, but he died in 524 AH, aged between fifty-one and fifty-five. His works include *Aʿazz mā yutlab* (The Most Precious Thing Sought), published by Goldziher in Algiers in 1903; *Kanz al-ʿulūm* (Treasure of the Sciences), which remains in manuscript; and *al-Murshida* (The Guide), a short treatise printed several times as part of other works. More recently, ʿAbd Allāh Kannūn published it in *Nusūs falsafiyya muhdat ilā al-Duktūr Ibrāhīm Madkūr* (Philosophical Texts Dedicated to Dr. Ibrāhīm Madkūr), pp. 114–15, Cairo, 1976. On Ibn Tūmart’s life and doctrine, see Kannūn’s aforementioned study, pp. 99–115; Yahyā Huwaydī, *Tārīkh falsafat al-Islām fī al-qārra al-Ifrīqiyya* (History of Islamic Philosophy on the African Continent), 1:223–43; and also *Wafayāt al-aʿyān*, 4:137–46; Ibn al-Athīr, *al-Kāmil*, 10:201–5; and *al-Aʿlām*, 7:104–5.
(3) (H) reads: “the Book.”