Taking Bay‘ah Without Ijaza and Khilafa

Question

Question: Zayd is a disciple of Hazrat Mawlana Shah Wasi Ullah, but he now engages in certain acts of bid‘a: for instance, he listens to qawwali (Sufi devotional singing with music) and takes part in the pitcher-raising rite. In short, [he commits] the ordinary superstitious bid‘as (khurafat) practised by every Barelvi. Yet Zayd still calls himself a Deobandi; although Zayd has not received khilafa (spiritual succession), he goes about taking people as disciples.

Answer

Since he has not received permission (ijaza) to take bay‘ah and is immersed in bid‘a, it is not correct to take bay‘ah from him, because the purpose of bay‘ah is the correction of the soul and the purification of the heart. The person in question himself stands in need of correction — how then will he correct anyone else?

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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