How to recognize a true teacher

If you are visiting a teacher, what are the things to look for, to recognize if they are a true teacher before you take bay’at [pledge or promise of allegiance]?

Surely, you have an excellent example in the Messenger of Allah, for those who put their hope in Allah and the Day of the Hereafter, and who do much zikr [repeated remembrance with contemplation] of Allah. (Al Ahzab:21)

Is the teacher after you?

If somebody wants to teach you, of course they are going to put themselves into a good package. What are the things they would do if they are after you? To get you under their ammunition, they will talk to your nafs [ego]. They will praise you, they will talk to your nafs, and they will tell you how good you will be and how you are going to be in Paradise, etc.

The signs

What are the first signs to look for? You look for the following:

Is the teacher talking from their heart or from their head?

Then the next sign you look for:

Are they giving you what you need or are they just giving you some knowledge to impress you?

Are they talking from their heart?

But (the Qur’an contains) ayats that are self-evident in the hearts of those who are on the path of knowledge and science, and none but the wrongdoers reject Our ayats. (Al Ankabut:49)

Direction of a teacher

The direction, where is the direction of the talk going to? Are they showing you themselves or are they showing you Allah?
Direction will not be Allah or themselves, but the direction may be attacking someone; something or somebody; harming somebody or something. Is the direction causing harm or causing peace?

Allah’s friends are those who cause peace.

If somebody is causing fitna [dissension between parties] and fight, then they are not Allah’s friend, they are Allah’s enemy. So, is the direction towards unity and peace or the direction is to Allah? Then that is good. If it is not, then that is not good.

It is He Who revealed the Scripture to you with clear ayats [verses]. They are of Ummul Kitab [the Universal Repository of All Knowledge], as well as others that are allegorical. But those who have doubts and sickness in their hearts tend to pursue that which is allegorical, trying to cause fitna [dissension between parties] by explaining it (in a way that suits themselves). No one knows its deeper meaning except Allah. And those who are deeply rooted in knowledge and science say, “We believe that all of it is from our Rab [Lord].” But no one except ulul albab [people of understanding and mature discernment] take heed. (Aal-e Imran:7)

The maqam of a true teacher

And they found one of Our devotees (Khidr) to whom We had given mercy from Our close quarters, and whom We had taught Ilm al Ladun [Divine Knowledge received directly from Allah]. Musa said to him, “May I follow you until you teach me from the wisdom that has been given to you?” (Al Kahf:65-66)

A true teacher gives what you need. And the other thing is they talk from where they are at. They do not talk public matters that they are not there. So if the teacher is telling you something, it means that they lived this, they are there so they can tell you. If they are not there, they will not tell you.

Story of a remarkable teacher

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This is the story of one of the Pirs [Founders; Spiritual Ancestors] of the Ansari Qadiri Rifai Tariqa.

Somebody brought her kid and said, “Please talk to my kid that he should not eat sweets.” He said, “Come back in forty days.” So she went and came back and then the Pir said, “Do not eat sweets.” And the lady said, “If this was this simple, why didn’t you say this forty days ago?” And he said, “Because forty days ago, I was eating sweets myself, how can I tell him not to do it?”

So when you are doing something, you cannot tell the others not to do it while you are doing it yourself. When you are causing fitna, you cannot call somebody and say, “Do not cause fitna.”

This is an edited excerpt of the Online Saturday Sohbet given on January 19, 2008 by Murshid Shaykh Taner Vargonen Ansari and published on sufiview.com on October 25, 2021. The translation of the Qur’an verses are also from Murshid Shaykh Taner Vargonen Ansari.

“Our Rab, please raise up among them a messenger who will recite Your ayats, and teach them the Scripture and wisdom and good manners that will draw them closer to You. Truly, You are Al Aziz [The Revered and Most Precious One], Al Hakim [The Wise One].” (Al Baqara:129)

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