I wanted to ask is there any restriction on how many people you can give bay’t to? For example if you give bay’t to one sheikh, can you give bay’t to another sheikh? And do you need permission of first sheikh for this?
‘Bai’at’ means to establish a relationship on the basis of ‘islah’ or rectification, and it is based on excess love and attunement. The more love and focus there is in the relationship, the better are the results. Therefore, if a person goes to more than one place it will not be good for him, because of the distraction that will be caused in his focus. The other thing is, he would lose trust, because it is likely that if he hears same thing from two different people he would start evaluating as to who said better then whom. There are other things that would come up, which are not good for a healthy relationship, people who see a person going from here to there would also not take him very seriously. That is the reason why the scholars have suggested that a person should not give his pledge of allegiance to more than one spiritual guide. But if for some other reason, a person finds his shaykh as not compatible from the shariah’s point of view, then he can pursue another spiritual guide.
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