About Sufism and spiritual teachers
In Sufism it is the tradition to have a strong connection to your spiritual master -the Sheikh- who is your teacher as a representative of the prophets. As they were to their followers, the Sheikh is the teacher for every means in life, for the here and hereafter. It is known that the spiritual (inner) reality and divine knowledge will appear trough the Sheikh. He must be a pure one, a holy person, who already 'died before he died' in the meaning of that he gave up his ego and his personal will, surrendered fully to the will of the creator to be a channel for the divine. He will also have extensive knowledge about the ways of the prophets and the revealed heavenly advices and will teach the best way for the present time to live it. He will be an ocean of knowledge for any spiritual matters.
....There are several ways belonging to several Sheiks who have reached the station of personal annihilation. There are many traditions delivered from their good characters and deeds. The best way to learn about Sufism is to search for the Sheikh who will give satisfaction to your heart and to learn from him. You may ask the right guidance from heavens to find the one who is written for you as a teacher. Those people who reject Sheiks of tariqats (spiritual ways in Islam) are mostly jealous about something they don't have - the love and the trust in someone who has a connection and insight to their hearts that they don't like. They may study only books, may go here and there and may become extremists and dry or crazy people who are only feared from others. They do not spread love and mercy and wisdom - as Islam is basically the religion of peace and mercy - but violence and jealousy and fear and hatred or get lost in their imaginations. This is not a sign of Islam and sound belief and gives a bad view to people who have no deeper understanding about circumstances. So these people are working in reality against Islam and the Creator of heavens and earth.
....It is said, who has not submitted himself to a living teacher, his teacher will be the devil ore the evil. The only hope for these people is to find a teacher who is bringing them back to the living reality of the prophet of mercy, sayidina Muhammad and of all other prophets(peace be upon them), not only to writings and self-interpretations of Quran and hadith (the holy book of Islam and the true ways of the prophet)or strange pseudo-esotheric ways according to some imaginations. Also those are away from Sufism and true teachings who reject the ways of the Prophets who where the 124.000 first teachers of mankind. If they reject the form of a discipline of a revealed religion and try to find ways through their illusions and so called spiritual insights are on the wrong way. Also they need guidance through a living teacher so they may not stay with their imaginations and their egos. They are almost certainly misguided from ghosts who feed them with strange informations. Everyone must have the alliance with a living teacher, otherwise this person is not trustworthy at all in respect of having reached true spiritual insights. And trough this connection you may proof him according his way and teacher. And as Islam is the perfect way for mankind (don't reject this before you didn't proof it intensively) and the fulfillment of religions and spiritual teachings, the perfect teacher must have reached to the acceptance of Islam and has to live according to the teachings and actings of Prophet Muhammad (pboh). Others are most probably still under the command of their egos and strange ideas and will give at least partly false teachings. There may be very few exceptions who reached the presence of truth because they are especially gifted but do not practice the revealed form of Islam outwardly. But this is absolutely rare.
But also there are those, who practice this precepts but reached not to truth and heavenly reality because they rejected to look after their hearts verily and try to take only from books and did not accept or reach the wisdoms and teachings of holy ones. They are lost if they are not reaching to the forgiveness of the creator.