The Concept of Worship towards Sheikh

The followers of deviant movements have an extraordinary level of obedience towards their sheikhs or spiritual leaders. The leaders are regarded as religious sources that determine certain practices and are considered ma‘sum or infallible by his followers. They would therefore blindly follow what their leaders want and desire without much resistance. This has resulted in an extraordinary level of worship exceeding the level accorded for the Prophet s.a.w. Individuals involved in such extreme worshipping risk putting themselves in a major shirk. This article seeks to address the issue of extreme attitude or al-Ghuluw, and the concept of worshipping the spiritual leaders from the Islamic points of view by using the document analysis method. The results of the study have found that these religious leaders are regarded as a point of reference to certain practices, and are considered infallible or free from sin. In more extreme cases, these leaders are deemed to have divine attributes.