[usaneisfiecup]

I don't think they say that "it is not valid for our times."

I think that some people practice tassawuf without tariqa. From the scholars who follow tariqa I have heard that you cannot achieve real spiritual ihsan (excellence) except through tariqa with almost no exception. Those scholars who aren't so pro-tariqa note that it is ok to take a Shaykh if one's lower self is so strong that one finds that he will not fall into sin except if there is a Shaykh to help them, but that it is not really an obligation or necessary for ALL people.

Imam Shatibi was a proponent of the view that a Shaykh is not always necessary yet he intended to write a book proving tassawuf (which he never got the chance to do, or we haven't found it). Ibn Khaldun, Ibn `Abbad al-Rundi, and others are of the view that a tariqa is necessary.

And Allah knows best I am really not even close to even knowing 1% of this stuff so ask Salman or someone who knows what he's talking about. This is just what I *think* I understand.