Does being a great shaykh’s disciple save a person?

Being the disciple of a great shaykh would not deliver from the hellfire a person who does not follow the Shariah and its rulings. Some ignorant men, the so-called pirs, proclaim that they are disciples of the great masters and deem themselves above what the Shariah requires and above complying with it, as though discipleship of a great master were the means for redemption.

Some pretenders boast that they are the successors of acclaimed masters, or that they are pledged to a certain Sufi order in which they do not need to follow the Shariah, or that they belong to a certain caste, and they neglect their beliefs. No one is above the law, as the hadith narrated by Abu Huraira may Allah be pleased with him authenticates: when the verse "And warn your close relatives" was revealed, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ summoned his tribe.

Another hadith states that he said to his daughter Sayyedah Fatima may Allah be pleased with her, "O Fatimah may Allah be pleased with her! Save yourself from the Hellfire because I do not have the power to save you from Allah." [Sahih Muslim 204]

The misunderstanding of those who deem themselves above the Shariah is apparent from the hadith in which someone even in the service of the Beloved Prophet ﷺ was retributed for the sin. The hadith validates the futility of bay'ah which does not follow practice.

It is narrated that a man named Kirkirah was in charge of the Messenger's ﷺ baggage. When he died, the Beloved Prophet ﷺ said, "He has gone to the Fire." When the Companions looked at the man's possessions, they found a cloak he had misappropriated from the spoils of war. [Sahih al-Bukhari 3074]