Can a seeker benefit from reading his shaykh’s words?

From the shaykh's words, whether a seeker hears them or reads them, the intent can be gathered, though the importance of the shaykh's company cannot be denied and it has profound benefits of its own. Technology has now made it easier to save and spread his words, and so to make them accessible to those who do not live in his vicinity.

Mujaddid Alf Thani rahimahullah wrote letters to disciples living away from him when travelling was hard, and those letters carry the nur, the light, of his words so fully that they are read even now and used as a great reference to Tasawwuf.

The best way prescribed is still the traditional way of listening to the shaykh's words and keeping him informed of one's states, one's ahwal. Allah's Divine concern, inaya, has its own ways.

Books are the great source of information, but it is when they are combined with tálluq, the connection with a shaykh, that the information becomes knowledge, and when this knowledge is imparted to others, it becomes worthwhile and affects the heart.

Shaykh Abdul Qadir Gilani rahimahullah, Shaykh Ahmad Sirhindi rahimahullah and many other great scholars, who by the special blessings of Allah were born Wali, friends of Allah, and are known for their works on Islamic jurisprudence and Fiqh, maintained tálluq with a shaykh. It is tálluq that produces scholars who are true heirs of the Prophet ﷺ, whose students follow them in knowledge and character and succeed in bringing a change.