Finding A Suitable Teacher

This topic is one which can really confusing for a student of Knowledge, finding the correct teacher? what constitutes as being a good teacher and what do I need from a good teacher. As a student of knowledge you want to look for someone who can teach at your level, which may mean, not going to the where all the glitz and glam maybe. Sometimes going to the biggest  Alim in hopes of benefitting may bring no results,maybe that Alim is not teaching what you specifically need at that time and his classes are aimed towards the masses so the material is too simple. Conversely it could be that he is teaching something too advanced for you to comprehend at your current stage in knowledge. So it may benefit you to find a Sheikh willing to teach you what you need at your level. 

When choosing a Sheikh to study with you need to take into consideration his history with teaching books, if you are of limited time it may not be wise to sit with a Shiekh who is well known to go off topic and not keep to the discipline you are studying, this is known as Istitraad  i.e to constantly go off topic. You need to find a sheikh who, keeps to the book you are studying and gives the book it's Haqq. What do I mean by giving the book it's Haqq? I mean by that the sheikh teaches the book the way it was intended to be wrtitten, and does not teach his own book by way of teaching someone else's book. An example of that would be for a sheikh to teach a book and constantly criticize the Author of the book, while at the same time actually skipping over what the Author intended in any given chapter, because, the result of that can only be seen when a student revises that book only to realize the Sheikh never really explained it and rather gave his own explanation. So it's very important you choose a sheikh who actually explains books properly. It's very easy to gain that skill and it is simply to ask older students of knowledge who have proceeded you in learning, a student in his first Month studying abroad should not feel so haughty he can't even ask a student at the end of his studies in  Kulliyah (Faculty) about what Sheikh is most suitable for a beginner. Another way would be to search the Sheikh's classes online and see how long it takes for him to finish a basic book. If a sheikh teaches Bayquniyyah in 30 Lessons then it's clear that this is not what you want to be embarking on. Stick to teachers who keep to the book and teach it the way it should be taught.

The reason behind that is the fact that you are studying the Usool in the beginning and not a long Magnum Opus.