diff --git a/changelogs/fragments/6949-ejabberdctl-error.yml b/changelogs/fragments/6949-ejabberdctl-error.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..be2294ffa3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelogs/fragments/6949-ejabberdctl-error.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+bugfixes:
+  - ejabberd_user - provide meaningful error message when the ``ejabberdctl`` command is not found (https://github.com/ansible-collections/community.general/pull/7028, https://github.com/ansible-collections/community.general/issues/6949).
diff --git a/plugins/modules/ejabberd_user.py b/plugins/modules/ejabberd_user.py
index 397207ae61..a8872cacc3 100644
--- a/plugins/modules/ejabberd_user.py
+++ b/plugins/modules/ejabberd_user.py
@@ -122,7 +122,7 @@ class EjabberdUser(object):
         """ This method will run the any command specified and return the
         returns using the Ansible common module
         """
-        cmd = [self.module.get_bin_path('ejabberdctl'), cmd] + options
+        cmd = [self.module.get_bin_path('ejabberdctl', required=True), cmd] + options
         self.log('command: %s' % " ".join(cmd))
         return self.module.run_command(cmd)