The Status of Students of Knowledge Among the Categories of the Layperson, the Scholar, and the Mujtahid

The questioner:
This questioner says: You mentioned that people are of three categories: the layperson, the scholar, and the absolute mujtahid. What about students of

The Shaykh:
knowledge?

The questioner:
And a scholar, yes, a scholar.

The Shaykh:
A scholar who knows the evidence and how to weigh them, yes.

The questioner:
He says: May Allah reward you. What about students of knowledge? Which of the three categories do they fall into?

The Shaykh:
Regarding that knowledge, do you place them among the laypeople who know nothing, or among scholars who know the evidence and how to weigh them, or among those of absolute ijtihad? As far as we know, there is no one today among those of absolute ijtihad. It is sufficient for one to be a scholar of the evidence and how to weigh them, and to adopt the stronger position. Yes.

The questioner:
May Allah reward you, Honorable Shaykh. This questioner says: What is meant by it?

The Shaykh:
Absolute ijtihad has conditions that the usul al-fiqh scholars have mentioned, which do not apply to everyone. Yes.