The Authority of Ijma' and the Ruling on Contradicting Evidence

Question:
He says: Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success, is the habitual drinker of intoxicants to be treated by analogy?

Answer:
However, the Committee of Senior Scholars, or other individuals or groups, look at the evidence they relied upon; they look at their evidence. Whoever has the evidence must follow it, and whoever does not have evidence, it is not permissible to follow him or act upon his statement, because it is an error. This is the obligatory duty. Therefore, what the scholars have agreed upon, the ijma' (scholarly consensus) is a decisive proof. And what they disagreed upon, it is referred back to the evidence, it is referred back to the evidence. So whoever has the evidence must accept his statement and abandon what contradicts it. This is the duty of the Muslim who fears Allah and the Hereafter. As for the one who follows his desires, who distorts what agrees with his desires, even if he claims to have this evidence, this is misguidance, and I seek refuge in Allah. So let him follow his desires. So whoever .