The Ruling on Affiliation with the Schools of Jurisprudence

Question:
This questioner asks: Is it permissible for a person to say, "I am a Maliki, or a Shafi'i, or a Hanbali, or a Hanafi in the principles of jurisprudence," and to say this to people for the sake of fame or for the sake of spreading?

Answer:
There is nothing wrong with a person saying, "I am a Hanbali, or I am a Shafi'i, or I am a Maliki, or a Hanafi." These are schools of the people of the Sunnah. Affiliation with them is permissible, but one must not be fanatical about them. What is forbidden is fanaticism. If a view in the school contradicts the evidence, one must not be fanatical about it.
He follows the view that has evidence, whether it is in the school he affiliates with or in the school of another of the Imams, without fanaticism. As for mere affiliation, there is nothing wrong with it; affiliation without fanaticism, such that if the evidence appears to him in a school other than the one he affiliates with, he takes it. Yes.

The presenter:
May Allah reward you, Honorable Shaykh,