Arguing by the Majority in Issues of Jurisprudence

The questioner : Shaykh, regarding the statement that three trustworthy narrators outweigh one trustworthy narrator, well, those who adopt the majority opinion argue with something like this, meaning they say to you, "Three imams opposed one imam, so we are with them." How do we respond to them?

The Shaykh : We respond to them with evidence: the Book, the Sunnah, and the Sunnah. What does it say? And what does the Qur'an say? Here, the issue is completely different from the example you gave. Yes, the Sunnah says, "If you differ in anything, refer it to Allah and the Messenger." The Qur'an says: and it says: and so on. And the Sunnah says, "My Ummah will split into seventy-three sects," and so on: one sect is saved, and seventy-two are perished. So, arguing by the majority in jurisprudential issues is contrary to the Book and the Sunnah. But here, the issue is logical and rational, not a religious one. I mean, this person is a memorizer, correct?
And these three are memorizers. You are compelled, by nature and fitrah, to make a comparison between this one and those. In that case, you argue by the majority not to establish a religious ruling by the majority, but to prefer one narration over another. It is necessary to do so. I say it is necessary because...
There is no other way. Either you prefer it, as Abu 'Abdullah did with a report containing an addition by a trustworthy narrator, and you say, "This addition is acceptable because he is trustworthy." Or you say, "No, these three are trustworthy and their narration is..." So you must prefer one over the other. If you prefer the minority, what is the argument in that case? By the minority?
When we say that arguing by the majority is contrary to the Shari'ah, is there anyone who says, "We argue by the minority"? I mean, if one person says, "This is haram," and the majority say, "This is halal," do we say, "No, the one who said it is haram is correct because he is one person"? Or do we say, "The ones who said it is halal are correct because they are the majority"? No one says that.

The questioner : Except by evidence.

The Shaykh : Except by evidence, but when we do not have...