The possibility of determining scholarly consensus by examining their books

The questioner:
The Shaykh, may Allah protect your sister, is it possible to obtain the consensus of the scholars, or other scholars, whether past or present, by examining their books to know their opinions?

The Shaykh:
It is possible if you have a firm grasp of their books that you will obtain the consensus of their opinions, but do not call this consensus (ijma'), because consensus means deriving the opinions of the scholars in the entire world. This is difficult. But if you find a set of statements from the scholars that you find to be in agreement, you say, "These agreed on such and such," and you do not say, "They reached consensus on such and such," because consensus is difficult. You must encompass the statements of the scholars in the entire world, with no scholar left out in the whole world. Yes. But you say these are the opinions of those present, and this is considered agreement (ittifaq).