Encouraging Following and Abandoning Taqlid

The Shaykh : I used to be like the imam in this regard, saying, "I wonder, is this imam's opinion more correct, or Imam al-Shafi'i's?" I didn't know, but now I have learned and understood. I believe my current situation is better than it was in the past. However, some people do not realize that such scrutiny of the religion commanded in the Noble Qur'an implies a slighting of the imams... Never. That is an illusion. I advise the young Muslim to purify himself from it, because any Muslim, especially one who scrutinizes the religion, knows the status of the Muslim imams better than those who follow them blindly. This is a fact. I know that when I was a Hanafi, I did not know the knowledge of al-Shafi'i, Malik, or Ahmad. But when I adopted the imam's saying as one of its principles, "If a hadith is authentic, it is my madhhab," I realized that the other imams possess knowledge that is no less than the knowledge of the imam I was following. This was not for any reason other than the fact that my father and grandfather were Hanafis. So where does the illusion come from that this means establishing a fifth madhhab? And, my brother, do you have the power to prevent a fifth madhhab from existing? For example, if establishing a fifth madhhab is misguidance, and you have heard recently and long ago the saying of the Messenger (peace be upon him) that the Muslim community will split into seventy-three sects, then your saying that a fifth madhhab will be established—my brother, there are already fifty madhhabs. Are you afraid that it will become fifty-one, or more, or less? You should not fear that an increase will be called a new madhhab as much as you should fear deviating from following the Book and the Sunnah, which is the point of agreement among all the imams. There is no point of agreement among the imams that you must be a Hanafi, a Shafi'i, a Maliki, or a Hanbali before... what is transmitted. Rather, this is what they forbade, and they said: "Take from where we took." All that is required is this, and we testify to Allah with it. Either you are able to be a follower who does not follow blindly, walking without insight, or you are able to walk with insight in your religion. This is by knowing, initially, even just one issue and its evidence, and then, over time, near or far, you know another issue with its evidence, and so on, and your insight increases with the days. Either you are able to be as He (Glorified and Exalted is He) said to His Prophet: Either you are able to be among the followers of the Messenger (peace be upon him); and that is by being on insight in your religion. So praise be to Allah. And if you say you are not able, Allah does not burden a soul beyond what it can bear. So there is no fear for any Muslim who moves from the lower rank, which is blind taqlid, to the next rank, which is following the scholar by knowing his evidence, and then to another rank where you search yourself. You are cultured, you have knowledge of the Arabic language and its literature, you have some knowledge of hadith and its terminology, you have some knowledge of fiqh and its principles. You search to the extent you have been given. In the end, you will reach a saying that preceded you, whether you like it or not, despite your nose, because there is no room for increase in sayings and opinions now. More has been said than is necessary, so you will not be able, as reality testifies, to come with a new saying. So when you exercise independent legal reasoning, you either hit the mark or miss, and I mean by independent legal reasoning, do not let what I do not intend come to mind: partial independent legal reasoning. No matter how much you exert effort and no matter what saying you adopt, you are preceded to it. If we had room, we would ask each of you to come with a new opinion in practical rulings, in acts of worship, in dhikr, and in creed. Some of the later scholars who adopt the methodology of the pious Salaf—and I mean what I say, that they adopt the methodology of the pious Salaf—would not find anyone saying anything but what has been said previously, and this saying was preferred for evidence that appeared to him. I say, from those who adopt the methodology of the pious Salaf, because in this era we have been afflicted with fatwas that contradict the Book and the Sunnah and the consensus of the community, both the Salaf and the Khalaf. These people, unfortunately, we do not give weight to their knowledge, because they did not proceed in their knowledge according to the principles of their own knowledge, nor according to the Book and the Sunnah, even according to the principles from themselves.