Discussion of the third chapter, which is taqlid (following a scholar without knowing his evidence) and making it a religion.

The Shaykh : The third chapter: Taqlid (following a scholar without knowing his evidence) and adopting it as a school of thought and a religion.
It is not hidden from the brothers present that taqlid (following a scholar without knowing his evidence) in language is derived from the necklace (qaladah) with which one adorns another, and from this comes the adorning of the sacrificial animals. So it is as if the one who follows has made that ruling in which he followed the mujtahid (a scholar qualified to derive rulings) like a necklace around the neck of the one he followed. In technical terminology, it is acting upon the statement of another without evidence. This excludes acting upon the statement of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), acting upon scholarly consensus, the common person’s recourse to the mufti (a scholar who issues fatwas), and the judge’s recourse to the testimony of the upright; for in these, the evidence has been established.
This text of the principles of jurisprudence has benefited us with two important matters:
The first: that taqlid (following a scholar without knowing his evidence) is not beneficial knowledge.
The other: that it is the duty of the ignorant common person.
It is necessary, to clarify the reality of these two matters, to pause at them for a while and look at each of them in the light of the Book and the Sunnah, citing the statements of the imams (the one who leads the prayer) as evidence for that, and then following that by looking into the conditions of those who claim to follow them and the extent of the correctness of their following of their statements.