How does a student of knowledge seek the knowledge of fiqh?

The questioner : ... .

The Shaykh : The advice, in my opinion, is appropriate... that there are no scholars teaching fiqh from the Book and the Sunnah. If there are scholars teaching fiqh from the Book and the Sunnah, then that is obligatory. And this, as is the reality, unfortunately, is rare. In that case, the student of knowledge must either remain ignorant or deeply steeped in his ignorance... or he must... follow the madhhabs. Then, whenever the Sunnah becomes clear to him within a madhhab, he follows it. In this case, it is the opinion. I say: if the student of knowledge... then if he is faced with two evils, he must choose the lesser of the two. There is no disagreement that if he studies one of the four madhhabs, he will lean toward one side while he has no knowledge. After that, as he proceeds in studying knowledge, it may become apparent to him—and we and others have experienced this—that Ibn Taymiyyah and Ibn al-Qayyim were not able to become scholars until they had gone through the stage of following a madhhab. This is because the environment in which they lived was entirely madhhab-based, and history repeats itself, inevitably. So this...The student : ...the higher he rises in seeking knowledge, the more some issues in the opposing madhhab that are closer to the Book and the Sunnah become clear to him, and he adopts them. As for one who initially clings to the hadith and clings to the verse while he does not understand the general and the specific, the absolute and the restricted, and the abrogating and the abrogated; this is with regard to the Book and the Sunnah. Then, he does not know the authentic from the weak in the hadith with regard to the Sunnah. Therefore, it is necessary for one in this environment to study the madhhab-based study as a stage in the stages of knowledge. Is this clear—also?

The questioner : Is that clear?