Clarification that taqlid (following a scholar without knowing his evidence) is not knowledge, and the evidence for this.

The Shaykh : We only forbid what we describe as "religion through taqlid (following a scholar without knowing his evidence)"; we do not forbid taqlid itself. In fact, it is something from which even scholars do not escape, let alone others. We only forbid making taqlid one's religion. What does "religion through taqlid" mean? It means making the following of one of the Muslim imams a religion by which we worship Allah, while we do not value the other Muslim imams and do not benefit from their knowledge in any way. We do not benefit from the authentic hadiths they narrated to us from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), nor from the authentic reports (athar) they conveyed from the Companions, nor from the sound deductions they derived from the Book of Allah and the Sunnah. We do not benefit from any imam except this one, and we only worship and draw near to Allah through following him and his knowledge alone. This is the religion through this type of taqlid that we forbid. Why?
Because, first of all, this means that this follower (muqallid) singles out this followed imam (muqallad) with something he does not single out the other imams with. This is a fanaticism that leads to... [the exclusion of] the followers from the followed [imams] in terms of knowledge. At that point, what Allah (Mighty and Majestic) mentioned regarding some nations before us applies to them, namely the Christians, when our Lord (Mighty and Majestic) said concerning them: , . This is a characteristic of the Lord that no one is permitted to share in, or one of the Lord's exclusive attributes in which no one is allowed to participate: the right of legislation, which includes making things lawful and forbidden. No one on earth, not even the angels brought near, has the right to forbid or permit anything for anyone except by a revelation from Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He) that they convey to the chosen prophets and righteous messengers.
The Christians deviated from this path and transferred the right of legislation, which was an exclusive attribute of Allah, to some of their priests, monks, and scholars. So, when they forbade them something, they forbade it and submitted; and when they permitted them something, they permitted it. This verse was difficult for some of the Companions of the Messenger (peace be upon him) when it was revealed. One of them was from the few Arabs who had become Christians in the pre-Islamic age of ignorance (jahiliyyah). You know that the Arabs were an unlettered nation, as stated in the authentic hadith, so they were not People of the Book. However, some individuals among them who were given intelligence and acumen realized that the state of their Arab people was pure polytheism, and they found that the religion of the Christians contained some knowledge and culture, so some of them became Christians. Among these was 'Adi ibn Hatim al-Tai (Hatim al-Tai, famous for his generosity among the Arabs), who became a Christian in the pre-Islamic age of ignorance. When Allah (Mighty and Majestic) brought Islam through Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him), he embraced Islam and believed in him, in a story narrated in "Musnad al-Imam Ahmad" and elsewhere. When he embraced Islam, he would sit with the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) to receive knowledge from him, because he knew that the religion of the Christians he had been upon contained great and major deviation. When this verse was revealed, he did not understand its intent. He said: "O Messenger of Allah, we did not take them as lords besides Allah," because he understood, as many people do even today, that the meaning is that they say, "So-and-so is a creator with Allah!" and "So-and-so is a creator with Allah!" This is the disbelief that some precise scholars have agreed to call "disbelief in lordship" (kufr al-rububiyyah), which is opposed to "oneness of lordship" (tawhid al-rububiyyah). This is not what is intended in the verse, contrary to what came to the mind of 'Adi ibn Hatim al-Tai: "We did not take them as lords besides Allah!" So the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) clarified it to him through a method of question and answer, from which we learn some of our methods in discussing with people: we ask them to take the answer from them. He (peace be upon him) said: . "When they forbid you something that is known to you to be lawful, but the priest or monk forbids it for you, do you not follow him?" He said: "No." And the reverse is the reverse; that is, when they permit you something that is forbidden, do you not permit it? He said: "Yes." He (peace be upon him) said: . So the follower today, when you tell him, "Allah said, the Messenger of Allah said," he confronts you by saying, "This is contrary to my madhhab (school of jurisprudence)!!"
...
Other imams may be higher than him in knowledge and status, and they are at least... [equipped] with that, but they have the Book of Allah and the hadith of the Messenger of Allah, yet they do not pay attention to all that. Why? Because it is religion through taqlid. This religion through taqlid is what we, the people of the Sunnah, the people of hadith, the supporters of the Sunnah, the Salafis, deny. We do not deny that the general public should follow scholars (taqlid), but who are the ones they follow? Who are the followed imams for them? They are the ones who say, "Allah said, the Messenger of Allah said." It is not obligatory for them, and indeed it is not permissible for them, to follow someone who tells them, "This is forbidden." Why? What do you know? It is not the text, it is not the fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence)... shaykh, shaykh... and so on. This is the application of the old hadith of misguidance: . So we want from the general Muslims, from the common people and the specialists, that the specialists fulfill the obligation of correct knowledge derived from the Book and the Sunnah, and that the general public ask the people of knowledge, as He (the Exalted) said: .
So we do not say with this narration about which the question was asked; nor do I know if it has a source either. We do not forbid taqlid, nor do we make taqlid obligatory. Rather, we make it obligatory that we be upon the command of Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He). In the Noble Qur'an: , . So we call upon all Muslims, their specialists and their general public, to be clear-sighted in their religion. But the path differs: the specialists are to be clear-sighted in their religion without the intermediary of asking others, but by referring to the Book of Allah and the hadith of the Messenger of Allah when they are qualified for that. The general public are to be clear-sighted through their asking of these people, and at that time, clarity is realized for the entire Ummah (Muslim community).
And we must know that the effect of this employment and this clarity that we call Muslims to— as we said, we repeat— that their general public and specialists be upon it, is that by this we close the door of misguidance so that it does not deceive some Muslims. Because these people have armed themselves with "Allah said" and "the Messenger of Allah said." So if one of the Dajjals (false messiahs) comes to them to say something that no previous scholar has said before, and for which there is no evidence from the Book of Allah or from the hadith of the Messenger of Allah, this clarity drives the people of clarity to confront these people by saying: . And they will not be able to prove that they are among the truthful. Rather, when they fail to bring the proof, they prove for themselves that they are among the misguided.