What is your opinion of those who say that studying fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence) according to one of the madhhabs (schools of jurisprudence) is necessary?

The questioner : They say that studying the fiqh text is a necessity among necessities?

The Shaykh : Studying the text of what?

The questioner : Of the texts of fiqh or the madhhabs.

The Shaykh : Which fiqh?

The questioner : Which madhhab, a necessity among necessities.

The Shaykh : No, we have a position on this matter until the Muslim society returns to its original state, when there were no madhhabs. There were scholars, but there was no Bukhari, Umar, Uthman, Ali, Saudi, or Hariri madhhab, or anything similar. Rather, they needed to ask a scientific question, so they asked those they trusted in their knowledge, and those who were known for issuing fatwas among the Companions of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). Ibn al-Qayyim (may Allah have mercy on him) mentioned in his book *I'lam al-Muwaqqi'in* that those who issued fatwas from among the Companions after the death of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) were about two hundred Companions, even though the Companions numbered in the thousands. This is an acknowledgment of the virtue of their scholars. So, until the Muslim society returns to its original state, as we mentioned earlier, and which undoubtedly requires tremendous efforts, as we said in some gatherings recently, it is necessary for one who is not in a Salafi environment, for one who does not have scholars in the true sense, not the figurative sense, as some of the followers of taqlid (following a scholar without knowing his evidence) in the present age said. This was a frank word, and at the height of fairness, from a person from whom we have not known fairness, where he said: "It is forbidden for people to perform ijtihad (independent legal reasoning), and the scholars who exist today..."