Refuting the doubt of the followers of taqlid (blind following) that the founders of the four schools of jurisprudence derived their knowledge from the Book and the Sunnah.

The Shaykh : Here is a doubt: It often troubles some hearts and appears on the tongues of many people. This doubt says: Did not each of the four Imams derive his school of jurisprudence from the Book and the Sunnah? We say to them, yes. In fact, we know better than they do that when they established their principles and derived their branches, they did so relying on the Book and the Sunnah. However, all these scholars testify that the knowledge mentioned in the Book and the Sunnah—or, more precisely, the knowledge transmitted in the Book and the Sunnah—is partly explicit, and partly requires derivation and specific jurisprudence. As it came in Sahih al-Bukhari: Abu Juhayfah al-Sa'idi, one of the Companions of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), asked 'Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) and said: "Did the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) give you, O people of the House, any special knowledge?" He said: "No, except what is in the sheath of this sword." And he took out of the sword's sheath a paper written with some hadiths related to wounds and retaliation. Then he said—and here is the point: "And except understanding which Allah grants to a servant in His Book." Here, in understanding, disagreement may occur among the great jurists. And when that happens, such disagreement must be referred back to the Book and the Sunnah.