to emulate the scholars whose learning enjoys wide acceptance, whose insight is sound, and whose complete preparedness fits them to serve as Imams in the religion. When we examine the lives of Imam Abu Hanifah, Imam al-Shafi‘i, Imam Malik, or Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal—may Allah have mercy on them—we find in each biography a fresh model of leadership. Look at his conduct at home and you will find an Imam; look at his dealings with people and you will find an Imam; look at his worship and you will find an Imam; look at his preservation of knowledge and you will find an Imam; look at his grasp of the textual evidence and you will find an Imam; look at his devotion, his piety, his transcendence of the ego, and you will find an Imam. Every virtue displayed by those Imams is a lamp of guidance and right direction; this is the true measure of knowledge and the true standard for taking people as guides.

Returning to his accusation that the Salafis treat the mujtahids with contempt, belittle their rank, and forbid people to follow them while urging the people to follow no one but themselves: such scorn for the mujtahids, this belittling of their stature, the call for ordinary folk to perform ijtihad on their own, or the prohibition placed upon them from following the established mujtahid Imams—all of it is a grave error. They bar people from following Abu Hanifah, al-Shafi‘i, Ahmad, and Malik—may Allah have mercy on them—yet invite those same people to follow their own opinions. They forbid others to practice taqlid of the Imams, while demanding that those others perform taqlid of themselves. In effect, they declare the practice unlawful for everyone else but permit it for their own persons.

And if we ourselves are mere followers—your preacher included—and even those more learned than he are followers as well, then whom shall we follow—