Shaykh al-Islām Ibn Taymiyyah said, “Whoever claims that it is obligatory to imitate a particular person other than the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) must be called to repent; if he repents, all well and good, but if he refuses he is to be executed, for no one must be followed unconditionally except Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him). As for the other mujtahid imams—may Allah have mercy on them—we accept only those of their opinions that accord with the Sunnah.

If a mujtahid errs in his ijtihād (independent legal reasoning), it is forbidden for us to adopt his conclusion. Allah, Exalted is He, knows best.

Question: Is the standard by which correctness is distinguished from error simply that the view conforms to the Qur’an and the Sunnah?

Answer: Without a doubt.

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Adherence to a madhhab and ijtihād

Question: I read in a religious book, in the section on following a madhhab, and from what I understood it appears that a mujtahid is not permitted to imitate any of the four well-known madhhabs. Praise be to Allah, I engage in ijtihād on juristic issues in a manner that does not conflict with the Qur’an and the Sunnah. Does what I read therefore mean that I am not required to follow any of those four famous madhhabs, or not?

Answer: The “mujtahid” to whom that book refers is someone who has actually reached the rank of ijtihād, having met all the necessary conditions for independent legal reasoning, just as the four imams did and other leading scholars of this ummah after them.

A mujtahid must possess certain qualifications that grant him the competence to derive rulings;