and to issue fatwas. He must be thoroughly acquainted with the Book of Allah, well-versed in the Sunnah of His Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), and familiar—at least in broad terms—with the statements of the early generations among the Companions and their Followers. He must also master the principles by which rulings are derived: he knows the abrogating and the abrogated, the general and the particular, the unrestricted and the restricted, the ambiguous and the clarified, and other such maxims. In addition, he must be proficient in the rules of the Arabic language—the language of revelation in the Qur’an and the Sunnah—and conversant with the Arabs’ idioms and modes of expression.

As for a person who is merely a reader, able only to recite a book fluently as you have described, it is forbidden for him to engage in ijtihād, for he will fall into error and lead others into error. The layperson and the novice student of knowledge must therefore follow a scholar whose religion and learning they trust, adopting his opinions so long as it is not clear to them that his view contradicts the proof. If the evidence becomes evident to them, they must follow the proof as articulated by the scholars, provided they are capable of distinguishing the stronger view from the weaker. Allah knows best.

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Imitation (taqlīd) is not categorically prohibited

Question: Must a person, in all aspects of his worship, adhere to a single madhhab, or is there no harm if he takes from each of the madhhabs—or from some of them—whatever he deems more rewarding or easier for his religious and worldly affairs?

Answer: This varies from one individual to another. For the layman and the beginner in study, the only course open to them is to imitate a scholar whose knowledge and piety they trust, following one of the four madhhabs that constitute the schools of Ahl al-Sunnah.