the Sunnah.

The adherents of the Sunnah have not said that those permitted to follow an authority may not follow these men and their peers. Rather, they unanimously agree that following any one of these men or their peers is like following others of comparable standing, and is permissible for anyone for whom such following is permissible.

Most Sunni scholars hold that following an authority in matters of religious law is permissible only for someone unable to reason from the evidence. This is explicitly stated (1) by al-Shāfiʿī and Ahmad, and is the position of their followers. The claim that Ahmad permitted one scholar to follow another scholar’s authority is an erroneous attribution to him. This view, however, has been reported (2) from Muhammad ibn al-Hasan—[Abū Hanīfa’s disciple] (3). It is reported of him that a scholar may follow one more learned than himself; according to another report, a scholar may follow another scholar.

This disagreement applies when the position consistent with the Book and the sunnah has not become clear to him (4). If what the Messenger brought has become clear to him (5), then, by Muslim consensus, it is impermissible [for him] (6) to follow an authority in opposition to it. As for someone incapable of reasoning from the evidence, the majority permit him to follow an authority, whereas a group among the Zāhirīs prohibit it.

The majority of Muslim scholars hold that the ability to undertake independent legal reasoning and reason from the evidence is divisible and may be possessed in part. A man may therefore be capable of independent legal reasoning and reasoning from the evidence concerning one issue or one branch of knowledge but not another; and this is the case with most scholars—