The weightier opinion is that this condition is not required, for the Almighty says, “Ask those who possess knowledge if you do not know” (al-Nahl 16:43). The verse occurs in the context of affirming the truth of the Messenger, which is one of the fundamentals of faith. Moreover, the ordinary Muslim cannot arrive at the correct ruling by weighing the proofs himself; when access to the truth through personal investigation is impossible, nothing remains but taqlid, in accordance with His words: “So fear Allah as much as you are able” (al-Taghābun 64:16).

Categories of Taqlid
Taqlid is of two kinds: general and specific.

1. General taqlid is for a person to bind himself to a particular school, adopting both its dispensations and its strictures in every aspect of his religious life.
   Scholars have differed about this practice. Some reported it to be obligatory, arguing that ijtihād has become unattainable for later generations; others declared it impermissible, because it entails unconditional submission to someone other than the Prophet ﷺ.
   Shaykh al-Islām Ibn Taymiyyah said: “To claim that obedience to anyone besides the Prophet ﷺ is obligatory in everything he commands and forbids runs counter to consensus, and even saying that it is merely permissible is problematic.”(1)
   He also said: “Whoever commits himself to a particular school and then acts contrary to it—without following another scholar who has issued him a fatwa, without relying on evidence that warrants the contrary view, and without a legitimate excuse that renders his action lawful—is simply following his own desires and committing the forbidden without a valid justification; this is blameworthy. If, however, it becomes clear to him that one opinion is stronger than another—either through detailed proofs, should he know and understand them, or by seeing that one of the two scholars is more knowledgeable about that issue than the other and more God-fearing—”