Aslam

Praise be to Allah.

There are various opinions on this matter.

Ibn al-Qayyim said:

The first view is that it is not permissible to give

a fatwa based on taqleed [Translator’s

note: Taqleed [lit. imitation] means repeating the views of scholars

to others without knowing the details or basis of their fatwas]

, because that is not knowledge, and giving a fatwa without knowledge

is haraam. There is no dispute among people that taqleed is not the

same as knowledge and that the muqallid (the one who imitates or repeats

the views of others) cannot be given the name of ‘aalim (scholar). This

is the view of most of our companions and the view of the majority of

Shaafa’is.

The second view is that it is permissible with regard

to himself; he may follow the view of one of the scholars if the fatwa

is with regard to himself only. But it is not permissible for him to

repeat the views of a scholar in giving a fatwa to someone else. This

is the view of Ibn Battah and others among our companions. Al-Qaadi

said: Ibn Battah mentioned in his letters to al-Barmaki: it is not permitted

for a person to issue a fatwa based on what he had heard from a scholar

who issued a fatwa. Rather it is permissible for him to follow that

scholar’s view with regard to himself, but repeating his views and issuing

a fatwa to someone else, this is not permitted.

The third view is that this is permitted when necessary

and when there is no scholar who is qualified to make ijtihaad. This

is the most correct view and this is our guideline. Al-Qaadi said: Abu

Hafs said in his comments: I heard Abu ‘Ali al-Hasan ibn ‘Abd-Allaah

al-Najjaad say: I heard Abu’l-Husayn ibn Bashraan say: what I may criticize

a man for is learning five issues of fiqh from Ahmad then sitting by

a pillar in the mosque [i.e., setting himself up as a scholar] and issuing

fatwas based on that.