and the issue of the schools of thought became a barrier to their acceptance of Islam)³ - Others claim that what you are calling for, by following the sunnah and not taking the statements of the imams that contradict it, means abandoning their statements entirely and not benefiting from their ijtihād and opinions. I say: This claim is as far from correctness as possible; rather, it is evidently false, as is clearly shown by the previous words, all of which indicate the contrary. What we are calling for is merely to stop making the schools of thought a religion and setting them in place of the Book and the sunnah, such that they are referred to in disputes or when deriving rulings for new incidents, as the jurists of this time do. Based on this, they have established new rulings for personal status, marriage, divorce, and other matters without referring to the Book and the sunnah to discern right from wrong and truth from falsehood. Rather, they follow the method of "their differences are a mercy" and pursue concessions and ease or what they claim to be in the interest - and how excellent is the saying of Sulaymān al-Taymī, may Allāh have mercy on him: "If you take the concession of every scholar, all evil will gather in you," narrated by Ibn ʿAbd al-Barr (2/91-92), and ʿUqbah said: "This is consensus, and I know of no disagreement in it." This is what we reject, and it is in accordance with consensus, as you see. As for referring to their statements and benefiting from them and using them to understand the truth in matters they differed on, which are not explicitly addressed in the Book and the sunnah or require clarification, this is something we do not reject; rather, we command and encourage it because the benefit from it is hoped for by those who follow the path of guidance through the Book and the sunnah