The 4 imams warned against Taqleed

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

أبو ‌حنيفة يقول: إذا جاء عن النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم ‌فعلى ‌الرأس ‌والعين وإذا جاء عن أصحاب النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم نختار من قولهم وإذا جاء عن التابعين زاحمناهم [المدخل للبيهقي (٤٠) وسنده حسن]

Abū Ḥanīfah (may Allāh have mercy on him) said:
“If it comes from the Prophet ﷺ, then upon the head and eyes (total submission). If it comes from the Companions of the Prophet ﷺ, we choose from their statements (without a new view). And if it comes from the Tābiʿīn, we compete with them (in Ijtihād).” [al-Madkhal by al-Bayhaqī (40); Isnād Ḥasan. See al-Baḥr al-Muḥīṭ (6/212)]

قال أبو نعيم وسمعت زفر يقول كنا نختلف إلى أبي حنيفة ومعنا أبو يوسف ومحمد بن الحسن فكنا نكتب عنه قال زفر فقال يوما أبو حنيفة لأبي يوسف ويحك يا يعقوب لا تكتب كل ما تسمع مني فإني قد أرى ‌الرأي ‌اليوم ‌وأتركه غدا وأرى الرأي غدا وأتركه بعد غد [تاريخ الدوري (٢٤٦١) وسنده صحيح]

Abū Nuʿaym (al-Fadl bin Dukayn) said: I heard Zufar (bin Hudhayl) say: “We would differ with Abū Ḥanīfah, and with us were (Qadi) Abū Yūsuf and Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥasan (al-Shaybani), so we would write down from him (Abu Hanifa).” Zufar then said: “One day Abū Ḥanīfah said to Abū Yūsuf: ‘Woe to you, O Yaʿqūb! Do not write everything you hear from me, for indeed I may hold an opinion today and leave it tomorrow, and I may hold an opinion tomorrow and leave it the day after tomorrow.'” [Tārīkh al-Dūrī (2461); Isnād Ṣaḥīḥ]

ابْنُ وَهْبٍ، قَالَ:ـ
قَالَ لِي مَالِكٌ وَهُوَ يُنْكِرُ كَثْرَةَ الْجَوَابِ فِي الْمَسَائِلِ: يَا عَبْدَ اللَّهِ مَا عَلِمْتَ فَقُلْ وَدِلَّ عَلَيْهِ، وَمَا لَمْ تَعْلَمْ فَاسْكُتْ عَنْهُ ‌وَإِيَّاكَ ‌أَنْ ‌تَتَقَلَّدَ لِلنَّاسِ قِلَادَةَ سُوءٍ [المدخل للبيهقي (٨٢٢) والفقيه والمتفقه (٢/٣٥٩) وما رواه الأكابر عن مالك (٣٩) بأسانيد جيدة]

Ibn Wahb reported: Mālik said to me, disapproving of excessive responses to questions, “O Abdullāh, speak (only) about what you know and guide others to it. As for what you do not know, remain silent. And beware of imposing upon people misguided taqlīd.“ [al-Madkhal by al-Bayhaqī 822, al-Faqīh wa al-Mutafaqqih (2/359), Mā rawāho al-Akābir ‘an Mālik (39); Jayyid asānīd]

قال الشافعي:ـ
كل ما قلت، وكان عن النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم خلاف قولي مما يصح، فحديث النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم أولى، ‌ولا ‌تقلدوني [آداب الشافعي ومناقبه (ص ٥١) وسنده صحيح]

al-Shafi’ī said:
“Whatever I say which opposes something authentic from the prophet ﷺ then the hadith of the prophet ﷺ is more deserving and don’t do Taqleed of me” [Adab al-Shafi’i wa Manaqibuh (p. 51) with Sahih Isnad]

قال المزني في المختصر:ـ
اختصرت هذا الكتاب من علم محمد بن إدريس الشافعي رحمه الله ومن معنى قوله لأقربه على من أراده مع إعلامه نهيه عن تقليده ‌وتقليد غيره لينظر فيه لدينه ويحتاط فيه لنفسه، وبالله التوفيق

Al-Muzanī said in his Mukhtaṣar:
“I have summarised this book from the knowledge of Muḥammad ibn Idrīs al-Shāfiʿī, may Allāh have mercy on him, and from the meaning of his statements, to make it more accessible to the one who desires it, while making him aware of his (al-Shāfiʿī’s) prohibition of blindly following him (taqlīd) and blindly following others, so that he may reflect upon it for his religion and exercise caution in it for his own self. And with Allāh is the Tawfīq (success and guidance).”

قلت لأحمد: أليس الأوزاعي هو أتبع من مالك؟ قال «‌لا ‌تقلد ‌دينك ‌أحدا من هؤلاء، ما جاء عن النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم وأصحابه فخذ به، ثم التابعين بعد الرجل فيه مخير [مسائل أحمد برواية أبي داود (١٧٩٣)]

I said to Aḥmad (bin Hanbal): “Is not al-Awzāʿī more following (of the Sunnah) than Mālik?” He said: “Do not blindly follow (taqlīd) your religion to anyone of these. Whatever has come from the Prophet ﷺ and his Companions, take it; Then the Tābiʿīn afterwards, a man may choose (what is correct).” [Masāʾil Aḥmad bi-riwāyat Abī Dāwūd (1793)]