The Benefit of Ijmāʿ and Its Sanad (Basis)
Answer
One point deserves mention here: the fact that ijmāʿ is a proof (ḥujjah) does not mean — Allah forbid such a notion — that those who form an ijmāʿ have received some "divine authority" in matters of the Sharia, as though, freed from the Qur'an and the Sunnah, they could declare ḥarām or ḥalāl whatever they wished.
Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya
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