Issuing a Fatwa from a Book Without a Teacher

Question

Who is a scholar-mujtahid? If someone, after learning to read the Noble Qur’an from the mushaf, reads a few books of fiqh, does he count among the scholar-mujtahids or not? Please explain, may you be rewarded.

Answer

Such a person is not a scholar-mujtahid. Ijtihad is a lofty rank; a person of this kind has no right even to indicate, in ordinary everyday matters, upon which opinion the fatwa [of the madhhab] is given. [ar]سُئِلَ فِي شَخْصٍ يَقْرَأُ وَيُطَالِعُ فِي الْكُتُبِ الْفِقْهِيَّةِ بِنَفْسِهِ، وَلَمْ يَكُنْ لَهُ شَيْخٌ، وَيُفْتِي وَيَعْتَمِدُ عَلَى مُطَالَعَتِهِ فِي الْكُتُبِ،…

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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