In these days of darkness and ignorance many people are pleased with their own opinions. They would rather derived laws directly from the the Quran and Sunnah than follow any of the four great Imams.

While the giant scholars of the past with their extensive knowledge of all the sciences of Ijtihad humbled themselves, realized the true status of the 4 Imams and followed them.

One such example is the great jurist and hadith scholar Imam Baihaqi (died 358 AH).
Imam Abul Ma’aali Juwaini said:

“All the shafee jurist are indebted to Imam Shafee except Baihaqi. Imam Shafee is indebted to him, since he has authored so many books in support of Imam Shafee’s school of thought.”

Allamah Zahabi on commenting on Imam Juwani’s statement says:

“Abul Ma’aali is correct. It is as he said. If Baihaqi had wished to formulate his own school of thought and do ijtihad, he could have due to his extensive knowledge (of all the required sciences) and his knowledge of the opinions of the scholars.”

The same can be said concerning Abu Jafar at-Tahawi from amongst the Hanafi Jurist and Muhaddith.

Today we read a translation of the Quran and a few books of hadith and we fool ourselves into thinking we have the right to first object against those who spent their entire lives dedicated to ilm and that we have the right to form our own opinions. May Allah guide us.