Shaikh Ibnul Uthaimeen said,

“A time ago, the people of the Kingdom never exited from [the Hanbali Fiqh Books] ‘Al-Iqnaa’ and ‘Al-Muntahaa’. You will find that their fatawa were the same and their commentaries were the same. None would differ from one another except in presentation and beauty in style… However, nowadays when a person memorizes a hadith or two, he says “I am the Imam that should be followed and Imam Ahmed is a man and we are men.” So the situation has fallen to anarchy. Everyone is issuing fatwas. Sometimes the fatwas are such that they make you cry (at the deviance) and laugh (at the ridiculousness).

I had intended to compile such fatawa, however I feared that I become one of those who search for the faults of his brothers. So I left it out of caution on my part. Otherwise we have copied such matters which were as far from the correct (opinion) as far as the Pleiades star from the earth.”

[Kitabul Ilm by Ibnul Uthaimeen Pg.72]

قبل مدة كان الناس هنا في المملكة لا يخرجون أبدا عن الإقناع والمنتهى؛ فتجد فتاواهم واحدة، وشروحهم واحدة، لا يختلف واحد عن الآخر إلا في الإلقاء وحسن الأسلوب، لكن الآن لما كان كل واحد حافظًا حديثًا أو حديثين قال: أنا الإمام المقتدى به والإمام أحمد رجل ونحن رجال، فصارت المسألة فوضى، صار كل إنسان يفتي أحيانا تأتي الفتاوى تبكي وتضحك، وكنت أهم أن أدون مثل هذه الفتاوى لكن كنت أخشى أن أكون ممن تتبع عورات إخوانه فتركته تحاشيا مني وإلا نقلنا أشياء بعيدة عن الصواب بعد الثريا عن الثرى.