قال الشيخ ابن عثيمين رحمه الله:
..فهناك فرق بين نسبة القول إلى العالم، وبين أن يفتي به اعتماداً على قول عالمٍ بدون أن ينسبه إليه، فالأول مخبرٌ ناقل، وليس فيه شيء، إلا أن يتأكد أن المفتي قال: كذا وكذا، وأما الثاني فيعتبر مفتياً مجتهداً، والمفتي المجتهد لا بد أن يعرف الدليل ويعرف الاستدلال، ويجيب عن أدلة المخالف إذا كان هناك مخالف…
المصدر: سلسلة لقاءات الباب المفتوح > لقاء الباب المفتوح [24]
Shaykh Ibn Uthaimeen, may Allah have mercy on him, said:
… So there is a difference between [one's] attributing a saying to a scholar and one’s giving that ruling [oneself] based on the saying of a scholar without attributing it to him.
The former is informing, conveying–and there’s nothing with that, other than he must make sure that the scholar who gave the ruling [really] said such and such.
As for the latter, he is to be treated [in terms of what is upon him] like a scholar who is qualified and goes through a due process to issue rulings (a mufti mujtahid)–and the mufti mujtahid simply must know the [legal] proofs and how to use them, [just] as he must respond to the evidences used by those who oppose his view, if there are any who do so….
Translated by Mikail ibn Mahboob Ariff
Source: Silsilah Liqā’āt al-Bāb al Maftūh, 24
Daily Islamic Benefits 