Question: Some who are seeking knowledge are very hasty in giving rulings in matters of halaaland haraam, and this is a common noticeable defect. What is your advice to such people?

reply: "We have spoken on this issue long before,and we said that
Allaah the Wise has divided the Muslim community into two types of
people: the Ahl adh-Dhikr, and those that depend on the Ahl adh-Dhikr.
As Allaah says to the ordinary people: "then ask those who possess the
Message (Ahl adh-Dhikr) if you do not know." (Soorah 21:7 and 16:43)
The Ahl adh-Dhikr are, as we all know, are the Ahl al-Qur'aan and the
Ahl al-Hadeeth, those who know the authentic from the unauthentic, the
general from the specific, the abrogating from the abrogated, and
other such principles of Fiqh and Hadeeth.
Hence, it is not allowed for a Muslim to begin giving fatwaas on the
basis of some hadeeth, simply because he came across itin some book,
although he does not know if it is saheeh according to the criteria of
the scholars of hadeeth. On the otherhand, he knows that he is not
sufficiently well-versed in knowledge and competence in the Arabic
language to explain the meanings and ideas behind the Kitaab and
Sunnah. Therefore, anyone who has not decided to undertake acquiring
knowledge and persevere in it for many years, until the people of
knowledge testify that he can guide the people and direct themtowads
good, it is not permissible for him to think that he is an alim
(scholar) simply because he has read some ahadeeth and memorized some
aayaat. We often hear of some of them who cannot even read the Qur'aan
properly, nor the ahaadeeth of the Prophet (sallallahu `alaihi wa
sallam). This is why I advise the seekers of knowledge to study two
fundamentals: a) the principles offiqh and b) the principles of
hadeeth.
I have mentioned before that it isnot easy for one to deduce the
intended aim of the Lawgiver from any text unless he consults as far
as possible, all the texts of the Qur'an and Sunnah. I will givea
clear example: Allaah says: "Forbidden for you are dead meat, blood…"
(5:4). If a beginner who is studying the Qur'aan and has no knowledge
of hadeeth is asked regarding dead fish, he will immediately bring
this aayah as proof to clearly forbid it since it prohibits dead meat.
But were he to look into the ahaadeeth, he would know that the
Prophet, sallallahu `alaihi wa sallam, excepted two types of animals,
fish and locusts,from this prohibition, so he couldrule accordingly.
Briefly, the student must learn these two fundamental branchesof
learning to help to understandthe Qur'aan and Sunnah as correctly as
possible."