The Shehu said in his Tarweeh al-Umma: “It mentions in the ar-Risaalat ‘l-Mubaarak: ‘Among the matters that cause the jurist to become exhausted during their juristic decisions is their being preoccupied with understanding the compounded ideas of one another, their pronouncements and considerations until they eventually exceed the infallible true shari`a and forsake comprehension of its pure secrets. For this reason, if they were to abandon all of the ideas other than that of the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace and neglected to act with anything regarding it, then there would be no harm upon them in this world nor the Hereafter.” This does not mean that it is forbidden or reprehensible to adhere to a particular madh’hab, but what it does mean is that a Muslim should not be veiled by the madhaahib from the Living Sunna of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace. Each madh’hab has at its source the life giving waters of the Sunna of Muhammad, may Allah bless him and grant him peace. And since as Muslims we are obligated to seek knowledge, this necessitates the people of the madhaahib finding the legal proofs for their jurisprudence at the spring of the Beloved, may Allah bless him and grant him peace.
It is for this reason that the Shehu said in the conclusion of the above mentioned work: “All of the Imams are free of commanding others to follow them, for they, may Allah be pleased with all of them, have said: “When a prophetic tradition reaches you, then act in accordance with it and show little regard for our words.” Imam Abu Hanifa used to say: “It is inappropriate for anyone who knows a legal proof (daleelan) to make a legal decision (yaftaa) based upon my words.” Malik and Rabi`a, may Allah be pleased with both of them, used to say: “We are not from among the people of infallibility in what we say.” As-Shafi`, may Allah be pleased with him used to say: “When you hear from me ideas which are contrary to the words of the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, then act in accordance with the words of Allah and show little regard to my words.” As for as Imam Ahmad, may Allah be pleased with him, his ordering people to adhere to the Sunna is famous, even to the point that he did not compose (laa yudawwinu) any jurisprudential ideas himself except in certain issues of prayer. He used to say: “No one has words next to the Book of Allah and the Sunna of Muhammad, may Allah bless him and grant him peace.”
In his famous Ihya as-Sunna wa Ikhmad al-Bid`a the Shehu said: “Malik once stopped at the fountain of Zemzem and called out saying, "O people! Whoever knows me knows me, and whoever does not know me; for I am Malik ibn Anas.  I am a warner to anyone who makes pilgrimage to this House while he is an innovator that misconduct will be easy for him."  And some of what Malik, may Allah be merciful to him, used to recite:
"The best of matters in the religion is what is from the Sunna
And the worst of matters is invented heretical innovation."
As-Shafi`i, may Allah be merciful to him, said: "There is nothing left of the Sunna except to follow it."  Abu Hanifa, may Allah be merciful to him, once said: "Take hold of the traditions and the road of the early community (as-salaf)." It is related that Ahmad ibn Hanbal said: "One day I was with a gathering who were removing all their clothes and entering into the water. Then I employed the prophetic tradition, 'Whoever believes in Allah and the Last Day, let him not enter into the bath except with a wrapper.'  And I did not remove my clothes. Then I heard a voice that night saying, 'O Ahmad! Rejoice for verily Allah has forgiven you because of your making use of the Sunna and He has made you an Imam to be followed.'  I then said: 'Who are you?'  He said: 'Jibril'.” Imam Malik, may Allah be pleased with him, said: "The Sunna is the ship of Noah, whoever boards it is saved, and whoever leaves it will be drowned”.
It is clear that the source of the juristic opinions of the Imams of independent judgment (ijtihaad) is the Living Sunna. In this there is no difference and confusion. It is a single water spring that has given birth to a variety of jurisprudential decisions and opinions. Its source is one, the Sunna of Muhammad, may Allah bless him and grant him peace. The Companions of Muhammad, may Allah be pleased with them differed in the same manner as the Imams of independent judgment, but the well spring from which they derived and extracted their legal decisions was a single Source divided into ‘Two Infallible Matters’ (amraan ma`suumaan): the Quran revealed to the heart of Muhammad and the Sunna which are living and vital practices of Muhammad.
Thus, the Sunna of Muhammad, may Allah bless him and grant him peace is the unifying factor of the people of the madhaahib as well as the people of the prophetic tradition (ahaadeeth). If they would examine the opinions of the scholars of independent judgment with the light of discernment they would all realize that the opinions of all the scholars are extracted from the living waters of the Sunna of the Beloved Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace. This discernment alone would stop the divisiveness and derision that we see in the masaajid today, where the so-called salafiyya denounce those who claim to follow the madhaahib, and vies-versa; where each one accuses the other of heretical innovation and sometimes disbelief, while the masses of the Muslims remain in a confused state and have lost the Way to Allah ta`ala. Like the ‘Pharisee’ under the Roman occupation of Jerusalem, these ‘traditionalist’ are veiled by outward strictness and sanction of others until they have all but squeezed the sweetness of the inner aspects of the religion from Islam. Like the Pharisee who were used by the Roman authorities to control the fledging Banu Isra’il, these modern ‘clerics’ have also been used by the dominant world hegemonies to divide and control the Muslims worldwide.
Allah ta`ala says: “Verily Pharoah exalted in the earth and he made his people into divided factions.” Not only are the clerics of so-called salafiyya divided against the people of the madhaahib, but within the so-called salafiyya there is emerging enmity and rancor among factions who believe and claim that they and they alone are the true “Salaf”. When in reality, the only true Salaf are the three blessed generations that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace praised when he said: “The best generations are my generation, then those who follow them, and then those who follow them.” At the same time, the people of the madhaahib adhere to their school of thought as if it were the religion of Islam in its entirety. We have witnessed in this age where so-called Shafi` scholars denounce the opinions of Imam Malik. The so-called followers of Imam Abu Hanifa consider anything outside the opinion of their school of thought to be heretical innovation. Today, many of so-called Hanbali or Ahl’l-Hadeeth deprecate other madhaahib, considering that the other Imams of independent judgment fell short of the mark. At the same time, some of the so-called Malikis hold the view that they and only they uphold the Salafi path because they adhere to the behavior and social practice of the People of Medina. All of them treat their particular school of thought as if it were Islam in its entirety and the other madhaahib as if they were different religions.
It is for this reason the Shehu said quoting from as-Sha`rani: “The scholars have mentioned in the books of beliefs (al-`aqaa’id) that it is obligatory upon every person to believe that the remainder of the Imams of the Muslims is on the guidance from their Lord. This understanding should be based upon belief if not from spiritual unveiling. For whoever disembarks from sound faith has become loss with those who are loss. This affair is the most difficult of issues for the one who restricts himself to a particular madh’hab as it is clearly witnessed. And perhaps when one of those dedicated adherents (al-muqalliden) becomes committed to a particular madh’hab he considers it wrong to withdraw from it to another as if the two madhaahib were two distinct religions. All of this initiates from compounded ignorance.”
In the mean time, those noble traits which the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace came to infuse within the people have been abandoned. Good opinion of the common and elite among the Muslims has been substituted with mistrust and evil opinion. Wishing the good to befall the Muslims has been swapped for envy, hatred, grudges, and mutual competition. Dignity and resolve in the face of disbelieving tyrants has been replaced with groveling and humiliation. Now all factions of the people of the outward have been veiled by their outer adherence to the Sunna and their adherence to the madhaahib from embracing the Real Sunna, which is noble character. The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace one said: “I have not been sent except to perfect good character.” The people of the outward have fallen in love with the sign post on the road and the road itself and have forgotten the Goal that the road leads to. The Sawq’l-Umma Ila Ittiba` as-Sunna is a wake up call to the entire Umma, that neither the ‘madh’habi’ or the ‘laa mah’habi’ are entirely correct or entirely astray, but that it is the Middle Way which is correct; and it comprises adhering to the madhaahib as a means and not an end of itself; and that the source of all the madhaahib and the objective of all the madhaahib is to bring to life the Sunna of the Beloved Messenger, may Allah bless him and grant him peace.