What is the ruling on personal taqlid (adherence to a specific school of thought or scholar) in Islam, and is it permissible?

If by personal imitation one intends to mimic a person in their movements or characteristics by way of disparagement, then this is forbidden backbiting (gheebah). This is based on what is reported in the interpretation of the verse: "Woe to every slanderer and backbiter" (Quran 104:1), stating that the slanderer (humazah) is by word and the backbiter (lumazah) is by action. The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, defined backbiting as "your mentioning about your brother what he dislikes," and he clarified that mentioning about a person what is true is backbiting, and mentioning what is not true is slander (buhtan). An example of this is Aisha's, may Allah be pleased with her, statement about Safiyyah: "Suffice it for you regarding Safiyyah that she is such and such," meaning she was short. The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, replied to her that it was a word which, if mixed with the water of the sea, would have contaminated it.