Did Sheikh Ibn Uthaymeen intend by prohibiting taqleed (blind following) to include students of knowledge and the general populace? And how can the common person know the evidence? And what are the ways for a student of knowledge to avoid taqleed? And is acting upon mentioned fiqh issues without knowing their evidence considered prohibited taqleed?

"Taqlid" (following a qualified scholar) is the acceptance of someone else's statement without proof, and its practitioner is not considered among the scholars by consensus. Ibn 'Uthaymeen did not forbid taqlid except for scholars and students of knowledge who are aware of the evidence. As for the common people, taqlid is permissible for them, and even obligatory. People are of three categories: the mujtahid (independent jurist) – for whom taqlid is forbidden; the advanced student of knowledge – who is not obligated to do taqlid but rather compares and weighs (opinions); and the common person – whose duty is to ask the people of knowledge, which is taqlid. Methods of seeking knowledge include memorizing the Qur'an and Sunnah, as well as core texts, and receiving knowledge from scholars. Jurisprudential texts summarize the evidence, and to delve deeper into them, one refers to the extensive works. If a jurist says, "Such-and-such is recommended," the basis for it is originally evidence from the Sunnah or qiyas (analogy). Al-Albani weakened the hadiths that the Hanbalis use as evidence for relying on their knees when rising (from prostration), and he authenticated the hadiths indicating the sitting of rest (jalsat al-istiraha). There is no harm in following the Hanbali madhhab or any other for someone who is a common person or for whom the truth has not become clear in a specific issue.