The hanafi, maliki, Shafi & hanbali systems of Islamic law are four different understandings of the Quran & sunnah

These schools of law contain thousands of scholars and the schools developed over centuries.

The uneducated mutazzilite/Mushabiha mind may present the argument of why four when Islam is one, we have one final prophet ﷺ and one Quran.

This argument is flawed.

The Quran itself was revealed initially in seven different Ahruf. It was not one, nor is their one qiraat.

If you get that with the primary source, which is the Quran, you will no doubt get different understandings from the primary source.

"Ask the people of remembrance if you do not know"
Quran, 16, 43.

The orthodox way of thought revolves around this verse of the Quran.

All human beings accept this principle in all other forms of education, nobody would refer to those don't know.

The common objections to following one of the four madhabs by the mushabiha (modern day claimants of following the Quran & sunnah only) are as follows.

"We've now reanalysed"

"We only follow Quran & sunnah"

"We follow the strongest opinion"

The four schools of law have an unbroken chain going back to rasoolallah ﷺ and over a thousand years of scholarship.

If one states they only follow the Quran & sunnah, through who's understanding are you following it?
Even sahaba would go to other Sahaba for advice & rulings

"We follow the strongest opinion"

The four schools of law follow the strongest opinion based upon their methodologies which have been accepted for over 1,000 years.

Many people quote imam Abu Hanifas saying "if my statement goes against the Hadith throw it out and take Hadith"

This was imam Abu Hanifa addressing mujtahids such as imam Abu yusuf and imam Shaybani, his two main students who did go against him based on his own methodology at times. It is not for the common Muslim.

Imam Ghazzali actually stated to layman, if they find a Hadith and find that their school of law goes against it, follow your imam.

Hadith is a source of misguidance if youre not a mujtahid scholar and attempt to use it to extract legal rulings.

“Were it not for imam Malik and al-Layth ibn Sa`d I would have perished; I used to think everything that is authentically related from the Prophet ﷺ must be put into practice.”

Imam abdallah Ibn wahb. (imam Maliks student)

Too many people nowadays play with Hadith and go against the orthodox four madhabs and people are actually stupid enough to blindly follow those who go against orthodox Islam.

The islamQA website is a prime example of this.

When you pick and chose between the four schools you can easily commit Talfeeq. This is mixing between the madhabs and ending breaking the conditions of both schools so in reality you're following your own desires and no school of law.

The four schools didn't play around and follow their nafs, in fact the founders of the four schools were well known for their piety as well as their expertise in Islamic jurisprudence.

For example there's a ruling in the maliki school that you don't even need a witness for a nikah to take place. Many people hear this & take the ruling but the condition for this in the maliki school is that the marriage should be common knowledge and not secret.

The flesh of a scholar is also poison. People nowadays state this imam Abu Hanifa made a mistake here or there. Even if he did he is still rewarded for his error as a scholar and you've backbited a man who prayed tahajud for 30-40 years without fail.

"Religion is simple akhi we can take any view stop complicating it"

Yes religion is simple but the ease isn't based on following your nafs when it comes to Islamic rulings. The four madhabs are a source of ease because the imams have done the work for us.

It is extremely arrogant, idiotic and extreme to go against the four schools of law if you're not a mujtahid and even the mujtahids stuck to their madhabs the majority of the time because they realised the couldn't reach a conclusion against the four imams.

You often find people that go down this Quran & sunnah only route take three choices.

They initially have a passion for deen and burn out.

They go into extremism and join extremist groups like Isis.

They attempt to become YouTube shaykhs and guide others into their deviance

The prophet ﷺ said three times "those who go to extremes will be destroyed"

You see many people now taking deen off the wrong people and making an instant radical change in their life and they burn out very quickly.

This religion is a lifetime commitment, don't play around with it. Deen isn't phased you go through.

The deen is like a dye that is part of your fabric and you colour yourself with it over time.

Remember the Quran was revealed slowly over two decades.

Makkah was mainly all about tauheed and the purification of the heart, Medina was mainly about jurisprudence.

We have the law and the spiritual aspect of Islam codified for us to today thanks to the prophet ﷺ and the salaf.

Do not do them injustice by calling yourself a salafi, confusing the common Muslims with slogans of Quran & sunnah only, claiming to follow the salaf when you also yourself have anthropomorphic beliefs they were free from.