Al-Sharḥ al-Mumtiʿ - Ibn al-'Uthaymin - (15/293)

Al-Sharḥ al-MumtiʿIbn al-'Uthaymin

Prophet of Allah, I am content with this judgment.” But the younger woman said, “No, O Prophet of Allah! He is her son; do not cut him!” So he ruled that the child belonged to the younger woman. (1)

This is an example of alertness and discernment. Ibn al-Qayyim mentioned many cases of this kind in his book al-Ṭuruq al-Ḥukmiyyah, demonstrating the discernment and intelligence of some judges. Among them is the case of two men who disputed over a piece of land. One of them said to the judge, “He gave me this land to cultivate on a sharecropping arrangement of half the yield.” The other said, “I did not give it to him.”

Through his insight, the judge saw that the claimant was in the right. He asked the claimant, “Do you have any evidence against him?” He replied, “No.” The judge said, “So long as you have no evidence, you have no claim against him. Moreover, even if it were established that he had entered into this sharecropping agreement with you, this land is an endowment, and the man chose what was more beneficial for the endowment. He gave it to you for half the yield, but another man came and said, ‘A third is sufficient for me.’ What is better for the administrator of the endowment is two-thirds, for that is better for it than one-half. And the man is the administrator of the endowment, so he takes precautions in its interest.”

The judge then said to the owner of the land, “Is this not so?” The man replied, “Indeed.” The judge said, “Then give the land to the cultivator.” Such matters are among the forms of discernment with which a judge should be characterized.

His statement, “and let his court be in the middle of the town”: wasaṭ means the middle of something, whereas wasaṭ, with a fatḥah, means the best or choicest part. Thus, his court should be in the middle of the town, because he is a judge for all its inhabitants. If it were located on one side of the town, it would cause hardship to the people on the other side. Accordingly, one should consider the town center—that is, its middle—and the judge’s court should be located there, whether in the judge’s house or in another office.

(1) Its source has already been cited above, pp. 257-258.

نبي الله أرضى بهذا الحكم، وقالت الصغرى: لا، هو ولدها يا نبي الله، ولا تشقه! فقضى به للصغرى (١)، وهذا من الانتباه والفطنة، وقد ذكر ابن القيم في كتابه «الطرق الحكمية» قضايا كثيرة من هذا النوع، تدل على فطنة بعض القضاة وذكائهم، ومنها أن رجلين اختصما في أرض، فقال أحدهما للقاضي: إنه قد أعطاني الأرض مزارعة بالنصف، وقال صاحبه: ما أعطيتها إياه، فرأى القاضي بفراسته أن الصواب مع المدعي، فقال للمدعي: هل لك عليه بينة؟ قال: لا، فقال القاضي: ما دام ليس لك بينة فلا حقَّ لك عليه، ثم إن الرجل حتى لو ثبت أنه قد عقد لك المزارعة فهذه الأرض وقف، والرجل اختار للوقف ما هو أنفع، فهو أعطاك إياها بالنصف، وجاء آخر وقال: أنا يكفيني الثلث، فالأحسن لصاحب الوقف الثلثان لأنه خير له من النصف، والرجل ناظر على الوقف فهو يحتاط له، فقال القاضي لصاحب الأرض: أليس الأمر كذلك؟ فقال الرجل: بلى، فقال القاضي: إذاً أعط الأرض للمزارع، فمثل هذه الأشياء من الفطنة التي ينبغي أن يكون القاضي متصفاً بها. قوله: «وليكن مجلسه في وَسْط البلد» «وسط» بمعنى متوسط الشيء، والوسَط بالفتح الخيار، فيكون مجلسه في وسط البلد؛ لأنه قاضٍ لأهل البلد كلهم، فلو كان في جانب منه، لشق على أهل الجانب الآخر، وعلى هذا فينظر إلى قصبة البلد، يعني وسطها، فيكون مجلس القاضي فيه سواء في بيت القاضي، أو مكتب آخر.

(١) سبق تخريجه ص (٢٥٧ ـ ٢٥٨).