that prescribed punishments ought to be concealed: it is this man, whose actions warrant judgment against him, who has exposed himself; and carrying out the prescribed punishment upon him in public disseminates knowledge of his crime.

The need for one judge to write to another concerning matters that are the rights of Allah arises just as it does concerning the rights of human beings. The one who drank wine may be the judge’s cousin, and his drinking may have been established against him. The judge may be unable to sentence his cousin to flogging, or he may be able to issue the judgment but unable to enforce it. He would then refer the matter to a judge of greater standing and authority. Thus, the correct view is that held by Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah: a judge’s letter to another judge is accepted in every matter in which a judge’s ruling may be enforced, whether involving the rights of Allah or the rights of His servants.

“A judge’s letter is accepted concerning a matter upon which he has ruled, so that the recipient may enforce it, even if they are in the same town. But it is not accepted concerning what has been established before him for the recipient to rule upon, unless the two are separated by a distance that permits the shortening of prayer. …”

His statement, “A judge’s letter is accepted concerning a matter upon which he has ruled, so that the recipient may enforce it, even if they are in the same town. But it is not accepted concerning what has been established before him for the recipient to rule upon, unless the two are separated by a distance that permits the shortening of prayer”: We previously mentioned that a judge’s letter to another judge takes two forms:

The first is that he writes concerning what has been established before him, so that the judge to whom the letter is addressed may rule accordingly.

The second is that he writes concerning a matter upon which he has ruled, so that it may be enforced.

Thus, for a letter concerning what has been established before him, so that the judge to whom it is addressed may rule accordingly, it is stipulated that there be, between the writing judge and the addressee, a distance