of His messengers, and another who follows only his own states and intuitions without testing them against the Quran and the Sunnah.

Likewise, many people speak of “the Sharia,” yet they fail to distinguish between the Sharia revealed from Allah—the Quran and Sunnah with which He sent His Messenger. No creature is allowed to depart from this revealed law; only a disbeliever turns away from it. They confuse this with the “sharia” that is merely the ruling of a human judge, a ruling that may at times be correct and at other times mistaken—this, even when the judge is both knowledgeable and just.

[The Best of Judges]

If the judge is not so, then consider what is related in the Sunan, where the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said:

“The judges are three: two are in the Fire and one is in Paradise. A man who knows the truth and judges by it—he is in Paradise. A man who judges for the people in ignorance—he is in the Fire. And a man who knows the truth but judges contrary to it—he is in the Fire.”

The finest of all judges who combine knowledge with justice is the master of the children of Adam, Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him). It is authentically reported in the two Ṣaḥīḥs that he said:

“You bring your disputes to me, and perhaps one of you is more eloquent in presenting his argument than another. I judge only according to what I hear. So, if I rule in someone’s favor regarding something that truly belongs to his brother, let him not take it, for I am allotting for him only a piece of the Fire.”