they are that he be able to hear, see and speak, and be morally upright. These four qualifications must all be present for someone to be lawfully appointed to judicial office. If someone lacking any of them is appointed, he must be removed as soon as this is discovered, although his previous judgments remain valid. An exception concerns the sinful judge who lacks uprightness: there is disagreement over his previous judgments. One view, held by Asbagh, considers them valid; another considers them invalid, and this is the well-known position in the school. According to the latter view, moral uprightness is a condition for the validity of the appointment, alongside being Muslim, free, adult, sane, male and a single individual, as required by our school.
The recommended qualifications are numerous. They include being a local resident; being scrupulous in religious matters; possessing sufficient learning to qualify for independent legal reasoning; being financially secure, neither needy nor indebted; having a known lineage, and being neither a child whose paternity was denied through mutual imprecation nor one born of an unlawful sexual union; being sound in judgment and decisive; being perceptive, not readily deceived through heedlessness; and never having received a prescribed punishment for unlawful sexual intercourse or an accusation of unchastity, nor having had a hand amputated for theft.
It is reported that ‘Umar ibn ‘Abd al-‘Azīz specified five such qualities: knowledge of jurisprudence and the Sunnah; freedom from greed; being unawed by rulers—meaning that he applies justice against whomever it bears upon, regardless of who blames him for doing so. Another reading has “unconcerned by blame,” meaning that he judges justly and does not fear them in doing so; the former reading is safer. The other qualities are forbearance toward litigants and consultation with people of knowledge.
It is reported that ‘Umar ibn al-Khattāb, may Allah be pleased with him, said: “Only someone of sound judgment is fit to hold judicial office: firm without harshness, gentle without weakness, seldom caught off guard, commanding far-reaching awe, and allowing people to discover no failing in him.”
Among the recommended qualifications, according to what our school’s principles imply, is that he should not be unable to read and write. Our scholars have no explicit statement on this matter. The Shāfi‘ī scholars have two views: one prohibits appointing such a person, while the other permits it. The view he considers stronger permits it, because the leader of the Muslims, the master of the messengers and the best of judges was unlettered. The underlying reasoning also supports this: a judge is not required to read legal documents himself, and someone else may act on his behalf both in this and in recording statements. Yet prohibiting such an appointment also has a basis, because it restricts the means available for adjudication. The Prophet, peace be upon him, is not like anyone else, for he is protected from error.
These recommended qualifications should therefore be sought, although some are more important than others. Preference should be given to the person who possesses the greatest number of them. Mālik, may Allah have mercy on him, said: “I do not think