the qualifications for judicial office are all to be found in any one person today. If a person possesses two of them—knowledge and scrupulousness—I consider that he should be appointed.” Ibn Habīb said: “If he lacks knowledge, then sound judgment and scrupulousness suffice. Sound judgment leads him to ask, and scrupulousness makes him refrain. If he seeks knowledge, he can acquire it; but if he seeks sound judgment, he cannot acquire it.” By this he means discerning judgment.
As for the mental capacity that makes a person legally accountable, this is a condition for the validity of his appointment, as we have already explained. Ibn Habīb said: “He should be knowledgeable about the Sunnah, transmitted reports, and the jurisprudential basis from which legal opinions are derived.” He related this from Mutarrif, Ibn al-Mājishūn and Asbagh, who said: “It is not fitting for him to be someone versed in legal reasoning but without knowledge of the Sunnah or transmitted reports, nor someone versed in hadith but without knowledge of jurisprudence and legal reasoning, for ignorance is as much to be feared as injustice.”
Asbagh said: “An ignorant judge must be removed unless no one else is available. In that case, he is retained and instructed to consult others extensively, and his conduct must be reviewed regularly.” He said: “If the ruler can find only two men, one upright and trustworthy but without knowledge of adjudication and the Sunnah, and the other knowledgeable but less upright than the first, then, provided the knowledgeable man’s conduct and integrity are acceptable, he should appoint him, even if he falls short of the other. But if his character is unsatisfactory, his integrity and righteousness cannot be trusted, and he may approach improper conduct, neither man should be appointed unless no one else is available. If no one else can be found, the upright man of limited knowledge should be appointed; he must strive diligently and consult others. If someone combining knowledge and uprightness can be found, no one else should be appointed, even if he is not a local resident.”
Sahnūn said: “If a knowledgeable man is poor, but is the most learned and the most highly regarded in character among the people of the town, he deserves the judicial office. However, he should not begin sitting as a judge until he has been provided with sufficient means and his debts have been paid off.” He said: “There is no harm in appointing someone born of an unlawful sexual union as a judge, but he must not adjudicate cases of unlawful sexual intercourse, just as a judge must not rule in favour of his own son.”
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Judges are of three kinds, as related from the Prophet, peace be upon him: “One is in Paradise and two are in Hell. The one in Paradise is a man who knows the truth and judges accordingly. As for those in Hell, there is a man who knows the truth but is unjust in his judgment—he is in Hell—and a man who judges between people