is improper.

I say: A number of others have offered this explanation, just as a similar explanation has been given of a boundary: that it means prevention. It may, however, be said that judgment means deciding rightly between two things. Likewise, a boundary separates two things, and prevention is part of what it denotes. Prevention is thus one aspect of separation, since separating two things entails keeping each apart from the other. Not everyone who prevents another from something can therefore be said to have brought him under proper restraint: the restraint must be rightful, and must keep him from one thing rather than another.

The judge is the one who decides. Thus we speak of “the Day of Decision” and “a decisive judgment,” and say, “Judge between us,” not “Prevent between us.” Wisdom is distinguishing between truth and falsehood, good and evil, and truthfulness and lying, in both knowledge and action:

“That is part of the wisdom your Lord has revealed to you.” [al-Isrā’ 39]

It consists in enjoining what is right and forbidding what is wrong. It is the Sunnah, for the Sunnah clarifies what is commanded and what is forbidden.