or a devout but ignorant man (1), which of the two should be preferred?”
He replied: “If religious integrity is more urgently needed because corruption is prevalent, the devout man should be preferred. If knowledge is more urgently needed because judicial questions are obscure, the knowledgeable man should be preferred (2).”
Most scholars prefer the devout candidate, for the imams agree that anyone appointed to office must be upright and legally qualified to testify (3).
They differ over whether knowledge should be required (4): must he be qualified to exercise independent legal reasoning, may one who follows established juristic authority be appointed, or is the duty to appoint the best available candidate, then the next best, as circumstances permit? There are three views (5). A detailed discussion of this belongs elsewhere (6).
Although necessity permits the appointment of an unqualified person (7) when he is the best available candidate, [أ/ق 8] one must nevertheless strive to rectify conditions until there is fully developed among the people what
(1) Is “ignorant” here intended to mean a *muqallid* (one who follows established juristic authority), as contrasted with a *mujtahid* (independent jurist), or an ordinary layman? There is disagreement on this point. See *Radd al-Muhtār* (8/46) and *Sharh al-'Uthaymīn* (p. 58).
(2) Shaykh al-'Uthaymīn comments in his *Sharh* (p. 59): “That is, when the issues are intricate and obscure, requiring a highly knowledgeable scholar, the knowledgeable candidate is preferred to the devout one. When personal desires, evil, corruption, and bribery are widespread, the devout candidate is preferred to the knowledgeable one. Both, however, are qualified to serve as judges.”
(3) See al-'Umrānī, *al-Bayān* (13/20), and *al-Mughnī* (14/13–14).
(4) (ي): “the knowledgeable man.”
(5) The disagreement on this point concerns Abū Hanīfa, who permitted the appointment of a *muqallid*. See *Radd al-Muhtār* (8/46–47), *al-Mughnī* (14/13), and *al-Bayān* (13/19).
(6) The passage from “Most scholars…” to this point is omitted from (ف).
(7) In (ي), the mark ×× appears above this word, and the margin reads: “Apparently: ‘the best-qualified.’”