“They are avid listeners to falsehood and devourers of unlawful gain. So if they come to you, judge between them or turn away from them. If you turn away from them, they can never harm you in any way. But if you judge, judge between them with justice. Surely Allah loves those who are just.” (42)

Allah’s saying: “They are avid listeners to falsehood and devourers of unlawful gain.” Ibn Kathir, Abu Ja‘far, the scholars of Basra, and al-Kisa’i recited “unlawful gain” with the letter ha’ vowelled with dammah, whereas the others recited it with it sukūn. It means that which is forbidden; its original sense is destruction and severity. Allah says: “Lest He destroy you with a punishment” (Ta-Ha, 61). This was revealed concerning the Jewish judges, such as Ka‘b ibn al-Ashraf and those like him: they would accept bribes and rule in favor of whoever bribed them.

Al-Hasan said: “When one of their judges was approached by someone bearing a bribe, he would place it in his sleeve, show it to the judge, and state his case. The judge would then listen to him and not look at his opponent: thus, he would listen to falsehood and consume the bribe.”

He also said: “This applies only to a judge whom you bribe so that he may establish a false claim in your favor or invalidate (1) a right against you (2). As for a man who gives something to a governor out of fear of his oppression, in order to ward it off from himself, there is no harm in that.” Thus, according to al-Hasan, Muqatil, Qatadah, and al-Dahhak, unlawful gain refers to bribery in judicial rulings. Ibn Mas‘ud said: “It is bribery in every matter.” Ibn Mas‘ud also said: “Whoever intercedes in order to restore a right or ward off an injustice (3), and is then given a gift which he accepts, that is unlawful gain.” It was said to him, “O Abu ‘Abd al-Rahman, we only considered this to mean taking payment for a judicial ruling.” He replied, “Taking payment for a judicial ruling is disbelief (4).” Allah says: