but not in others?” Al-Zuhrī mentioned that established Sunnah practice was to this effect.

Another example is that, in accusations involving such offences as theft and murder, they take the accused’s character into account: is he a person of suspicious reputation or not? They hold that punishment may be imposed on someone against whom grounds for suspicion have become apparent. Those among the followers of al-Shāfi‘ī and Ahmad who wrote on the ordinances of government discussed this. They mentioned two views concerning the punishment of such a person: may both the governor and the judge punish him, or only the governor?

It must also be understood that the command of Allah Most High and His Messenger applies to everyone who judges between people, whether a governor, a judge, or anyone else. Whoever distinguishes between them regarding the command of Allah and His Messenger is mistaken. But distinguishing between them on the basis of their jurisdiction—because one has authority over such matters while the other does not—is reasonable.

An example of this occurs frequently in the statements and writings of some followers of the Kufans. When someone argues against them by citing people whom the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, executed or ordered to be executed—such as his execution of the Jewish man who crushed the girl’s head, his withdrawal of protection from the life of the woman who reviled him despite her being under treaty protection, or his order to execute a man who commits sodomy, and similar cases—they say: “He does this as a matter of governance.”

They should be told: “If you say that this form of governance is prescribed for us, then it is right, and it is governance in accordance with Islamic law. But if you say that it is not prescribed for us, that contradicts the Sunnah.”

Furthermore, when someone then says, “This is a matter of governance,” he must mean either that people