that ruling would be invalid in terms of the underlying reality and would not make the property lawful for him. By Muslim consensus, he may not take it while knowing the actual circumstances. Likewise, according to the vast majority of the Muslim community, if a judge rules concerning a contract, the annulment of a marriage, a divorce, or a sale, his ruling does not change the underlying reality. Some, however, maintain that his ruling does change it in these matters because he has authority over the conclusion and dissolution of contracts. The majority’s position is correct. It is the position of Mālik, al-Shāfiʿī, Ahmad, the other jurists of the Hijaz and the scholars of hadith, and many Iraqi jurists.

Furthermore, the term “religious law” is used in our time in three senses: revealed law, interpreted law, and altered law. “Revealed law” is the Quran and Sunnah, which everyone must follow. Whoever believes that some people are not obliged to follow it is a disbeliever.

“Interpreted law” concerns matters open to scholarly judgment over which scholars have disagreed. Following one of the scholars qualified to exercise such judgment is permissible for someone who believes that his evidence is stronger, or for someone permitted to follow his authority. Muslims as a whole are not obliged to follow any particular individual other than Allah’s Messenger, may Allah bless him and grant him peace. Thus many students of jurisprudence, when they see one of the righteous shaykhs, believe that he may be in the right and that someone else has contravened