He, peace and blessings be upon him, also said:

“When a judge exercises independent judgment and reaches the correct decision, he has two rewards; when he exercises independent judgment but errs, he has one reward.”

He also said:

“Judges are of three kinds: two are in the Fire and one is in Paradise. A man who knows the truth and judges accordingly is in Paradise. A man who judges between people in ignorance is in the Fire. A man who knows the truth but judges contrary to it is in the Fire.”

Whoever departs from the revealed law with which Allah sent Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, imagining that he is following “reality,” resembles the polytheists who reject the messengers. The term “reality” may refer to “the reality of creation,” “reality based on religious innovation,” or “reality grounded in revealed law.”

“The reality of creation” consists in believing in divine decree and predestination, and that Allah is the Creator, Lord, and Sovereign of all things. This must be believed, but it may not be invoked as a justification. Rather, Allah has the conclusive argument against us. Whoever invokes predestination as an argument has an invalid argument, and whoever invokes predestination to excuse his sins has an unacceptable excuse.

As for “reality based on religious innovation,” it consists in pursuing the path to Allah, glorified and exalted be He, on the basis of the spiritual taste, ecstasy, love, and desire that arise in a person’s heart, without following the Book and Sunnah. This is like the way of the Christians: sometimes they worship other than Allah, and sometimes they worship without Allah’s command—like the Christians who associated partners with Allah and took their scholars