Islamic Fiqh > Judgment and testimony > The judge (qadi): qualification, remuneration and independence
Who may judge? The judge's canonical conditions, remuneration, prohibitions and responsibility in case of error.
Updated on 06 October 2026 at 10:50 PM
The encyclopedia sheets devoted to the judge set out, school by school, what makes his appointment valid: reason, majority, freedom, masculinity along with the divergence on a woman judging, the Islam of the appointing authority, uprightness, knowledge and ijtihad, and integrity of the senses. They then cover the judge in anger, his stipend, buying the office and bribery, appointing the less qualified, arbitration, and judging by other than what Allah has revealed.
The chapter is published in sections, each complete and directly accessible:
Al-Mughni by Ibn Qudama · Hanbali school
...those whom he had appointed (to offices), and whoever among them saw his situation change, he dismissed if he was impious; if he was weak, he joined to him a trustworthy man.
Chapter: then he examines the case of strayed animals and the found object whose safekeeping the judge has undertaken: if it is of what is feared to perish, like an animal, or whose keeping incurs expenses, like non-perishable wealth, he sells it and preserves its price for its owners; if it is not so, like money, he preserves it for its owners and has inscriptions made upon it so it may be identified.
Question 1865; he said: "The judge does not judge between two persons while he is angry".