Wednesday, 29 April 2026 (12 Dhuʻl-Qiʻdah 1447 AH)
Question: If the two disputants say to the judge, “Judge between us with the ruling of Allah,” and the matter over which the dispute has arisen is from the issues of ijtihād, does he then judge according to his own ijtihād? And if he judges according to his own ijtihād, is it permissible for him to say that this is the ruling of Allah? And is the judgment of a muqallid [one who follows another’s ijtihād] permissible and valid? And if it is permissible and valid, may it be said about it that it is the ruling of Allah?
Answer – and success is from Allah: If the judge rules in a presumptive, ijtihād-based issue according to his own ijtihād, that is valid for him, and it is permissible for him to say that this is the ruling of Allah.
The proof for that is that Allah, exalted is He, has commanded in His Book that judgment between people be according to what Allah has sent down, and He has commanded judgment with truth. Judgment with truth includes judgment by what Allah has sent down, by what has come from the Messenger of Allah (May Allah bless him and his family and grant them peace), by what is established through consensus (ijmāʿ), and by what is sound through analogy (qiyās) and ijtihād. Likewise, because of what has been narrated in the ḥadīth of Muʿādh when the Prophet (May Allah bless him and his family and grant them peace) asked him: “How will you judge?” Muʿādh said: “I will judge according to the Book of Allah; then according to the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah (May Allah bless him and his family and grant them peace); then I will exert my opinion (ijtihād).” The Messenger of Allah (May Allah bless him and his family and grant them peace) approved him for that. This is the answer to the first part of the question.
As for the second part: the ruling of a muqallid is permissible and valid in case of necessity. There is no doubt that when lands are wide-expanding, the mujtahids are not sufficient [in number], and thus the need arises to appoint judges who are muqallids in order to fill the gap. When they issue judgments, it is permissible and valid for them to say that this is the ruling of Allah, for taqlīd, in the case of one who is not a mujtahid, is a legally prescribed path to taking the rulings of Allah, exalted is He, as indicated by His saying: “So ask the people of the message if you do not know.” [al-Naḥl:43]
What appears to me is that it is a condition for the judge that he possess intelligence, discernment, strength of understanding, and deliberation; for thereby he attains to knowing stratagems, recognizing false claims, and distinguishing the one who is in the right from the one who is in the wrong by examining subtle indications.
On this basis, the Prophet (May Allah bless him and his family and grant them peace), on the day of the conquest of Mecca, appointed ʿAttāb ibn Asīd—and he was among those whose release had just been granted (from the newly freed of Quraysh)—over Mecca; and ʿAttāb at that time was not among those firmly grounded in the knowledge of the Book and the Sunnah.
Source: Min Thimār al-ʿIlm wa al-Ḥikmah vol.2