2. Judicial institutions

Amir al-Mu'mineen 'Ali ibn Abi T%b (&) was appointed as caliph, and his appointment resulted from the murder of 'Uthmin (&) and subsequent events that split the Muslims and created division in their ranks. His main preoccupation and focus was confronting these issues in order to bring the Ummah together, but the bloody conflict at the time of 'Ali (&) did not prevent him from giving some attention to organising the judiciary. This is indicated by a letter" that he sent to al-Ashtar an-Nakha'i, his governor in Egypt, in which he said: "Then select to judge between people one whom you think is the best of your people, one who is unflappable, who does not get offended by opponents, who does not get canied away if he makes a mistake, who will not refrain from turning towards the huth when he recognises it, who does not have greed and ambitions, who is not content with one explanation only before listening to all others, who takes his time and does not rush into passing judgement on ambiguous issues, who relies most on evidence, who does not get Financial and judiciary institutions at the time of 'Ali annoyed with people referring to him and coming back to him, who is most patient in studying and examining the case until it becomes clear, who is the most decisive once the verdict becomes clear in his mind, who does not become too proud if he is praised and is not tempted easily. Such men are few. Then check regularly on the way he handles cases, and be generous towards him so that he will not be in a state of poverty or need, and thus he will not need people. Show great respect to him, so that no one could hope to get his way with him of people who are close to you, and so that he can feel safe and secure with you from the aggression of people close to you."14 This letter also says: "Give precedence to Allah (B) and to people over yourself and those who are close to you of your family and those of your subjects whom you love and are close to. Unless you do that, you will be unjust, and if anyone is unjust to the slaves of Allah, He will be his opponent on behalf of His slaves. The one who is opposed by Allah (&) will not have a leg to stand on; Allah (&) will declare war on him until he gives it up or repents. There is nothing that leads to changing the blessing of Allah and hastening His vengeance more than persisting in injustice, for Allah (@) answers the prayers of the oppressed, and He is watching the oppressors like a guardian on a watcht~wer."'~ We may note that this advice includes a discussion of the qualities of the judge and his rights and duties. The one who ponders what Amir al-Mu'mineen 'Ali (&) wrote to his governor in Egypt will be amazed by this advice that was written in the year 40 AH or thereabouts, at a time when the Arabs had had no contact yet with other civilisations, and how the sound mind which is guided by the light of Allah (B) was able to come up with such ideas and lay out guidelines that would ensure the smooth running of the affairs of state, in a way that is better than what we see today of constitutions and manmade laws.16 Later, 'Ali's ideas of fairness towards people

'Ali ibn Abi Trilib and avoiding injustice towards them formed the basis for setting up a department to look into injustice." 2.1. Judiciary and legislative plan at the time of the Rightly Guided Caliphs, and the sources to which the Companions referred at that time What is meant by this plan is the method followed by the Rightly Guided Caliphs and the noble Companions (may Allah he pleased with them) when t~ying to work out Shariah mlings on new situations and cases that occurred in their daily lives. They were guided to this method by the close company they kept with the noble Messenger of Allah (g) and the education and training they received from him. Hence following this method became obligatory upon those who came after them. We have noted in our study of the era of the Rightly Guided Caliphs in our hooks on Ahu Bakr, 'Umar and 'Uthrnk, and in the current study on the era of 'Ali (may Allah be pleased with them all), that every tine they came across a new issue or needed a verdict, they would turn to the Book of Allah (&) first of all. If they found the Shariah ruling for the new issue there, then the matter would he settled, otherwise they would refer to the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah (g). If they did not find the solution there, they would move on to working it out on the basis of their personal view in the broad meaning of the term. We have noted that this way of working things out was initially done collectively in most cases, especially if the issue had to do with matters of state, which is something general in nature. What helped in that regard was the fact that the senior Companions were still living in Madiuah, which made it easy to bring them together and listen to their views. The collective agreements that stemmed from these consultations were later known Financial and judiciary institutions at the time of 'Ali as ijmci ' or consensus. They made use of analogy and ma~lahah (that which serves the interests of the Muslims), which is the aim of Shariah. The best evidence for this plan is the words of Maymoon ibn Mahr2n who said: "If two disputants came to Abu Bakr, he would look in the Book of Allah (&). If he found there anything that would decide the matter between them, he would judge in accordance with it. If there was nothing in the Book, and he knew of any precedent from the Messenger of Allah (g) concerning that matter, he would judge in accordance with it. If he could not find anything in the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah (g), he would call together the prominent and best of the people and consult them. If they agreed on something, he would judge in accordance with it. 'Umar did likewise; if he could not find an answer in the Quran and Sunnah, he would look to see it if there was a similar case that Abu Bakr had ruled on, otherwise he would call the prominent Muslims; if they agreed on something, he would judge in accordance with it."'' It was narrated that Ibn Mas'ood said: "Whoever is presented with a case after today, let him rule in accordance with the Book of Allah. If there comes to h i a case which is not mentioned in the Book of Allah, and concerning which there is no verdict from His Prophet (g,)), let him refer to the verdict of the righteous people. If there comes to him a case which is not mentioned in the Book of AUah, and concerning which there is no verdict from His Prophet (B) or from righteous people, let him try to work it out on the basis of his knowledge. Let him not say: 'I think, but I am not sure,' because what is hal2l is clear and what is h a r h is clear, and in between there are ambiguous matters, so leave that which makes you doubt for that which does not make you do~bt."'~ In our discussion on the ultimate reference points in the state of Amir al-Mu'mineen 'Ali ibn Abi T a b (&), we have discussed

'Ali ibn Abi Tcilib his eagerness to follow the same method. From these reports, it is clear that in their legislative and judicial plans, the Companions (may Allah be pleased with them) used to rely on the Quran and Sunnah before moving on to opinions in the general sense." Now let us and draw some conclusions from these reports: