Judiciary in an ancient empire. Can you identify its leader?

Qualities for judges:

• Knowledge of legal rulings
• Not greedily or covetously desiring to take what people have
• Intelligence and a sharp mind
• Being stern without being harsh, and being gentle without being weak
• Having a strong personality
• Being wealthy and of good lineage

Evidences judges can rely on:

• Confession
• Witness
• Clear Proofs
• Definitive Oaths

Duties of a judge

• Striving to have a correct and precise understanding of the matter / case
• Judging based on apparent proofs without delving into people’s intentions
• Striving to convince litigating parties to settle out of court
• One is innocent until proven guilty
• When a judge feels boredom, anger, or anxiety, it is not permissible for him to pass judgment until that emotion goes away
• Quickly resolving a case that involves a litigant who is away from his family, or providing him with money for his needs [Compare this with the judicial delays of modern courts]

Q1: Can you identify the leader who established the above criteria and responsibilities for the Judges?

Q2: Are not the two criteria “Wealthy” & “good lineage” unfair?

You are probably thinking this post doesn’t have a proper beginning (Introduction) or an end (conclusion). I just wanted to give a preview / teaser now. Insha Allah, i will introduce the subject “The untold history of the Khulafa” in the future posts. Here are the answers:

A1: Umar Ibn Khattab (RA) was that leader. He was a genius not just in Qur’an and Hadeeths. He was a far-sighted administrator & jurist par excellence. He established judiciary as an independent branch of government in the 7th century (634 to 644 CE). Europe came up with this idea in theory only in 18th century, and then applied it only in the 19th century – just after the French revolution.

A2: Umar wrote to some governors ”…a wealthy wont desire the wealth of people, and a person of noble lineage will not be afraid of the consequences of the judgments he makes among people”

The above contents are extracted from various letters & speeches of Umar. You can find the full-text of those speeches and the sources (books) in “The Biography of Umar Ibn Al-Khattaab” by Dr. Ali Muhammad As-Sallaabee.

Considering the billions of people who have inhabited the earth, the list of role models is relatively short: The top three are the Messenger, Abu Bakr and Umar (May Allah be pleased with them all)

Stay tuned!

Related Article: http://muslimmatters.org/2012/01/02/find-your-role-model-in-the-sahabah/

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