Judicial Education and Training: Importance in Islam

Abstract

This paper discusses and traces the roots of judicial education and different codes of judicial conduct in Islamic Shar`ah.Islam emphasises on justice as it is nearer to piety. The historical study of development of Islamic legal and judicial system provides us an insight into the life and workings of qadis, judges, judicial officers, courts and court administrators. Many codes have since been found in place for the guidance of the judges and judicial officers, magistrates, presiding officers of special courts etc. The first amongst them was Qur’an itself. Hadith literature also establishes itself as a second source of judicial education. There is not a single book of ahadith in which the two books are not mentioned, viz., kitab al-aqdiya and kitab al-ahkam. The first one is on judicial education with practical examples and the other is on legal education with practical examples. In the later periods, books on Adab al-Qadi were written by the classical writers who were top class jurists of their times. The most famous of them are those of Imam Muhammad, Imam Khassaf, and Imam Mawardi. Commentaries have also been written on this subject by the later authors and commentators like Sadr al-Shaheed. Books on legal opinions are also in great numbers. The literature developed by fuqaha becomes the third important source in this regard. In recent centuries, we have seen that the books like Fatawa `Alamgiri and Mejella Ahkam al-`Adaliyya were published for guidance of not only the judges but for the litigants’ own understanding of the legal questions and their probable answers. The last two mentioned were — in modern terms –– bench books for the qadis and judges. Shah Waliyyullah Muhaddith Dehlawi’s Hujjatullahi’l Baligha is also a master piece work and great contribution towards Islamic thought who not only pointed out the social diseases but also indicated the recipe available in the Holy Qur’an and Sunnah. Modern writers like Justice Muhammad al-Ghazzali, in his book on Shah Waliyyullah, has written a complete chapter on judiciary. Dr. Wahba Zuhaily’s book Fiqh al-Islami wa Adillatuhu is the latest book in the field on Islamic legal and judicial system. Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam is also an important book in modern times which guides us towards Islamic culture and society. Judicial training was also at the high priority since the advent of Islam. The famous appointments of Hadrat Ali (رضی اللہ تعالی عنہ) and Mu`adh bin Jabal (رضی اللہ تعالی عنہ) with specific guidance on judicial conduct and art of judging in the form of dialogue with the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) are a couple of examples of direct judicial education to the newly appointed judges. The codes of judicial conduct issued by Hadrat `Umar bin al-Khattab (رضی اللہ تعالی عنہ) to Abu Musa al-Ash`ari and the letter of Hadrat Ali (رضی اللہ تعالی عنہ) to Ashtar are best examples of judicial education and are still leading documents on the subject in Islamic Legal and Judicial system.