The Legal Exposition of Abu Ya'La on The Appointment of A Qadi

Abu Ya‘la ibn al-Farra’ (380-458 A.H / 990-1065 C.E) is regarded as one of the prominent jurists of the Hanbali Madhhab credited to have written many works of erudition in Public Law, Islamic constitutional Law and the Islamic system of politics. His proficiency in jurisprudence, ethics, political science and literature proved useful in securing a respectable career for him not only as a qadi (judge) but also as an excellent author, muhaddith (expert in hadith) and a Qur’anic scientist. The focus of attention of this paper, therefore, is to examine the views and thoughts of this prominent mufti (Islamic legal expert) on the nature of appointments that could be conferred by the imam (leader of the Islamic State) on a qadi. In achieving this notion, attempt is made to examine his exposition on the qualifications of a qadi and the mode of contract of his appointment, validation of his appointment by the imam and the areas of his jurisdiction. Other relevant areas examined in his legal theory, are his fatawa (personal legal opinions) on such appointment of a qadi with a special jurisdiction, appointment of two judges in a city, request for appointment as a qadi, as well as offering of bribes to be appointed as a qadi. It is discovered that some of the legal opinions expressed by Abu Ya‘la on each of these matters are guidelines that may be adopted in the contemporary society for the appointment of a credible qadi into any of the judicial positions. The study adopts a descriptive analytical research method whereby references were made to the primary sources containing Abu Ya‘la’s opinion as well as other secondary literature written by classical and contemporary Muslim and non-Muslim scholars on his life and works. It is, thus, believed that the legal opinions propounded by Abu Ya‘la on the appointment of a qadi is not only germane but also contain policies that are relevant to the contemporary judicial institutions.