It has been explained in the previous section that the judiciary is necessary for safeguarding the social system and curbing unruly behaviour. In this section, we will discuss its criterion.
The Criterion for the Judiciary
It may appear at first that the human intellect can independently discover these rules and that its range covers what the thinking man attains through his judgment without resorting to heavenly scriptures and, in fact, without needing them at all. However, a deep study of the evidence for the necessity of the judiciary shows that the human intellect is insufficient for it and is incapable of determining the criterion for the judiciary and defining its scope. This is because the views of one person-as have been mentioned are not all in agreement with those of other people. Each person considers his ideas to be right and regards other people’s ideas as misconceptions. He imagines that hg views are appropriate and would benefit mankind, while the ideas of others are inadequate and harmful. Thus ensue the intellectual arguments and the academic debates and discussions.
In addition to this, everyone is naturally disposed to put one’s interests and those of one’s group and family above those of others, regarding them to be better entitled than others. This would have great consequences for the method of laying down and applying the law. The following conclusions can be derived from the above discussion.
The need to remove disagreements and solve disputes makes the existence of a judiciary necessary. The human intellect is not adequate to provide felicity to human society on its own. On the contrary, it is the light that illuminates the way-the way indicated by divine revelation-and guides those who follow it to the desired goal. If the human mind because of its intellectual inadequacy and its being infested by questionable motives-is inadequate in determining the criterion for the judiciary, then an inquiry should be made into what the perfect standard for judgment between people should be. This may be done by looking at two points:
Firstly, the inability of human thought and its failure to offer the judicial standard. Secondly, the genius of divine revelation and its competence in determining the judicial system, since it has been derived from the Unseen and transcends the natural laws, as we will see, Almighty Allah willing.
The first point is indicated by the statement of Almighty Allah; the Exalted: …Messengers bearing good tidings, and warning, so that mankind might have no argument against Almighty Allah, after the Messengers; Almighty Allah is All-mighty, All-wise. (1)
This indicates that the intellect on its own is inadequate for attaining perfection and guidance to the most correct path. For were it sufficient, the argument for the adequacy of the intellect and reliance on its guidance would be justified. If people committed sins and per. formed offences, the argument of Allah against them would be established (for the intellect which had been given them had forbidden them from it, so why did they not follow it but go against it?) It would then be right for them to be punished for their sins and evil deeds. However, the noble Qur’an does not support or sanction punishment before sending Messengers. Almighty Allah, the Exalted, has said: We never chastise until We send forth a Messenger. (2)
Had we destroyed them with a chastisement afore time, they would have said, `Our Lord, why didst Thou not send us a Messenger so that we might have followed Thy signs before we were humiliated and degraded?’ (3)
This proves that it is not Almighty Allah’s practice to chastise His creatures before dispatching Messengers, nor to humiliate, disgrace, and destroy through punishment a people before sending prophets to them. Were it not so, these creatures would protest to Almighty Allah that the punishment was carried out before the proof was completed. The weakness of human thought and the fact that man is not aware of all beneficial and harmful consequences of his acts, even in matters closest to him, is pointed out in the statement of Almighty Allah, the Exalted when explaining the distribution of inheritance and appointing specific shares to each heir: You know not which out of them is nearer in profit to you. (4)
When explaining the necessity of belief in revelation and the impermissibility of turning away from it, Almighty Allah, the Exalted, says: So when their Messengers brought them the clear signs, they rejoiced in what knowledge they had and were encompassed by what they mocked at. (5)
This indicates that man’s knowledge does not guarantee him happiness, otherwise it would not be wrong on his part to be content with it. However, it is not so because he is incapable of attaining through it what he needs. Thus it is reprehensible for man to confine himself to his own knowledge and turn away from what the prophets have brought. In the following statement, Almighty Allah, the Exalted, indicates that man is unable to establish justice and determine the rules of a just judiciary with the sole means of the intellect that has been given him: Indeed we sent Our Messengers with the clear signs, and We sent down with them the Book and the Balance so that men might uphold justice. And We sent down iron, wherein is great might, and many uses for men, and so that Almighty Allah might know who helps Him, and His Messengers, in the Unseen. Surely Almighty Allah is All-Strong, All-Mighty. (6)
This indicates that the aim of sending the Messengers with clear signs and sending the scriptures with them was that the people should uphold justice. If man were able to achieve justice through his intellect and without the need for revelation, there would have been no need for it. The reason for man being unable to define the standard for the judiciary is that there lie before him various worlds and higher and lower levels and degrees of existence.
To be continued!
NOTES:
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1. Qur’an 4:165.
2. Qur’an 17:15.
3. Qur’an 20:134.
4. Qur’an 4:11.
5. Qur’an 40:83.
6. Qur’an 57:25.
