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Subject:
Rrequisite for being a judge
Is masculinity a requisite for being a judge? According to the Islamic laws, is it allowable for a woman to be a judge?
Masculinity is not a requisite for being a judge, and to be qualified for that, one must be moderate, take the right path in judgment, have knowledge of the laws and Islamic criteria for judgment; and there is no reliable evidence on the necessity of masculinity; and based on the absoluteness of the accepted tradition (1)[Hadith-e-Maghbule accepted by Foqaha], and the negation of men’s peculiarity about judgment in Abi Khadija’s tradition,(2) there is no such requisite and women’s judgment is as acceptable as men’s. In other words, in my opinion, everyone who has the knowledge of judgment, who is moderate and reliable, and has the other requisites, is qualified and allowed to be a judge; and neither the common-law nor any sane person would see any exclusivity and difference between men and women in this regard, and the criteria are the ones mentioned earlier, and it does not specify men’s knowledge of law and their being just so that one can see it as an emphasis on masculinity. If a lawgiver or legislator wants to deduce unquestioningly such a law that excludes women, he or she would need a multiplicity of traditions and clearer and more unambiguous evidence so as to explain it in such a way that the peculiarity of men is not negated. That is, just as lawgivers, have provided sufficient evidence to prevent people from acting on analogy (which was once very common), so far as “Shi’ite is introduced by abandoning actions which are reasoned by analogy”, they should also follow the same basis in this case and provide a multiplicity of evidence so as to prove the exclusion of women in this regard, and according to an Arabic proverb, “It is easier to touch the thorns on a bramble than to prove such a thing.”
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1- Wasaa’el-al Shi'a, Ketab-al-Qaza, Abwab Sefat-al-Qazi, Chapter 9, Hadith 1.
2- Ibid, Chapter 1, Hadith 5.
Is masculinity a requisite for being a judge? According to the Islamic laws, is it allowable for a woman to be a judge?
Masculinity is not a requisite for being a judge, and to be qualified for that, one must be moderate, take the right path in judgment, have knowledge of the laws and Islamic criteria for judgment; and there is no reliable evidence on the necessity of masculinity; and based on the absoluteness of the accepted tradition (1)[Hadith-e-Maghbule accepted by Foqaha], and the negation of men’s peculiarity about judgment in Abi Khadija’s tradition,(2) there is no such requisite and women’s judgment is as acceptable as men’s. In other words, in my opinion, everyone who has the knowledge of judgment, who is moderate and reliable, and has the other requisites, is qualified and allowed to be a judge; and neither the common-law nor any sane person would see any exclusivity and difference between men and women in this regard, and the criteria are the ones mentioned earlier, and it does not specify men’s knowledge of law and their being just so that one can see it as an emphasis on masculinity. If a lawgiver or legislator wants to deduce unquestioningly such a law that excludes women, he or she would need a multiplicity of traditions and clearer and more unambiguous evidence so as to explain it in such a way that the peculiarity of men is not negated. That is, just as lawgivers, have provided sufficient evidence to prevent people from acting on analogy (which was once very common), so far as “Shi’ite is introduced by abandoning actions which are reasoned by analogy”, they should also follow the same basis in this case and provide a multiplicity of evidence so as to prove the exclusion of women in this regard, and according to an Arabic proverb, “It is easier to touch the thorns on a bramble than to prove such a thing.”
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1- Wasaa’el-al Shi'a, Ketab-al-Qaza, Abwab Sefat-al-Qazi, Chapter 9, Hadith 1.
2- Ibid, Chapter 1, Hadith 5.
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