09. Rule of law, trusts and accountable authority

Source: Qur’an, Surah Al-Nisa (4), ayah 58.

Published English excerpt: when you judge between people to judge with justice.

Translations / status: Sahih International (English); Fateh Muhammad Jalandhari (Urdu). Arabic and both excerpts checked at the links below.

Relevance: The command applies to judgment between people; the same verse also requires restoration of trusts to their holders.

Best use: legal principle / critical analysis.

Verify: Arabic / Jalandhari | Sahih International

Source: Qur’an, Surah Al-Nisa (4), ayah 59.

Published English excerpt: refer it to Allah and the Messenger,

Translations / status: Sahih International (English); Fateh Muhammad Jalandhari (Urdu). Arabic and both excerpts checked at the links below.

Relevance: In a dispute, the verse refers believers to God and the Messenger. Its account of authority must be read with this governing reference, not as unlimited obedience.

Best use: legal principle / critical analysis.

Verify: Arabic / Jalandhari | Sahih International

Source: Qur’an, Surah Al-Maidah (5), ayah 1.

Published English excerpt: fulfill [all] contracts.

Translations / status: Sahih International (English); Fateh Muhammad Jalandhari (Urdu). Arabic and both excerpts checked at the links below.

Relevance: Contractual fidelity is an explicit rule; the legal scope of particular contracts requires juristic analysis.

Best use: legal principle / critical analysis.

Verify: Arabic / Jalandhari | Sahih International

Source: Qur’an, Surah Al-Baqarah (2), ayah 188.

Published English excerpt: And do not consume one another's wealth unjustly or send it [in bribery] to the rulers

Translations / status: Sahih International (English); Fateh Muhammad Jalandhari (Urdu). Arabic and both excerpts checked at the links below.

Relevance: The whole prohibition links wrongful wealth-taking to use of adjudicating authorities; lawful-looking proceedings do not automatically make acquisition morally lawful.

Best use: legal principle / critical analysis.

Verify: Arabic / Jalandhari | Sahih International

Source: Qur’an, Surah Al-Shura (42), ayah 38.

Published English excerpt: whose affair is [determined by] consultation among themselves,

Translations / status: Sahih International (English); Fateh Muhammad Jalandhari (Urdu). Arabic and both excerpts checked at the links below.

Relevance: Consultation is a praised communal practice. The verse does not itself specify one electoral or constitutional mechanism.

Best use: legal principle / critical analysis.

Verify: Arabic / Jalandhari | Sahih International

Source: Qur’an, Surah Al-Hujurat (49), ayah 6.

Published English excerpt: investigate, lest you harm a people out of ignorance

Translations / status: Sahih International (English); Fateh Muhammad Jalandhari (Urdu). Arabic and both excerpts checked at the links below.

Relevance: The warning concerns a report brought by a disobedient person. Evidentiary care and responsible public communication are relevant applications.

Best use: legal principle / critical analysis.

Verify: Arabic / Jalandhari | Sahih International

Source: Sahih al-Bukhari, no. 7138; Judgments, Book 93; chapter 1.

Narrator: Abdullah ibn Umar.

Published English excerpt: Surely! Everyone of you is a guardian and is responsible for his charges:

Grade: Sahih; included in the named Sahih collection.

Text sources: Arabic / English / numbering: Sunnah.com. Urdu: Islamic Urdu Books; wording checked, individual translator not independently established.

Relevance: Responsibility extends from the ruler to household and entrusted property. It establishes accountability without specifying one modern administrative system.

Best use: legal principle / critical analysis.

Verify: Source passage | Urdu excerpt

Source: Sahih al-Bukhari, no. 6788; Legal Punishments, Book 86; chapter 12.

Narrator: Aisha.

Published English excerpt: Do you intercede (with me) to violate one of the legal punishment of Allah?

Grade: Sahih; included in the named Sahih collection.

Text sources: Arabic / English / numbering: Sunnah.com. Published Urdu translation not verified; no substitute translation supplied.

Relevance: The narrative rejects selective exemption for an influential offender. Criminal sanctions require competent authority and due process, not private enforcement.

Best use: legal principle / critical analysis.

Verify: Source passage

Source: Sahih al-Bukhari, no. 7144; Judgments, Book 93; chapter 4.

Narrator: Abdullah, as named in the accessed entry.

Published English excerpt: if an act of disobedience (to Allah) is imposed one should not listen to it or obey it.

Grade: Sahih; included in the named Sahih collection.

Text sources: Arabic / English / numbering: Sunnah.com. Urdu: Islamic Urdu Books; wording checked, individual translator not independently established.

Relevance: The duty of obedience does not extend to commanded wrongdoing. The passage alone does not settle every contested question about political resistance.

Best use: legal principle / critical analysis.

Verify: Source passage | Urdu excerpt

Source: Sahih Muslim, no. 1713a; Judicial Decisions, Book 30; chapter 3.

Narrator: Umm Salama.

Published English excerpt: so I give judgment on their behalf according to what I hear from them.

Grade: Sahih; included in the named Sahih collection.

Text sources: Arabic / English / numbering: Sunnah.com. Published Urdu translation not verified; no substitute translation supplied.

Relevance: A persuasive presentation can obtain a mistaken judgment; the full report denies that this makes another person’s property morally lawful.

Best use: legal principle / critical analysis.

Verify: Source passage

Source: Sahih al-Bukhari, no. 7158; Judgments, Book 93; chapter 13.

Narrator: Abd al-Rahman ibn Abi Bakra, reporting his father Abu Bakra.

Published English excerpt: A judge should not judge between two persons while he is in an angry mood.

Grade: Sahih; included in the named Sahih collection.

Text sources: Arabic / English / numbering: Sunnah.com. Urdu: Islamic Urdu Books; wording checked, individual translator not independently established.

Relevance: The report makes emotional restraint an institutional requirement for judgment, connecting individual purification with the rule of law.

Best use: legal principle / critical analysis.

Verify: Source passage | Urdu excerpt

Source: Sunan Abi Dawud, no. 3573; Judicial Office, Book 25; chapter 2.

Narrator: Burayda ibn al-Hasib.

Published English excerpt: a man who knows what is right and gives judgment accordingly;

Grade: Sahih, graded by al-Albani as displayed by Sunnah.com.

Text sources: Arabic / English / numbering: Sunnah.com. Published Urdu translation not verified; no substitute translation supplied.

Relevance: The report distinguishes informed just judgment from deliberate injustice and ignorant judgment. Competence and integrity are separate requirements.

Best use: legal principle / critical analysis.

Verify: Source passage

Source: Ibn Kathir; Tafsir Ibn Kathir (Abridged).

Locator: Commentary on al-Nisa 4:58; explanation of trusts.

Scholarly position / paraphrased argument: Trusts encompass duties owed to God and rights entrusted by people, including deposits not established by a written record.

Access / status: English abridged Tafsir inspected on Quran.com; compiler’s paraphrase, not a published translation quotation.

Relevance: A trust is not confined to public office or formally documented property.

Related evidence: Reference 120.

Best use: legal principle / critical analysis.

Verify: Source passage

Source: Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Qurtubi; Al-Jami li-Ahkam al-Quran.

Locator: Al-Shura 42:38; explanation of consultation.

Scholarly position / paraphrased argument: Al-Qurtubi links consultation with cohesion and sound deliberation, distinguishing strategic judgment from revealed commands and noting companions’ subsequent deliberation.

Access / status: Arabic commentary inspected in SurahQuran’s digital reproduction; compiler’s paraphrase. URL page numbers are not a verified printed-edition pagination.

Relevance: Only the explanatory argument is used; embedded reports are not independently authenticated by this entry.

Related evidence: Reference 124.

Best use: legal principle / critical analysis.

Verify: Source passage

Source: Abu Jafar Muhammad ibn Jarir al-Tabari; Jami al-Bayan an Tawil Ay al-Quran.

Locator: Al-Nisa 4:58; author’s preferred interpretation.

Scholarly position / paraphrased argument: Al-Tabari prefers a reading addressing rulers’ distribution of entrusted revenues and rights, and their duty to judge justly.

Access / status: Arabic commentary inspected in SurahQuran’s digital reproduction; compiler’s paraphrase. URL page numbers are not a verified printed-edition pagination.

Relevance: Specifies the administrative dimension; compare the broader account of trusts in Ibn Kathir.

Related evidence: Reference 120.

Best use: legal principle / critical analysis.

Verify: Source passage

Source: Abu Jafar Muhammad ibn Jarir al-Tabari; Jami al-Bayan an Tawil Ay al-Quran.

Locator: Al-Nisa 4:59; ulil-amr and referral of disputes.

Scholarly position / paraphrased argument: After recording different identifications of ulil-amr, al-Tabari prefers governors within legitimate obedience; disputes return to the Quran and Prophetic Sunnah.

Access / status: Arabic commentary inspected in SurahQuran’s digital reproduction; compiler’s paraphrase. URL page numbers are not a verified printed-edition pagination.

Relevance: This records a juristic-exegetical preference, not unlimited obedience.

Related evidence: Reference 121.

Best use: legal principle / critical analysis.

Verify: Source passage

Source: Ibn Khaldun; Al-Muqaddimah.

Locator: Chapter III, section 41, opening argument.

Scholarly position / paraphrased argument: Ibn Khaldun argues that assaults on property weaken incentives to work and trade, encourage departure, and erode the economic base of settlements and government.

Exact English excerpt (Rosenthal): attacks on people's property remove the incentive to acquire and gain property.

Access / status: Franz Rosenthal’s English translation inspected in the MuslimPhilosophy digital reproduction; compiler’s paraphrase. Printed edition and pagination not verified.

Relevance: An attributed historical-social explanation, not a mechanically universal prediction.

Best use: legal principle / critical analysis.

Verify: Source passage