The Ruling on a Binding Village Document Imposing a Fine on the Violator
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
He asks another question: Honorable Shaykh, we have a document in our village that we have agreed upon, the gist of which is that any person from the village who does an act that violates this document must pay one thousand riyals. So if someone hits a person or cuts down a tree, he must pay that thousand. Is this document permissible and is this ruling permissible?
Answer:
This document is invalid, and it is a ruling of the pre-Islamic age of ignorance (jahiliyyah), compelling people to do something that Allah has not made obligatory. Only the ruling of the Shari'ah compels people. So if someone commits a crime, cuts down a tree, or destroys property, the matter is referred to the court, even if the court is not a Shari'ah court.
He asks another question: Honorable Shaykh, we have a document in our village that we have agreed upon, the gist of which is that any person from the village who does an act that violates this document must pay one thousand riyals. So if someone hits a person or cuts down a tree, he must pay that thousand. Is this document permissible and is this ruling permissible?
Answer:
This document is invalid, and it is a ruling of the pre-Islamic age of ignorance (jahiliyyah), compelling people to do something that Allah has not made obligatory. Only the ruling of the Shari'ah compels people. So if someone commits a crime, cuts down a tree, or destroys property, the matter is referred to the court, even if the court is not a Shari'ah court.
Source
قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، 116 من 123 / شرح كتاب زاد المستقنع / القضاء / صالح الفوزان / الفقه / كبار العلماء — youtube.com (1:00:52)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.