What are the conditions that must be met by a Muslim judge, and does Islam forbid a judge from accepting a gift, and is it considered a bribe? We ask for your guidance, may Allah reward you.

The questioner : In the name of Allah, we begin this session with a letter received from Jamal 'Abd al-Ahmad, a Yemeni teacher from northern Yemen, at the al-Zahra Educational Center. He says in this question: What are the conditions that must be met by a Muslim judge, and does Islam forbid a judge from accepting a gift, and is it considered a bribe? We ask for your guidance, may Allah reward you?

The Shaykh : Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds, and I send prayers and peace upon our Prophet Muhammad, and upon his family and all his Companions. The answer to this question is that it must be known that every authority requires two fundamental pillars, or rather two fundamental conditions, which are strength and trustworthiness. These two pillars, or these two conditions, are necessary in every task. Allah the Exalted said: and . Strength in a judge centers on knowledge: knowledge of the Islamic Shari'ah so that he may judge by it between people, and knowledge of the conditions of people, their customs, and their terminology, so that he is able to apply it to the legal rulings. This is because every ruling requires a place that can accept it. Therefore, it is required of the judge that he be knowledgeable about the legal rulings and knowledgeable about the conditions of people, their customs, and their terminology. This is the strength.
And he must be trustworthy. Trustworthiness is not achieved unless the judge is a Muslim who is just. The non-Muslim’s ruling is not enforced upon the Muslims because he is not trustworthy in his judgment. And if Allah, Glorified and Exalted is He, commanded us to verify the news of the open sinner, saying: , then verifying the news of the disbeliever is even more necessary. For this reason, the testimony of the disbeliever is not permissible except in a case of dire necessity in a bequest, if a Muslim dies while traveling and there is no Muslim with him, and he makes a bequest and appoints disbelievers as witnesses, then the testimony is accepted at that time, and they swear by Allah if there is any doubt in their testimony.
The important point is that the judge must be a Muslim and he must be just. Justice is that his religion is upright and his honor is upright. So whoever abandons the obligatory acts, or commits major sins, or persists in minor sins, is not just, and thus he cannot be a ruler. Because ruling actually entails three things: testimony, clarification, and adjudication. The ruler clarifies the legal ruling and explains it, and he rules for so-and-so against so-and-so. And this ruling requires that he testifies that the ruling is for so-and-so against so-and-so, and he adjudicates between people. So he must be just so that we trust his ruling and his news.
The fourth condition is that he be male, for it is not possible for a woman to take on the judiciary, because the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: .
There are other conditions in which the scholars of knowledge differed, and there is no need to mention them at this time because the occasion does not require it.
Regarding the acceptance of a gift by the judge, the scholars of knowledge say that it is not permissible for him to accept a gift except with two conditions. One of them is that it be from someone who used to give him gifts before his appointment.
The second is that the giver should not have a case pending. If he is someone who did not give him gifts before his appointment, then it is not permissible for him to accept his gift, because he only gave it to him because of his appointment as judge. This is like the worker whom the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) sent, and he was 'Abd Allah ibn al-Lutbiyyah, to collect the charity. When he returned, he said, "This is for you, and this was given to me as a gift." So the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: . And if the giver has a current case and a matter before this judge to whom he gave the gift, then it is feared that it is a bribe so that he will rule in his favor as he desires. And it is known that a gift causes inclination, meaning the inclination of the recipient toward the giver, and a lack of verification and examination of his claim and his matter.
So it is not permissible for the judge to accept a gift except with these two conditions. The first condition is that it be from a person who used to give him gifts before his appointment, and the second condition is that this giver does not have a current case.

The questioner : Very well.

The Shaykh : Yes.

The questioner : May Allah bless you.