Explanation: If the person against whom the document was brought claims that it is forged, he is told to go and seek a way out of that. The first to request evidence for the judge's document was Ibn Abi Layla and Suwar ibn 'Abd Allah.

The Shaykh : If the judge to whom the document was sent says that the person against whom it was brought claims it is forged, he is told to go and seek a way out of that. This means if the judge receiving the document says, "I do not trust that this is so-and-so's document, nor that this is his seal," we say to him, "Go and seek a way out of that." What does "seek a way out of that" mean? It means that regarding the doubt that has arisen in you, seek a way out of it. Then he said: "The first to request evidence for the judge's document was Ibn Abi Layla and Suwar ibn 'Abd Allah." They are two independent legal reasoners (mujtahids). We ask Allah to forgive their independent legal reasoning (ijtihad). There is no doubt that they exercised independent legal reasoning (ijtihad). Perhaps at that time, trials (fitan) and forged documents were abundant, just as the killing of 'Umar ibn al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him) was caused by forged documents. So it appears they saw, as a precaution, that a judge's document should not be accepted by another judge except with witnesses. Thus, their statement is applied to a specific set of circumstances. If such a situation were to occur in the present reality—and we ask Allah that it not occur—if it did occur, we would say that precaution is necessary.