Explanation: And al-Hasan said, “Allah took a pledge from the judges that they not follow desire, not fear the people, and not trade in His verses for a small price.”

The Shaykh : Then he mentioned the narrations. Al-Hasan said, “Allah took a pledge from the judges that they not follow desire.” What desire? The desire of the souls. They must not follow the desire of the souls, neither in the ruling, nor in the independent legal reasoning regarding the conceptualization of the issue, nor in the independent legal reasoning regarding the indication of the Shari'ah. These are three matters. They must not follow desire in the indication of the Shari'ah regarding the ruling, becoming lazy and not exerting themselves in reading and reviewing. Yes, for this is a great shortcoming of many people. They rely on laziness and ease, and on remaining still, and do not strive to track down the issue from its sources. So if a doubt arises in their heart, they say, “That is enough. This is what the Hanbalis said” if he is a Hanbali, “This is what the Shafi'is said” if he is a Shafi'i, “This is what the Hanafis said” if he is a Hanafi, or “This is what the Malikis said” if he is a Maliki, even if something arises in their heart. And this is not permissible. Rather, it is obligatory that if a doubt arises in your heart, or a doubt regarding the ruling of the issue, whether in judgment or in issuing a fatwa, you must review the matter. Even if you review the books of the four schools of jurisprudence and a thorn remains in your heart, seek the truth from other sources. Do not say, “By Allah, this is the statement of the four schools of jurisprudence.” As long as you are not reassured, you must search until you are reassured. If you are unable to do so, then follow the one you see as closest to the truth. For carrion takes the place of lawful slaughter when? In dire necessity. So following a scholar without knowing his evidence is like carrion; if you are compelled to it, eat it, but if you are free from it, do not eat it. It is necessary that a person be contrary to his desire in relying on ease and remaining still, but rather he must search to the extent he is able. Second, in the conceptualization of the issue, he must exert himself in conceptualizing the issue if it is presented in the context of judgment. Many people say, “I am afraid to review the case with the opponent or the plaintiff,” or they say, “What is this judge? He does not understand people's speech.” So he does not say, “The judge says this.” I say, the judge does not say this. He must be patient until he knows the issue completely. And if he is in doubt, and there is a difficulty in presenting the issue from the opponent, let him use a ruse in his speech so that he extracts the argument he has, as Sulayman did in the story of the two women. Two women came out, and a wolf had eaten the son of one of them, so they disputed before Dawud, and he ruled in favor of the older one. Then it came to Sulayman, so he called for a knife and said, “Bring the knife; I will cut the child in half between you.” The older one accepted this decision and this ruling, and the younger one refused and said, “No, he is hers.” So he ruled in favor of whom? The younger one. The older one accepted this decision and this ruling because the wolf had eaten her son, so she thought, “Let this one go with him.” The younger one was overcome by tenderness, compassion, and mercy, and she said, “Let him live with this woman and not die.” So he ruled in favor of the younger one. So this too, the judge must not follow desire in this matter. The third matter is in the ruling: if the Shari'ah ruling becomes clear to him, and the issue becomes clear to him, and he has conceptualized it completely, he must rule according to what appears to him, even if it is against his father and his mother. It says: “And do not fear the people.” They fear the people, but rather they should rule with the ruling of Allah and His Messenger, even if the people hate that. And do not trade in His verses for a small price, such as a bribe, whereby they take a bribe to rule in favor of the one who gave it to them. And know that a bribe is not limited to money; it includes money, status, and proximity, and the like. For it, meaning the bribe, is derived from *rashā*, and *rashā* is the rope by which the bucket is lowered into the well. So whatever a person uses to reach a ruling in his favor, what is it? A bribe, whether it is money or