Reconciling Two Hadiths Related to Judicial Rulings and Independent Legal Reasoning
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Question:
How do we reconcile the following two hadiths: the saying of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him):Sunan Abi Dawud 3573Sahih (Al-Albani) narrated by Abu Dawud. And the hadith of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) whose meaning is: "The one who exerts effort in deriving a ruling, if he is correct, has two rewards, and if he is wrong, he has one reward." How do you reconcile the two hadiths?
Answer:
There is no contradiction between them, praise be to Allah; rather, the meaning is clear. The first hadith is about the one who judges among people out of ignorance, having no knowledge of the legislation of Allah by which to judge between people; he is threatened with the Fire because of his saying "without knowledge." Likewise, the one who knows the truth but acts unjustly out of desire, whether out of love for a person, for a bribe, or something similar, and thus acts unjustly in his ruling; these two are in the Fire. The first is in the Fire because he has no knowledge by which to judge, so he is ignorant and not qualified to judge. As for the second, he deliberately acted unjustly and oppressively, so he is in the Fire.
As for the first [in the hadith about the three judges], he knew the truth and judged according to it, so he is in Paradise.
As for the hadith of ijtihad narrated by 'Amr ibn al-'As (may Allah be pleased with him), and what came in its meaning, which is in the two Sahihs from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) who said:Sunan Ibn Majah 2314 This is about the scholar who knows the rulings of the Shari'ah and is not ignorant, but some matters may be hidden from him and some things may be confusing to him. He exerts effort, seeks the truth, and looks into the evidence of the Shari'ah from the Qur'an and the Sunnah, seeking the ruling of the Shari'ah, but he does not hit the mark. So he gets the reward for exerting effort, but he misses the reward for being correct, and his error is forgiven. This is because he is a scholar who knows about judging, but in some issues he may make a mistake after exerting effort, seeking the truth, and having a good intention. So he is given the reward for exerting effort, but he misses the reward for being correct.
The second [in the hadith about the two rewards]: he exerted effort, sought the truth, and cared about the evidence of the Shari'ah, and he had no bad intention; rather, he was a scholar seeking the truth. So he was successful and guided to it, and he judged according to the truth. So he has two rewards: the reward for being correct and the reward for exerting effort.
And by this, it is known that there is no contradiction between the two hadiths, and praise be to Allah.
How do we reconcile the following two hadiths: the saying of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him):
Judges are of three types, one of whom will go to Paradise and two to Hell. The one who will go to Paradise is a man who knows what is right and gives judgment accordingly; but a man who knows what is right and acts tyrannically in his judgment will go to Hell; and a man who gives judgment for people when he is ignorant will go to Hell.
القضاة ثلاثة واحد في الجنة واثنان في النار، فأما الذي في الجنة: فرجل عرف الحق فقضى به، ورجل عرف الحق فجار: فهو في النار، ورجل قضى للناس على جهل: فهو في النارAnswer:
There is no contradiction between them, praise be to Allah; rather, the meaning is clear. The first hadith is about the one who judges among people out of ignorance, having no knowledge of the legislation of Allah by which to judge between people; he is threatened with the Fire because of his saying "without knowledge." Likewise, the one who knows the truth but acts unjustly out of desire, whether out of love for a person, for a bribe, or something similar, and thus acts unjustly in his ruling; these two are in the Fire. The first is in the Fire because he has no knowledge by which to judge, so he is ignorant and not qualified to judge. As for the second, he deliberately acted unjustly and oppressively, so he is in the Fire.
As for the first [in the hadith about the three judges], he knew the truth and judged according to it, so he is in Paradise.
As for the hadith of ijtihad narrated by 'Amr ibn al-'As (may Allah be pleased with him), and what came in its meaning, which is in the two Sahihs from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) who said:
When the judge passes a judgement and does his best and gets it right, he will have two rewards, and if he passes a judgement and does his best and gets it wrong, he will have one reward.
إذا حكم الحاكم فاجتهد فأصاب فله أجران، وإذا حكم فاجتهد فأخطأ فله أجرThe second [in the hadith about the two rewards]: he exerted effort, sought the truth, and cared about the evidence of the Shari'ah, and he had no bad intention; rather, he was a scholar seeking the truth. So he was successful and guided to it, and he judged according to the truth. So he has two rewards: the reward for being correct and the reward for exerting effort.
And by this, it is known that there is no contradiction between the two hadiths, and praise be to Allah.
Source
binbaz.org.sa
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.