Grand Ayatollah Shirazi: A judge cannot act on basis of his preconceived knowledge

The daily scholarly meeting of Grand Ayatollah Seyyed Sadegh al-Hosseini al-Shirazi was held on Tuesday, the 6th of Jumadi al-Awwal. In this session, like the previous meetings, the Marja answered the questions of the attendees about various jurisprudence issues.

Grand Ayatollah Shirazi said in relation to judicial practice: The predominant opinion of the Shia jurists is that a judge does not have the right to act based on his preconceived knowledge, but must act according to evidence and oaths. Even the Holy Prophet, peace be upon him and his pure family, who certainly had knowledge, would say when acting as a judge that ([O people!] I judge among you only according to the testimony of witnesses and oaths.) Therefore, a judge cannot judge based on his preconceived knowledge, even if the judge is Sheikh Ansari or Sheikh Tusi.

His Eminence also pointed to the rule of Amir al-Mu’minin and said: In addition to the Holy Prophet, peace be upon him and his pure family, who did not judge based on his own knowledge, Amir al-Mu’minin, peace be upon him, also judged many cases the same way during his five years of rule, and independent books have been written about his judgments. Naturally, just like the Holy Prophet, he judged on the basis of evidence, testimonies and oaths.

He discussed some of the narrations mentioning that the Imam of the Time, may God hasten his reappearance, will judge based on his own knowledge after his reappearance, and said: Despite what many claim, there are only two authentic hadiths about this issue. There are thirty or forty narrations regarding the claim that Imam al-Hujjat will judge based on his own knowledge, but more than 30 of them are sourced by a weak hadith, and all Ulama have dismissed them as weak hadith.

Grand Ayatollah Shirazi went on to say: But there are two authentic narrations that the Imam will act aligned with the Messenger of God and Amir al-Mu’minin, peace and blessings of God be upon them, and their manner of conduct, which means not judging based on his own knowledge.