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Ibn al-Ḥārith al-Khushanī, Quḍāt Qurṭuba. Pages 10-11.

Ibn al-Ḥārith al-Khushanī, Edited by Julián Ribera, Translated by Julián Ribera, Posted by Daniel Jacobs, 04 November 2020

In this excerpt from Quḍāt Qurṭuba, Khushanī (d. 361/971) describes the funny and lighthearted behavior of a scholar,Muḥammad b. ʿĪsā al-Maʿāfirī al-Aʿshā (d. 221/836),who was appraised for the position of judge but eventually turned it down. According to Khushanī, al-Aʿshā challenged the idea that a sense of humor rendered a judge unfit for office. When he was asked why he rejected the position, he explained that he feared being punished in the afterlife for an incorrect or cruel ruling. He followed this reasoning with a rejoinder to his interlocutor about the Prophet Muḥammad’s cousin and son-in-law ʿAlī b. Abī Ṭālib, who did not forego his good humor upon becoming caliph; if, al-Aʿshā argued, such a respectable figure did not become more grave when in power, why should a judge? In her chapter in Justice and Leadership in Early Islamic Courts, MaribelFierro uses this source to show that Khushanī does not limit his account of judges’ behavior to their serious and pious actions but also includes their humorous natures. This range testifies both to the expansiveness of Khushanī’s work and to the diversity of judges active at the time.

This source is part of the Online Companion to the book Justice and Leadership in Early Islamic Courts, ed. Intisar A. Rabb and Abigail Krasner Balbale(ILSP/HUP 2017)—a collection of primary sources and other material used in and related to the book.

Supreme Court of Iran: General Administration of Uniformity of Judicial Decisions and Publication of Deliberations and Opinions of the General Board (Opinion Number 835)

Contributions by Seyed Bahman Khodadadi.

The Family Code of the Russian Federation

Contributions by Cem Tecimer.

Commentary

Popular Documents

Niẓām al-Aḥwāl al-Shakhṣiyya [Personal Status Law]

Program in Islamic Law (PIL) Staff

By Muhammad Zubair Abbasi

The Personal Status Law of 2022 (PSL) forms part of Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 reform agenda.[1] The PSL codifies legal rules governing family relations, including marriage, divorce, child custody, maintenance, gifts, wills, and inheritance. While drawing extensively on principles derived from classical fiqh, the PSL introduces substantive reforms by codifying, clarifying, and standardizing rules that were previously applied through judicial discretion.

The law sets the minimum age of marriage at eighteen, while permitting courts to authorize the marriage of individuals under eighteen where they are deemed sufficiently mature to provide consent.[2] It further enhances women’s autonomy in marriage by limiting the traditional authority of the guardian: a judge may intervene to permit a woman to marry a man of her choice where the guardian’s objection is deemed unreasonable.[3] The PSL strengthens women’s rights within marriage by invalidating the practice of instant divorce (triple ṭalāq)[4] and broadening women’s access to no-fault dissolution through a judicially supervised reconciliation process.[5] It also reinforces married women’s financial rights by requiring husbands to provide maintenance irrespective of the wife’s financial standing.[6] In addition, the financial burden associated with wife-initiated no-fault divorce (khulʿ) is curtailed by limiting the compensation payable to the husband to prompt dower.[7]

Notes:

[1] “Vision 2030,” Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, accessed March 16, 2026, https://www.vision2030.gov.sa/media/cofh1nmf/vision-2030-overview.pdf.

[2] Personal Status Law of 2022 [PSL] art. 9 (Saudi Arabia).

[3] PSL art. 20.

[4] PSL art. 83.

[5] PSL arts. 109–11.

[6] PSL art. 44.

[7] PSL art. 101. Dower under Islamic law is divided into two types. Prompt dower is a sum of money or property that a husband is obliged to pay his wife immediately upon marriage. Deferred dower, by contrast, falls due only upon dissolution of the marriage, whether by divorce or the husband’s death.