Judicial System

Judicial System in Saudi Arabia
The Sixth: Honesty
A judge must be honest and evade any work that may
disrepute him and make him biased in his rulings, hence
judges are prohibited to receive any pecuniary or moral
benefits from disputants; and Allah Almighty says, ‘And eat
up not one another’s property unjustly (in any illegal way,
e.g., stealing, robbing, deceiving) nor give bribery to the
rulers (judges before presenting your cases) that you may
knowingly eat up a part of the property of others sinfully”
(Surah Al-Baqara, verse (188)). The late Imam Al Qurtobi
said, ‘the essence is not to attract or bribe the rulers to rule
in your favor.’ (1) , and the fact is that taking any pecuniary
benefit to do a public job is totally prohibited as Prophet
Mohammed (Allah’s blessing and prayers be upon him) said,
‘What is the matter with a collector of Sadaqah. We send
him (to collect Sadaqah), and when he return he says: This is
for you and this is a present which was given to me. Why did
he not sit in his father’s or mother’s house and see whether it
would be given to him or not? Whoever takes any of it will
inevitably bring it on the Day of Resurrection, be it a camel
which rumbles, an ox which bellows, or sheep which-bleats.
Then raising his arms so that we could see where the hair
grow under his armpits, he said: O Allah, have I given full
information? O Allah, have I given full information.’
Islamic scholars prohibit judges from accepting presents
except from close relatives or those whom he were used to
(1) Ahkam Al Quran, Al Qurtobi
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