Ali Ibn Abi Talib - Volume 1 of 2

'Ali ibn Abi Trilib 473
and avoiding injustice towards them formed the basis for setting up a
department to look into injustice."
2.1. Judiciary and legislative plan at the time
of the Rightly Guided Caliphs, and the sources
to which the Companions referred at that time
What is meant by this plan is the method followed by the
Rightly Guided Caliphs and the noble Companions (may Allah he
pleased with them) when t~ying to work out Sharia mlings on new
situations and cases that occurred in their daily lives. They were
guided to this method by the close company they kept with the noble
Messenger of Allah (g) and the education and training they received
from him. Hence following this method became obligatory upon
those who came after them.
We have noted in our study of the era of the Rightly Guided
Caliphs in our hooks on Ahu Bakr, 'Umar and 'Uthrnk, and in the
current study on the era of 'Ali (may Allah be pleased with them all),
that every tine they came across a new issue or needed a verdict, they
would turn to the Book of Allah (&) first of all. If they found the
Sharia ruling for the new issue there, then the matter would he settled,
otherwise they would refer to the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah
(g). If they did not find the solution there, they would move on to
working it out on the basis of their personal view in the broad
meaning of the term. We have noted that this way of working things
out was initially done collectively in most cases, especially if the
issue had to do with matters of state, which is something general in
nature. What helped in that regard was the fact that the senior
Companions were still living in Madiuah, which made it easy to
bring them together and listen to their views. The collective
agreements that stemmed from these consultations were later known