KUFAH'S JUDGES IN THE SECOND ABBASID PERIOD ( 232-334/846-945)
Objectives: This study aims to know what the nature of Kufah’s judges, and the authority of appointing them in the second Abbasid period. It also aims to clarify their characteristics, qualifications, specializations, doctrines, ethnic origins, social backgrounds, and their relations with the Caliph and the various administrative bodies. Methodology: In Kufah, 18 judges were counted in a specific period of time, and by tracing their lives in the primary sources, their biographies were studied and the common points between them were explored to reach the results according to the historical research method. The primary material was collected from its original sources, the novels were compared and analyzed, then the positive internal criticism was applied. Then sorting them out, excluding the unreliable ones, subjecting the reliable ones to negative internal criticism, and then formulating the historical material. Results: The results of the study show that the judiciary in the first Abbasid period was an official religious institution, and the choice of who would take over was one of the competences of the Caliph, regardless of the influences he was subject to or the consultations and opinions he might hear when choosing any judge. The results of this study also show the qualities and qualifications of judges. These qualifications may differ from one judge to another, but in their entirety they emphasize good qualities and high qualifications. Their knowledge was not limited to the sciences of the Arabic language and its literature, history and genealogy, but the religious sciences were among the most important sciences that the judges were keen to acquire, so most of them were scholars of Hadith and jurists, who belonged to different schools of thought: six of them were Hanafi judges, two were Shafi’i judges, and two were Maliki. The three Sunni doctrine prevailed in Kufah, and the Hanbali doctrine was absent there. Among the results of this study is the strength and rigor of the judge's exercise of his authority and the breadth and diversity of his competences. In addition to the purely judicial tasks, some of them practiced work of a judicial or non-judicial nature. As for the social backgrounds of the Kufah’s judges, their origins were diverse, dating back to different cities and multiple families. The origins of two of the eighteen judges of Kufah were of Ajami origins, and the rest were descended from different Arab tribes. Conclusion: Like the rest of the cities of the Abbasid Caliphate, the judge of Kufah enjoyed a decent position that enabled him to practice his work under clear sovereignty that contributed to the application of rulings to the people of Kufah away from the interference of the administrative authority in the state.
Keywords: Islamic History, Judiciary, The City of Kufah, Abbasids