judge concerning a hundred or less." His ruling shall not be effective regarding anything more than that. It is permissible to appoint him with general authority over general work, or specific authority over specific work. It is permissible to appoint two or three judges in one land, assigning each of them a task; so he may appoint one of them for marriage contracts, another for judgment in financial debts, and another to oversee real estate (33). It is also permissible to appoint each of them with general authority in a specific region of the land. If he appoints two or more judges for one task in one location, there are two views. One of them is that it is not permissible. This was chosen by Abu al-Khattab and is one of the two views of the companions of al-Shafi'i, because it leads to the stalling of rulings and disputes, as they may differ in ijtihad (legal reasoning), and one of them may see what the other does not. The other view is that it is permissible, which is the position of the companions of Abu Hanifa. It is the more correct view, if Allah the Almighty wills, because it is permissible for him to appoint a deputy in the town where he is, and thus there are two judges in it; therefore, it is permissible to have two original judges in it. Furthermore, the purpose is the resolution of disputes and the delivery of rights to those who deserve them, and this is achieved; thus, it is similar to the judge and his deputies (34). Also, because it is permissible for a judge to appoint two deputies in one location, the Imam is more entitled to do so, because his appointment is stronger. Their statement that "it leads to the stalling of rulings (35)" is incorrect, for every ruler judges according to his own ijtihad between the litigants before him, and the other has no right to object to him, nor to overturn his ruling in matters where it contradicts his own ijtihad.

Section: If the Imam says, "Whoever looks into the judgment among such-and-such person and such-and-such person, I have appointed him," the authority is not established for whoever looks into it, because he attached it to a condition and did not specifically designate any one of them for the authority. It is possible, however, that the authority is established for whoever looks into it, because the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: "Your leader is Zayd; if he is killed, your leader is Ja'far; and if he is killed, your leader is Abdullah ibn Rawahah" (36). He thus attached the authority of leadership to a condition, and the authority of judgment is the same. If he says, "I have appointed such-and-such person and such-and-such person; whoever among them looks into it is my deputy," the authority is established for whichever of them looks into it, because he contracted the authority for both of them.