In this excerpt from Quḍāt Qurṭuba, Khushanī (d. 361/971) recounts an anecdote in which a judge known for his sense of humor,Sulaymān b. Aswad, plays a trick on a Cordoban man, Ibn Qulzum, and embarrasses him before his peers and the nobility. Ibn Qulzum goes to see the judge one day and finds him apparently on his deathbed. Shocked, he goes to the vizier, Hāshim b. ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz, to tell him that the judge is dying and that the emir needs to replace him. After Ibn Qulzum assures the vizier that he saw the dying judge with his own eyes, the vizier writes to the emir, but the latter, aware of the judge’s antics and Ibn Qulzum’s desire to lead the Friday prayer in the judge’s stead, immediately realizes that a trick is afoot and sends his eunuch assistant to check on the judge’s status. After receiving confirmation that the judge was merely pretending to be at death’s door, the emir has a good laugh and goes about his day. In her chapter in Justice and Leadership in Early Islamic Courts, MaribelFierro uses this anecdote to show that good-humored judges were not necessarily disrespected by high-ranking officials such as emirs and viziers and to illustrate the reach of the judges’ power and the seriousness with which they were expected to treat their position, given its impact on social structures.
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.