Qadi

Qadi قاضى is an Arabic term meaning "judge", whose duties are outlined in the Sharia. The responsibility of a Qadi is restricted to issues connected to religion, involving marriage and divorce, and inheritance, including the pious bequests (waqf), of which a qadi was often the trustee. In practice, Islam makes no distinction between religious and secular existence. The judgment of the qadi must be founded on the Qur'an, but the choice of which surahs will be applicable offers broad latitude of discretion. Charges of favoritism and corruption in the qadi are as ancient in Islam as anti-clericalism is in the West.

External link

• Encyclopedia of the Orient: qadi