Is it an insult to advise the president to judge together with a qadi?

Question

If the president of a jamaʿat is an English-educated lawyer and does not have complete knowledge of the Shariʿa, and he is told: “You do not have knowledge of the Shariʿa, so issue your rulings taking the qadi along with you,” is this an insult to the jamaʿat and to the president of the jamaʿat?

Answer

There is no insult in giving this advice. However, making a person unacquainted with the Shariʿa the president of a Sharʿi jamaʿat — when it also falls to him to issue rulings according to the rules of the Shariʿa — is an insult to the jamaʿat: what guarantee is there that those rulings will accord with the Shariʿa?

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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