It is permitted to appoint the judges and the muhtasib in a general capacity, to judge on all matters all over the country. It is also permitted to appoint him in a specific capacity, where the specification could either be geographic or according to a certain type of judiciary. This would be in accordance with the actions of the Messenger of Allah (saw), for he appointed ‘Ali ibn Abi Talib as judge over Yemen, and Mu‘adh ibn Jabal as judge over an area of Yemen; he also appointed ‘Amr ibn al-A’as as judge in one specific matter. This is as far as the qadi muhtasib and the qadi ‘Aam are concerned.

As for the judge of madhaalim, it is permitted to appoint him for the whole country or to confine him to a specific area, for the Messenger of Allah (saw) appointed Rashid ibn Abdillah as Amir of the judiciary and the madhaalim over the imara where he was appointed. As for the confining of the judge of madhaalim to certain matters, this is forbidden, for the Messenger of Allah (saw) did not do so, and because his duty would be to look into the complaints of the people and remove their causes, thus specialisation would not be feasible, for the complaints cannot be partitioned. Also, in addition to him being a judge looking into the madhaalim, he is also a ruler in removing the causes of the madhaalim, and the rule cannot be partitioned. Thus the ruler does not specialise in the rule, i.e. he cannot be confined to ruling over certain matters and be restricted from ruling over other matters, he can only be confined to an area.

When a ruler is appointed and he acquires the mandatory powers and the authority to look into all matters, it is forbidden to restrict and categorise his duties of rule. The same applies to the judge of madhaalim - his appointment would be general as far as the judiciary is concerned. He can, however, be confined to a specific area just as for the confinement of the wali to a special wilayah. This would not be a partition of his rule but a specification of the wilayah, and no matter where and what type of wilayah it is, the rule of that wilayah cannot be partitioned. The judge of madhaalim would be appointed similarly over the wilayah of madhaalim, and this wilayah is general, therefore it would be wrong to partition the domain of his wilayah. This serves as evidence that he should not be appointed except with a general appointment as far as the judiciary of madhaalim is concerned.