The appointment of a member of the judiciary is one of the Islamic contracts, and any contract in Islam has two contractors. One is the Islamic State, represented by the Khaleefah, and the other is the judge himself. The contract is manifested by an offer and acceptance.

Accordingly, the position of the judge will be valid as long as the conditions of the contract exist. Given this, there are three ways in which a judge can be removed from authority:

1) The Khaleefah removes him - this may be directly, or through the institution of the Qadi al-Qada‘a.

2) The judge resigns.

3) The judge loses one of the conditions to be judge, e.g. he becomes blind or becomes untrustworthy.