The Qadhi al-Mazaalim is appointed by the Khaleefah, or by the Qadhi al-Qudhah. His removal, accounting, reprimanding or transfer, is carried out by the Khaleefah, or by the court of Mazaalim - if the Khaleefah gave it such mandatory power. This is because the Mazaalim is wilayah that is exclusive to the Khaleefah. Thus the appointment of the Waali of Mazaalim must be by the Khaleefah. Besides, the Mazaalim are part of the judiciary, for they are the pronouncement of the Shari’ah rule by way of compulsion. The judge must be appointed by the Khaleefah; a matter that is confirmed by the Messenger of Allah’s actions, for He (pbuh) used to appoint the judges. All this serves as evidence that it is the Khaleefah who appoints the judge of Mazaalim, yet the Qadhi al-Qudhah could appoint the Qadhi al-Mazaalim if the Khaleefah made provisions for this in his appointment clause.

The removal of the Qadhi al-Mazaalim should, in principle, be the right of the Khaleefah, as it is He who has the right to appoint him. However, He has no right to remove Him if He was investigating a case submitted against the Khaleefah, the Muawin Tafweedh or the Qadhi al-Qudhah. This is based on the principle of; The Means to Haram is Haram”. The Messenger of Allah (pbuh) used to personally take charge of the judiciary of Mazaalim and it has not been reported that He ever appointed a judge of Mazaalim on a general capacity i.e. giving Him a general Wilayah over the Mazaalim. The four of Khulafaa’ Ar-Rashidoon never appointed anyone over the Mazaalim. Ali used to personally be in charge of the Mazaalim; and He looked into several cases of Mazaalim. When ‘Abdul-Malik Ibnu Marwan became Khaleefah He fixed a particular day for the Mazaalim, where He would hold hearings without going into the investigations. If a problem arose and He needed a binding judgement to settle the Mazlema, He would refer it to his judge Abu Idriss Al-Azadi. Abu Idriss would then be the one who looked into the Mazaalim, for He was a judge and He dealt with the Mazaalim that the Khaleefah ‘Abdul-Malik would refer to him. When the Ameer of the believers ‘Umar Ibnu Abdel-Aziz (Rahim Allah) came, He himself dealt with the cases of Mazaalim, and put a halt to the Mazaalim of Banu Umayyah. Midway through the Abbasi (Abbasid) era, the Khulafaa’ used to delegate the cases of Mazaalim to a special judge. Since that date the judiciary of Mazaalim became separate from the Khaleefah, while before that the Khaleefah himself always carried it out. Therefore, the Khaleefah reserves the right to look into the Mazaalim himself, and He is allowed to appoint a judge of Mazaalim, and to remove Him and replace Him with another judge, thus it is permitted for the Khaleefah to do so i.e. it is a Mubah action.

It is also the Khaleefah who holds the judge of Mazaalim accountable, where He reprimands Him and removes him. This is because He is responsible for the Mazaalim and for the judge whom He appoints on his behalf to look into the Mazaalim. The Khaleefah is allowed to give the (head) Qadhi al-Mazaalim or to the Qadhi al-Qudhah the power to remove the Qadhi al-Mazaalim, reprimand, remove or transfer him. If He did so, they would have the mandatory power to remove, account and reprimand the Qadhi al-Mazaalim.

The position of Qadhi al-Mazaalim is not restricted to one person. The Khaleefah is allowed to appoint a number of judges for the Mazaalim according to the need, no matter how many they were. However, when it comes to the judgement, only one judge can pass the judgement. Yet it is permitted for other judges to sit with Him during the court proceedings, but they would only have a consultative role, and He would not be obliged to consider their opinion.

This is because the Khaleefah is permitted to appoint one or more deputies to act on his behalf. However, if there were several judges of Mazaalim, their mandatory power to look into the Mazaalim cannot be apportioned, for each one of them would have the right to look into the cases of Mazaalim. The Khaleefah is, however, allowed to confine a judge of Mazaalim to one province, or to confine Him to a certain type of cases, for He has the right to give a general Wilayah over the Mazaalim, or a specific Wilayah if He wished. He can also give a Wilayah over the whole of the State or confine it to a specific area or province. As for the fact that, when the judge of Mazaalim looks into a case, He should look into it on his own, this is because of what was mentioned earlier, that it is forbidden to have more than one judge looking into a particular case, while it is permitted to have more than one judge in the same area. However, it is permitted for other judges of Mazaalim to sit with Him in court in a consultative capacity only. He would not be obliged to consider their opinion, and it would be up to Him whether He wished them to sit with Him or not, for nobody should sit with the judge and distract Him while He looks into what has been confined to him. However, He could consult them once He retires from court.