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The Muhtasib has the right to appoint deputies for him. They should fulfil the requirements of the Muhtasib, and he is allowed to assign them to different places. Those deputies would have the power to carry out the duties of the Hisbah in the areas to which they have been assigned, and in the cases for which they have been delegated.
This article is restricted by whether the appointment of the Muhtasib included the right to appoint delegates for him; or in other words, the right to appoint others. This is if he had been appointed by the Khalifah. However, if the appointment was made by the Supreme Judge, the clause must be approved first, and in addition to this, the appointment of the Supreme Judge must include a clause that gives him power to allow the judges that he appoints to delegate others to act on their behalf, in other words, to give them the right to have deputies. If the Supreme Judge did not have such power, then he would not be in a position to approve such delegation, thus the Muhtasib would not be allowed to have deputies; in other words, he would not have the right to delegate. The power of the judge to delegate on his behalf, whether it be the Muhtasib, the Qadi (judge) or the judge of the Court of Injustices (Madhalim), is not in the hands of the judge unless the Khalifah allows him to do so or if the permission to recruit judges and to allow those appointed to delegate were given to the Governor of the Judiciary, in other words, the Supreme Judge. This is because the judge is appointed to the judiciary, in other words, a specific type of judiciary, which is the Hisbah. Therefore, if he were not given the right to delegate, in other words, the right to appoint a deputy for himself, he would not then possess the mandatory power to appoint anyone. This applies to the Qadi and the judge of the Court of Injustices (Madhalim), for each of them would be appointed to the judiciary according to the appointment clause, and they do not possess any other power, in other words, they do not have the power to appoint judges unless it was mentioned in the contract of their appointment. For this reason, he does not have the right to appoint deputies to perform the duties of Hisbah on his behalf, unless this was part of his contract. The same applies to the Supreme Judge.
As for the permissibility of appointing deputies, this is because when the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) was presented with a case, he appointed someone as a delegate for himself. Accordingly, in the incident of the desert Arab who came to the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) and informed him that his son was working for a man and he committed adultery with the man’s wife and asked him for the verdict, the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) said at that incident,.
.» وَاغْ دُ يَا أُنَ يْسُ - رجل من أسلم - إِلَى امْرَأَةِ هَذَا، فَإِنِ اعْ تَ رَفَتْ فَارْجُمْهَا «. “O Unais! Go to the wife of this (man) and if she confesses (that she has committed illegal sexual intercourse), then stone her to death.” (agreed upon from Abu Hurayrah and Zayd Bin Khalid), which indicates that the judge can send a delegate on his behalf to judge upon an issue that he has specified for him, and in the same way this can be for the Muhtasib since he is a judge. However, the judge must allow his deputy to deal with the case as a whole; in other words, he must be allowed to look into the complaint and pronounce judgement himself, if the appointment to deputise is to be considered valid. This is because the judiciary is the conveying of the rule which is then binding, so in this context it cannot be split, and ,therefore, he cannot appoint him to merely investigate without judging but rather the appointment must be complete so that he becomes a judge and his judgement becomes valid. Even if he did not actually pronounce a judgement, his work would be valid, since it is not a condition for him to act as a judge - a judge could look into a case, and before completing his work and pronouncing his judgement, he could be relieved of his duties, and then the case would be referred to another judge who would pass judgement. The same applies to the judge’s deputy - it is not a condition for him to pass judgement, but he must be given the right to investigate and pass judgement when appointed; in other words, he must be appointed as a full judge, holding all the mandatory powers given to a judge. The same applies to the Muhtasib - he appoints deputies with powers to investigate and judge in the cases he assigns for them, or in the areas in which he places them, if he has been given the power to appoint deputies. The conditions for those whom the judge appoints as his deputies are that they must be Muslim, free, just, adult and possessing knowledge of jurisprudence in the issues which he will be looking into; in other words, the deputy of the Muhtasib has the same conditions as the Muhtasib since they are both judges.
Reference: Draft Constitution of the Khilafah State - Sheikh Taqiuddin An-Nabahani
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