Conditions and Qualification for Being a Judge in the Light of the Islamic Law

‘Adl and Qisṭ is indeed a manifestation of God’s mercy, rather, it may also be seen as a principal objective of Shariʿah. The origin or sources of administration of justice in Islām are the Quran, Sunnah of the holy Prophet, consensus of opinions of the jurists of Islamic jurisprudence and Analogy (Qiyās). Justice is a sacred obligation of supererogatory. It is obligatory upon the Muslim rulers to appoint judges for the dispensation of justice to attain equality, to protect the human rights from their violation, to safeguard the lives and properties, and to maintain law and order in society. As a judge is supposed to accomplish a very important and noble task being a regent of Allāh, hence, some vital merits and criteria regarding the conditions and qualifications for the appointment of the Qāḍī or judge in the light of the Qur’ān, Sunnah and Islamic jurisprudence and the code of conduct for the Pakistani judges must be observed at all costs. The author of this paper has discussed these conditions and qualifications in this article. There are some unanimous conditions for the appointment of judges, while some others are not agreed upon. While presenting the difference of opinions of the Islamic jurists, the author tried to explain, reconcile the opinions and at some places presented her own view in the light of her analysis and arguments. These conditions are around thirty, but the author according to her own discretion chose some of the most important ones to discuss in this paper.

The Relationship Between Behavioural Biases and Financial Wellbeing: Exploring Channels and Conditions in Pakistan

This study is aimed to investigate the moderating role of financial literacy and mediating role of financial behaviors on the relationship between behavioral biases and financial wellbeing by collecting evidence from Pakistan. The study is carried out on the presumption that human beings are not rational agents and they make decisions based on heuristics and mental shortcuts. It was believed that such heuristics, which are referred to as behavioral biases, could have implications towards the financial wellbeing of the individuals. A gap in existing literature was felt regarding the interrelationships of behavioral biases, financial behaviors, financial literacy and financial wellbeing. This study has filled this gap by following an explanatory sequential design through which a quantitative analysis followed by a qualitative analysis is carried out. During the quantitative phase, data collected through an online survey questionnaire (n=344) was analyzed through descriptive statistics, correlation analysis, multicollinearity diagnostics and structural equation modelling (SEM) etc. Whereas, in qualitative phase, the findings of quantitative analysis were interpreted in the light of feedback of financial management experts, collected through in-depth interviews (n=16). From these results, it is found that framing effect have significant implications towards the financial wellbeing of the individuals. Moreover, higher income level increases financial wellbeing; having a big family decreases financial wellbeing. Moreover, the way the information is framed significantly affect the financial behaviors. It is less likely that individuals having exponential growth bias exercise negative investment behaviors. Mental budgeting results in healthy financial behaviors. However, the negative impact of mental budgeting cannot be ignored as the human beings have restricted ability to understand and absorb the information. The study also found that people behave differently towards investments, depending upon whether they do job or business. The level of education affects the investment behaviors. There exists a relationship between investment behaviors and financial wellbeing. People exercising positive investment behaviors could have better financial wellbeing and vice versa. Therefore, investment behaviors play a mediating role between framing effect, exponential growth bias and mental budgeting and financial wellbeing. Moreover, a moderating role of actual financial literacy between exponential growth bias and financial wellbeing is also found, however, it needs further investigation. Recommendations are made based on the findings of both quantitative and qualitative analysis; limitations of the study and future research directions are also discussed.