ABSTRACT
Qadis and muftis play an essential role in realizing the duty to ensure justice in this world and salvation in the next through interpreting, adapting and implementing the mandates of Islamic sacred law for the community of believers and in its name. Disputes involving dhimmis alone could be voluntarily submitted to the qadi to be decided according to Islamic law. Students of contemporary qadiship can draw on the judicial archives of modern nation-states and on direct observation, as practiced by legal anthropologists. Given that qadis are the emblem of a state judicial system closely connected with the emergence of a centralizing political power, they have attracted a fair amount of attention among students of Islamic history, law and society. A better understanding of the role of the mufti and its relevance to the Islamic judicial process has also contributed to stress the need to address the adjudicative aspects of Islamic justice jointly with the advisory functions performed by the mufti.
