The courts should be comprised of only one judge who has the authority to pronounce judgement. One or more judges are permitted to accompany him, however they do not have the authority of judgement but rather the authority of consulting and giving their opinion, and their opinion is not considered binding.

Its proof is that the Messenger (pbuh) did not appoint two judges to one case, but rather he would appoint a single judge for the single case, which indicates the impermissibility of having a multiplicity of judges in a single case. Additionally, the judiciary is the informing of the Shari’ah rule which is then binding, and the Shari’ah rule for the single Muslim is not multiple, since it is the rule of Allah (swt), and the rule of Allah (swt) is one. It is correct that there could be multiple understandings of it, but concerning the Muslim from the angle of action according to it, the Shari’ah rule is singular and is never multiple. So anything other than what he understood to be the rule of Allah (swt) concerning oneself is not the rule of Allah (swt) for him, though it is considered in his view to be a Shari’ah rule. Whatever he took by imitation (Taqlid), and then acted upon, is considered to be the rule of Allah (swt) concerning him, and anything else is not the rule of Allah (swt) for him. When the judge informs him of the rule of Allah (swt) concerning him, and this is binding upon him, it is necessary that this notification be singular since it is informing him of the rule of Allah (swt) which is binding for him, and so in reality he is acting according to the rule of Allah (swt), and the rule of Allah (swt) in the situation of practical action is not multiple, even though there may be multiple understandings. Accordingly it is not correct for there to be multiple judges, since it is impossible for the rule of Allah (swt) to be multiple.

This is with respect to the single case, or in other words, in a single courtroom. As for the country, it is permitted to have two separate courts dealing in all types of cases in one area, because the judiciary is delegated by the Khalifah, so it is like the proxy where plurality is permitted and thus it would be permitted to have several judges in one area. If the disputing parties could not agree on which court they should take their case to or which judge should look into their case, the choice of the plaintiff would outweigh that of the defendant and the case would be given to the judge of his choice, as he would be seeking his right and this outweighs the defendant.