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Chapter Three

                 Ihc Ruler to ask for his verdict, this implied that they were both
                 Prepared to accept his ruling; it might also indicate that the case had
                 already been heard before some authority whoso ruling the parlies
                 had not been willing to accept. In an Arab tribal society people often
                 preferred to request a powerful, wise, and popular shaikh to give his
                 ruling in their disputes; similarly, an oppressive ruler was kept busy
                 with endless disputes because people found it difficult to avoid
                 transgressing his many rules and regulations.03
                   In this type of jurisdiction it is not altogether relevant whether the
                 judgement is in conformity with the stipulations of a specific and
                 quotable law; what is important is whether both parties and the
                 observers perceive the judgement as fair in the circumstances and
                 whether they all accept the verdict. The legal principles which
                 guided this process of arriving at a judgement were first of all the
                 customary law, *urf, which developed within a particular group of
                 tribes, was known to and recognised by its members, and was
                 peculiar to that group. One was also guided by common sense, and
                 often by impartiality and a lack of concern with the question of who
                 was at fault: a major consideration was which of the parties could
                 belter afford to concede or to pay the cost. Since the verdict had to be
                 acceptable to everyone involved it had almost always to be a
                 compromise.
                   Because all the people concerned were Muslim, their personal lives
                 and social behaviour, and therefore these legal principles too,
                 including 'urf, were moulded by Islam. Yet such verdicts were not
                 founded on specific precepts of shari'ah, the Muslim code of law,94
                 unless the parties turned to a mulawwa\95 a man who had studied
                 the Quran, was known to be religious, and was often even called
                 qadi.
                   Recently most Rulers on the Trucial Coast have found it necessary
                 for religious reasons to give their subjects the benefit of jurisdiction
                 by bringing to the shaikhdom someone who has undergone formal
                 training in Islamic law, and they have appointed a qualified qadi. A
                 Ruler will often listen to the complaints of the parties and will then
                 send for the qadi to deal with the case, or he will send the parties
                 away lo consult the qadi in his house. Any such proceedings take
                 place in the majlis, where everyone who cares to attend or who
                happens to be present may give his view.
                   In Abu Dhabi the position of qadi was held during the rule of
                Shaikh Hamdan bin Zayid and some of his successors by Muham-

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