An Ignorant Judge

Rasul Allah (sal Allahu alaihi wasallam) said: “Judges are of three types, two of them will go to the Hellfire and one type will go to Paradise. The one who knows the truth and judges with it – he is in Paradise. One who knows the truth but doesn’t judge by it, will go to Hellfire. The one who doesn’t know the truth and judges between people with ignorance, will go to the Hellfire.” [Abu Daud, Tirmidhi]

What the truth is, is determined by Allah (subhana wa ta’ala). He has spelt it out for us in the Shariah, that is the Quran and Sunnah. If a person passes judgment according to his or her own standards of right and wrong, rather than what Allah has declared as right or wrong, then that judge is judging with ignorance.