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Qaba SeeKABA.

qadi(cadi) In Islamic society, the qadi,or “judge,” was
a salaried official responsible for interpreting details and
rendering judgments in legal cases. The first qadis were
appointed by the CALIPHSin MEDINAin the 630s. During
the UMAYYADCaliphate between 661 and 750 C.E. most
qadis were appointed by local governors. Qadis repre-
sented and personified the judicial authority of the
caliph, who of course could not be everywhere. With no
hierarchy of courts or judges, there could be little appeal
actions on his own. He heard cases in MOSQUESor in his
own home. The role of the qadi grew in Umayyad provin-
cial administration, in which local governors had much
autonomy. Over time the duties of the qadi grew to
encompass a range of administrative as well as judicial
duties.
Until more than a century after the life of MUHAMMAD,
there was no written or as yet commonly accepted corpus
of Islamic legal doctrine on which to base judicial deci-
sions. So qadis had to be learned in the QURANthemselves
and knowledgeable about the ideas and practices of
Muhammad. When the core of a case was not directly
addressed in the Quran, they relied on local customary law,
local consensus (ijma), and their own personal reasoning.
Not all qadis were known for their piety or religious learn-
ing—some had received their positions because of political
connections. Toward the end of the Umayyad period, they
were more often in conflict with governors as their deci-
sions became more specifically identified with enforcing
and defining religious law, the nascent sharia.
ABBASIDSfrom 750 tried to implement more explic-
itly the Islamic religious law, or the sharia, which was not

clearly defined until the 11th century. Beginning with

reign of HARUN AL-RASHID, his central government and

established appointed of local judges a chief judge in

BAGHDAD. From then on qadis confined to cases explicitly

involving Islamic law. The Abbasid government tried to

assume more responsibility for administrative and crimi-

nal cases in private, civil, and public matters.

Pious men were reluctant to accept the role of qadi

because of fear of divine punishment for wrongful or

mistaken verdicts or of reprisals by vengeful governors.

Further reading:Antony J. Black, The History of

Islamic Political Thought: From the Prophet to the Present

(New York: Routledge, 2001); Joseph H. Escovitz, The

Office of Qadi al-Qudat in Cairo under the Bahri Mamluks

(Berlin: Klaus Schwarz, 1984); Ignaz Goldziher, Intro-

duction to Islamic Theology and Law,trans. Andras and

Ruth Hamori (1910; reprint, Princeton, N.J.: Princeton

University Press, 1981); Joseph Schacht, The Origins of

Muhammadan Jurisprudence(Oxford: Clarendon Press,

1950).

al-Qayrawan (al-Kairouan, Kairwan, Qairouan) Med-

ieval al-Qayrawan was a city in present-day TUNISIA, now

called Kairouan. It was founded in 670 by Uqbah ibn Nafi

(d. 682), the Arab general who conquered Ifriqiya. It

started as a military camp, because the early Muslim

armies were quartered apart from the newly subjected

populations. The principal monument in al-Qayrawan is

the Great Mosque, also known as the MOSQUEof Sidi

Uqba. It was built in 724–43. The present MINARETwas

added in 836. It was modified and rebuilt several times

between then and 1294. There were three satellite cities,

impressive cisterns, and a town wall from 1052. Until the