عن عمرِو بنِ العاصِ، أنه سَمِعَ رسولَ الله ﷺ يقول: «إذا حكَم الحاكمُ فاجتهدَ، ثم أصاب، فله أجرانِ، وإذا حكم فاجتَهدَ، ثم أخطأ، فله أجرٌ» متفق عليه.
111 - The high status of ijtihad
‘Amr ibn al-‘Āṣ narrated that he heard God’s Messenger (peace be upon him) say:
1. If a judge looks carefully into a dispute and returns a judgement, then if his judgement is right, he earns double reward.
2. If he looks carefully into it and returns a wrong judgement, he earns a single reward.
Summary of Meaning
This hadith states that a person who is returning a ruling, including a ruler, judge, mufti, etc. will be rewarded for exerting his best effort to arrive at the right ruling. If his ruling is correct, he is rewarded for being correct as well as for his effort, which means that he has a double reward. If he is mistaken, having exerted his best effort, he will be given the reward for so doing.
