Because of the various connotations of this word the fuqaha’ have used it in the sense of deciding the disputes by a judge. The person who performs this work is called qadi by them.
The act of deciding the disputes is called qada because the qadi brings the matter to an end, disposes of the dispute and passes a final order.
It is also called hukm (decree, because the underlying word prohibits a transgressor from an unjust action) the translations of definitions of the word qada; as enunciated by the fuqaha* are as follows:
(i) In terminology of Shari’ah the word qada’ means to decide the disputes and dispose of the differences and conflicts (al-Sadr al-Shahid; Sh. Adab al-Qadi, I., 126)
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(ii) In Shari’ah the word means a binding order (decree) (Ibn al-Humam; Sh. Fath al-Qadir, V. 453).
(iii) It is a binding word/order passed by the public/general authority (‘Alamgiriyyah, V; 107).
(iv) To inform about and determine a commandment of the Shari’ah in a binding manner (Ibn Farhun; Tabsirah, I; 12).
(v) To act as an intermediary between the Creator and the creature in order to perform and execute among them the orders and commandments of the Creator through the divine Book and the Sunnah (Ibid).
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(vi) It is an office of deciding the dispute between the people in order to dispose of the suits and put an end to controversies and conflicts (Ibn Khaldun; Muqaddimah, 22).
(vii) The act of qada in a dispute means to discover and determine what is proved and established (M. Shahir Arsalan, Al-Qada’ wa’l- Qudat, 21).
The word qada’ has been defined by the Shi’ite scholars as follows:
(i) Passing order by one who is empowered by the Shariah and one who is eligible and capable of issuing a fatwa being in possession of detailed knowledge of the laws of Shari’ah, about particular persons in order to establish the rights and execute them in favour of the rightful (M. Sangalji; op. cit.; 10). (ii) Naraqi Kashani, a Shi’ite scholar, says that qada’ is a power of adjudicating a specific case of a person in order to establish a wordly punishment/penalty or a right (Ibid.)
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All the definitions of qada are approximately equivalent to the modern definitions of judgement that are reproduced below for the sake of comparison.
The official and authentic decision of a court of justice upon the respective rights and claims of the parties to an action or suit therein litigated and submitted to its determination (Black’s Law Dictionary, S.V. judgement) the sentence of the law, or decision pronounced by the court, upon the matter contained in the record.
The judgment though pronounced or awarded by the judges, is not their determination and sentence, but the determination and sentence of law. It is the conclusion that naturally and regularly follows from the premises of law.
Judgment depends not on the arbitrary caprice of the judge but on the settled and invariable principle of justice.
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Judgement is the determination of a court declaring the rights to be recognized and the remedies to be awarded between the parties upon facts found by the court or jury, or admitted by the parties or upon their default in the course of proceedings instituted for redress of a legal injury (M.A. Hafeez; Judicial Methodology, 5).