CADI (qadi), a judge in a Muhammadan court, in which de cisions are rendered on the basis of the canon law of Islam (shari`a). It is a general duty, according to canon law, upon a Muslim community to judge legal disputes on this basis, and it is an individual duty upon the ruler of the community to appoint a cadi to act for the community. According to Shafi`ite law, such a cadi must be a male, free, adult Muslim, intelligent, of unassailed character, able to see, hear and write, learned in the Qur'an, the traditions, the Agreement, the differences of the legal schools, ac quainted with Arabic grammar and the exegesis of the Qur'an. He must not sit in a mosque, except under necessity, but in some open, accessible place. He must maintain a strictly impartial atti tude of body and mind, accept no presents from the people of his district, and render judgment only when he is in a normal condi tion mentally and physically. He may not engage in any business. On some of these points the codes differ, and the whole is to be regarded as the ideal qualification, built up theoretically by the canonists.
See Th. W. Juynboll, Handbuch des islamischen Gesetzes (191o) ; E. Sachau, Muhammedanisches Recht (1897).