Kalīla and Dimna, a classic of global literature, has passed from Sanskrit to over forty languages worldwide, among which the Arabic phase with its multiple versions constitutes the fountainhead: from these all later versions derive. Some chapters were added by the Arabic translator-adaptor Ibn al-Muqaffaʿ (d. 757), notably a sequel to the book’s longest chapter, “The Lion and the Ox.”

That chapter ends with the villain, the jackal Dimna, instigating the king (a lion) to kill his innocent advisor (an ox). The new chapter then supplies the "Dimna’s trial." The outcome is predetermined by the reason of state, represented by the lion’s mother, but the villain presents among all speakers the best arguments; he lectures the court on legal principles, the ethics of the judge, how to establish proof, and the dangers of false confession.

Ibn al-Muqaffaʿ’s original version is lost, and the extant manuscripts from the thirteenth to the nineteenth century represent the views of copyist-redactors. It is noteworthy that the versions of this chapter differ more strongly from each other than in any other chapter of this fluid textual tradition, so much so that one may distinguish mutually exclusive plot lines.

“Dimna’s Trial” can thus be taken to map out attitudes toward the miscarriage of justice. It is ironical that the villain Dimna is the one how presents the most convincing arguments, adducing concepts of justice, scriptures, and ethics. Conversely, the trial court’s fact-finding oscillates between two procedures of proof, physiognomy (firāsa) and testimony (shahāda). The paper will map out the spectrum of positions taken and principles argued by all parties involved in the trial.