The Quran

Preface

سَمّاعونَ لِلكَذِبِ أَكّالونَ لِلسُّحتِ ۚ فَإِن جاءوكَ فَاحكُم بَينَهُم أَو أَعرِض عَنهُم ۖ وَإِن تُعرِض عَنهُم فَلَن يَضُرّوكَ شَيئًا ۖ وَإِن حَكَمتَ فَاحكُم بَينَهُم بِالقِسطِ ۚ إِنَّ اللَّهَ يُحِبُّ المُقسِطينَ

Yusuf Ali

(They are fond of) listening to falsehood, of devouring¹ anything forbidden. If they do come to thee, either judge between them, or decline to interfere.² If thou decline, they cannot hurt thee in the least. If thou judge, judge in equity between them. For God loveth those who judge in equity.

Devouring anything forbidden: both in a literal and in a figurative sense. In the figurative sense, it would be: the taking of usury or bribes, or taking undue advantage of people’s weak position or their own fiduciary powers to add to their own wealth.
Where it is merely a trick to catch out the unwary, a just man may honourably decline to interfere in a cause submitted to him, as also in a case where the parties are not honesdy desirous of justice, but each hopes that some partiality will be shown to it.