Shaykhí teachings on knowledge are similar in appearance to that of the Sufis, save that where the Sufi "wayfarer" arrogates to himself the role of interpreting and adjudicating truth, Shaykh Ahmad was clear that the final arbiter for interpretation and clarity was the 12th Imam.

This was the case even during explicit evening drinking events ("comissatio") where an important part of the festivity was choosing an "arbiter bibendi" (Judge of Drinking) who was, among other things, responsible for deciding the ratio of wine to water in the drinking wine.

The game is not automatically drawn if a position occurs for the third time – one of the players, on their move turn, must claim the draw with the arbiter.

In the twentieth game of the Bobby Fischer versus Boris Spassky World Chess Championship 1972, Fischer called the arbiter Lothar Schmid to claim a draw because of threefold repetition.

Spassky did not dispute it and signed the scoresheets before the arbiter ruled . After the draw had been agreed, it was pointed out that the position had occurred after White's forty-eighth and fiftieth moves, and again after Black's fifty-fourth move (the final position).

It is clear that the existence and extent of the power is a matter of common law, making the courts the final arbiter of whether a particular type of prerogative exists or not.