justice (Arabic: adl, qist, haqq, sidq, ihsan)
Justice is a fundamental principle concerned with
the fair allocation of rewards and punishments,
together with the rectification of wrongs. It is a
key concept in the Abrahamic religions, where
human beings are called to act in justice or righ-
teousness, and where God is seen as its ultimate
dispenser, especially on JUdgment day.
In Arabic one of the key words for justice is
adl, a noun based on the verb adala, which means,
among other things, to straighten or modify; to
depart or deflect from one (presumably wrong)
path to the other (presumably right one); to
equalize; and to balance, weigh, or be in equilib-
rium. Among its numerous suggestive synonyms
are nasib and qist, share; haqq, truth or justice;
qistas and mizan, scale; and taqwim, straightening.
Other synonyms imply the classical Greek virtue
sophrosyne: temperance, harmony, self-mastery,
and with respect to action: balance, proportional-
ity, and judiciousness, or the Aristotelian principle
of the (Golden) Mean between extremes. The
semantically rich metaphorical image of the scale
(mizan) is used in the qUran with reference to
divine justice on Judgment Day.
Justice is one of the foremost themes in the
Quran. Indeed, it is part of the metaphysical ratio-
nale for creation: “God created the heavens and
earth with what is true and just (haqq): to reward
each soul according to its deeds. They will not be
wronged” (Q 45:22). Humankind alone is respon-
sible for whatever justice—or injustice (zulm)—is
in the world (Q 10:44). Divine justice is more
than a quid pro quo exchange, at least with regard
to merit-based principles, for God “doubles any
good deed and gives a tremendous reward of his
own” (Q 4:40). The quranic concern for justice
reiterates one of the fundamental demands (as
“righteousness”) made by God upon humans in
revelations to the prophets of the Hebrew Bible.
This continuity with earlier revelations might be
inferred from the fact that “the Quran often refers
to terms such as adl (equitable, just), ihsan (benef-
icence) [and] maaruf (a generally accepted good)
without defining them, as if the Quran assumes
a pre-existing relationship to justice, equity and
morality—a relationship that precedes the text”
(quoted in Abou El Fadl 60).
Perhaps the best expression of the importance
of justice in the Quran is:You who believe, uphold justice (qist) and be
witnesses to God, even if it is against your-
selves, your parents, or your close relatives.
Whether the person is rich or poor, God can
best take care of both. Do not follow your
selfish desire, so that you can act justly. If
you pervert or neglect justice, God is fully
aware of what you do. (Q 4:135)The call to justice is complemented by numer-
ous admonitions against injustice (zulm) in the
Quran.
Divine justice is by definition perfect, eternal,
and ideal. People are urged to make every effort
to approximate and reflect this metaphysical fact
in their lives. Reward or punishment in the next
life is allotted in accordance with the sincerity
and strength of a person’s efforts to follow this
ideal, one reason for the association of justice with
ihsa ̄ n, beneficence or moral excellence, that is,
doing the utmost good. The imperative of justice
is both an individual and a collective obligation
for Muslims, so that while we may distinguish
between personal and social virtues, they are nec-
essarily tied together.
mUhammad (ca. 570–632), like the biblical
prophets, was motivated by a strong sense of
justice and protested the widespread inequity and
oppression he found in Meccan society, where
he had grown up. He sought to replace it with a
new order and harmony within which the stan-
dards of justice would prevail. Whatever dimen-
sions of justice were part of the bedoUin ethic of
tribal manliness (muruwwa) in the jahiliyya (pre-
Islamic Arabia), they appear to have precipitously
declined in the time and place of Muhammad,
hence the Meccan revelations of the Quran regard-K 416 justice