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Divine Duty: Islam and Social Justice
12-26-2023
The concept of justice in Islam is rooted in God’s Divine nature. The Qur’an states, “Verily, God does not do even an atom’s weight of injustice” (Qur’an 4:40). The Prophet Muhammad ? quotes God as saying, “O My Servants, I have forbidden injustice upon myself and have made it forbidden amongst you, so do not commit injustice.”
1 In this saying of the Prophet, we see a connection between how humans ought to act and our knowledge of God’s Divine qualities. In fact, it is a principle of Islamic theology that our quest in life is to come closer to God by emulating His Divine Names. One builds a relationship with God by building virtues within oneself. The famous theologian, Abu ?amid al-Ghazali (d. 505 AH/1111 CE), wrote a book on the concept of God in which he included a chapter entitled, “Explaining that the perfection and salvation of the worshipper is in emulating the Divine qualities of God and embodying their meanings to the extent that is humanly conceivable.”
2.All the experiences of life provide human beings with opportunities to embody virtues that emulate the Divine attributes, such as being compassionate to those in distress, giving generously to those who are needy, advocating on behalf of the oppressed, and so on. Belief in God’s Divine Justice is thus directly linked to one’s commitment to strive for justice and to avoid any form of oppression towards anyone in one’s personal life. In fact, those who stand for justice are the ones who truly know God and testify to His Grandeur: “God testifies that there is none worthy of worship except Him, as do the angels, and those endowed with knowledge standing firmly for justice” (Qur’an 3:18). Thus, in Islam, the starting point for any type of justice is rooted in one’s spiritual quest to love God and be God’s beloved. That spiritual justice begets all other forms of justice.
In Islam, justice is woven into the very nature of the cosmos. The Qur’an states, “God raised up the heavens and established the Scales of balance” (Qur’an 55:7), a phrase which commentators take to mean “He established justice (athbata al-?adl).”
3 This concept of balance is central to the Islamic definition of justice which entails upholding the rights (?uquq) due to others, or giving what is due to the one to whom it is due.
4 Upholding rights begins in one’s relationship with God, acknowledging that God is the sole Sovereign, the ultimate objective of one’s pursuits, the only One worthy of worship (which constitutes part of the basic testimony of faith in Islam). Pure monotheism is the Qur’anic message. The deification of earthly creatures, invention of false deities, and worship of others alongside God all constitute ‘associating partners with God’ (shirk in Arabic) which is termed a ‘grave injustice’ (Qur’an 31:13). The primary victim of such an injustice is one’s own soul because it is deprived of the spiritual fulfillment that comes about from a meaningful connection with one’s Creator, and instead becomes subjugated to false ideologies and worldly desires.
One’s relationship with God must manifest in the way one deals with others, and thus there is tremendous emphasis on upholding the rights of all creation—from one’s family, to one’s neighbors, to all human beings, to animals and the environment.
5 A verse of the Qur’an cited routinely at the end of the Friday sermon states, “Verily God commands justice, excellent conduct, and caring for one’s relatives, and He forbids all forms of immorality, evil and transgression. He admonishes you so that you may take heed” (Qur’an, 16:90). The Qur’an admonishes human beings to always arbitrate every matter with justice (Qur’an, 4:58), and to remove every bias in upholding justice even if it requires taking a stance against one’s own interests: “O you who believe, be persistently standing firm in justice, as witnesses before God, even if it be against yourselves or your parents and relatives” (Qur’an, 4:135). So important is the notion of impartiality to justice that the Qur’an advises, “Let not the hatred of others towards you prevent you from being just. Be just, that is closer to piety” (Qur’an 5:8).
The Islamic perspective on social justice
Justice has many dimensions. Broadly defined, the vertical dimension of justice between humankind and God is the theological sense of justice while all forms of justice between human beings constitute forms of social justice. This would include everything from macro-level political and economic dimensions to micro-level interpersonal interactions between family members, friends, neighbors, and so on. The Qur’anic term which best explains social justice is the Arabic term qis? (fairness) which entails a sense of equality and justice in distribution
6 and a shared social project to ensure that all members of society receive their fair share.
7 The political aspect of justice entails fair governance of people according to mutual consultation (Qur’an 42:38). There are many sayings of the Prophet ? that praise the virtues of the just ruler and assign a place in paradise for one who rules with justice.
8 As well, the Prophet declared that the most noble struggle is to speak a truthful word in the presence of a tyrannical ruler.
9 This latter sentiment is a powerful motivation for political activists calling for human rights. When the Prophet Muhammad ? heard about an incident in Abyssinia where an elderly woman was pushed, he declared, “How would God sanctify a nation that does not protect its underprivileged from its powerful?”
10 Thus, the prosperity and wellbeing of an entire nation are at stake when its members fail to protect those underprivileged from those in power.
In many ways, Islam is fundamentally a faith of activism. According to the Qur’an, an essential characteristic of believers is their participation in publicly “enjoining good and forbidding evil” (Qur’an 3:110, 9:71). The Prophet Muhammad ? said, “Whoever witnesses something evil, let him change it with his hand, and if he is unable then with his tongue, and if he is unable then with his heart, but that is the weakest form of faith.”
11 In this sense, Islam does not permit one to be a bystander to any form of injustice; one is morally obligated to do everything in one’s power to eradicate oppression. Of course, this duty is accompanied by the requirement for wisdom to ensure that one’s attempt to remove an evil does not backfire and lead to a greater evil. Activism encompasses both collective and individual efforts. In Islamic terminology, the term far? kifayah describes a collective obligation which the community as a whole participates in, and the term far? ?ayn describes an individual obligation that must be fulfilled by each and every person. Thus Islam calls upon human beings to work individually and collectively to eradicate injustice on the micro- and macro-levels.
The Arabic word for injustice, oppression and wrongdoing is ‘?ulm.’ It is linguistically closely related to the word for darkness ‘?ulmah’ (pl. ?ulumat) and the Prophet Muhammad ? drew on this comparison when he said “Verily, injustice (?ulm) will become darkness (?ulumat) on the Day of Judgment.”
12 God, being the “Light of the Heavens and the Earth” (Qur’an 24:35), guides humanity out of the depth of darkness into the light (Qur’an 2:257). The faithful striving for justice represent the forces of light wrestling with the darkness of oppression and injustice. One’s proximity to God is thus based on the extent to which one embodies this light and emulates the Divine attribute of justice.
The Qur’an also speaks about humankind having the position of khilafah (custodianship) in various passages (Qur’an 6:165, 27:62). One famous interpretation of this is that humanity as a whole has been given the role of being God’s appointed custodian, deputy, viceroy, or vicegerent (Arabic: khalifa) on earth, tasked with the mission of promoting virtue in accordance with the Divine plan.
13 As Ramon Harvey notes, “If the basic idea of the khalifa within the Qur’an is the human steward charged with a duty to live according to the moral scale that God has set within creation, then in the social sphere this implies upholding justice, establishing his law, and rectifying worldly corruption.”
14 Throughout time, as human beings have drifted from their divinely ordained mission of striving for justice, God has sent prophets in every epoch for the purpose of re-establishing justice. “We have sent Our Messengers with clear signs and sent down with them the Scripture and the Scales of balance so that humanity may uphold justice (qis?)” (Qur’an 57:25). This spiritual worldview of custodianship is integral to the Muslim notion of social justice.
Standing with the marginalized
When the Prophet Muhammad ? arrived in Madinah, he began his message to the people with several instructions which included, “supporting the weak, helping the oppressed, and spreading peace.”
21 It is a fundamental tenet of Islamic activism to always be on the side of the oppressed which involves advocating for those groups as allies. The Prophet Muhammad taught, “Beware the supplication of the oppressed, for there is no barrier between it and God.”
22 If God listens to the oppressed, so must we all. In order to advocate effectively for those who have suffered injustice at the hands of others, one must begin by lending an ear and listening attentively to understand what has happened, and what their demands for justice and reconciliation are. The Qur’an states, “God does not love the public mention of evil, except by one who was wronged; Verily God is All-Hearing, All-Knowing” (Qur’an 4:148). In other words, publicly mentioning the faults of others is generally prohibited in Islam unless a person has suffered some injustice and oppression, in which case the society must listen to their demands for justice. The legacy of Islam demonstrates the comprehensive manner in which the Prophet Muhammad ? and his followers strived to support all those who were oppressed or marginalized in society prior to the coming of Islam.
Conclusion
The Islamic faith, shared by one-quarter of the world’s population, has a profound tradition of social justice that is rooted in spirituality, seeing humankind as custodians of this world, divinely entrusted with the duty to always stand on the side of the oppressed and speak truth to power. Through the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad ? and his companions, Muslims seek to revitalize the true essence of the faith, which calls upon human beings to serve God by caring for those in need.
Footnotes: Footnotes: This article has been excerpted from the author’s contribution to a larger chapter co-authored with Amal Qutub (registered social worker) and Mahdi Qasqas (clinical psychologist) entitled “Islam and Social Justice” in the volume Spirituality and Social Justice: Spirit in the Political Quest for a Just World (Canadian Scholars Press, 2019) available here. The chapter provides an introduction to, and overview of, the Islamic faith for Canadian social workers counseling Muslim clients with special
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