In this
section we will explain the meaning of justice. Justice is the most honorable
of all virtues. A just man is the best of all men. Justice means harmony and
equality. Equality of two different identities either comes from their essence
or is due to their attributes. They share identical features. Hence, justice
ensues from unity, oneness. Oneness is the most honorable attribute and the
most honorable state because all the existence came from One Being. Every unity
that exists in the universe is reminiscent the only real One Being. As every
existent being became existent owing to that One Being, similarly, every kind
of oneness owes its existence to that
Oneness. In the business of
measurement and comparison, the most honorable and valuable outcome is
equality. In fact, this matter is being studied more extensively and in more
detail in music. Therefore, justice is the most honorable among all sorts of
goodness. Justice means to be in the middle. It is wrong to consider someone as
just if he has deviated from the middle. Justice is a prerequisite in three
circumstances:
1) Division of some property or
a blessing for distribution must be done justly.
2) Justice is required in
business transactions such as buying and selling.
3) It is a must to do justice in
application of punishment. For example, if a person intimidates or attacks
someone else, he has to be punished in kind. [But this punishment is the
government’s responsibility. So the person wronged should petition the security
or the court of justice instead of avenging himself. A Muslim will both obey
Islam by avoiding sinning and observe the laws by avoiding offense.] When there
is justice people will live without anxieties. Justice means a state of affairs
free from anxieties.
What is justice? The scope of human mind
would be too limited to comprehend the meaning of this concept. For this reason, Allâhu ta’âlâ, pitying His human creatures, sent them
guidelines for their legal systems thereby to protect their countries. These
divine guidelines made it easy to measure justice. These guidelines are the
religions revealed to prophets ‘alaihim-us-salawât-u-wa-t-taslîmât’.
Islam is also called ‘nâmûs-i-ilâhî (divine honour)’. The divine guidelines
which are enjoined upon humanity as of today and which will maintain their
validity until the annihilation of this world are embodied in the Sharî’at which
was revealed to Muhammad ‘alaihis-salâm’. After these guidelines, a second
means of measurement was delivered to humanity: A judge with authority. Man was
created so as to be civilized. In other words, human beings are congenital
social creatures who have to mix with one another, live together, and help one
another. Animals were not created as civilized beings. They do not have to lead
a social, urban way of living. Man, created in a delicate nature, cannot eat
food uncooked. His nourishment, clothing and dwelling have to undergo some
process before they are ready for him, which in turn entails arts and crafts;
and these things require research,
thought,
experimentation, and work.
[Islam encourages and enjoins
science, techniques, work and beautiful moral behaviour. British and communist
spinmeisters conduct an ignominious smear campaign against Islam. They fib such
nefarious lies as, “Islam lulls humanity into slumber and retards work.”
Allotting a major part of their slush funds for suborning ignorant and ignoble
people living in Muslim countries, they exploit those wretched mercenaries as
loudmouths to spread their slanders in a state of besottedness whereinto they
are enticed with the plenitude of the money they are offered and the
fascination of the positional varieties laid before them. With the so many
âyat-i-kerîmas and hadîth-i-sherîfs enjoining science, knowledge and work and praising those who
work, and which are quite in the open for all humanity to see, these foul and
shameless libels sound like mud used in a derisible attempt to plaster the sun.
The British depredations against Islam have proven to be the most clandestine.
Their strategy is based on demolishing Islam from the interior. As a precursory
measure to facilitate their plans to misguide younger generations, they destroy
Islamic teachings and Islamic books. The Department of Colonies, which they established in London, was singularly intended as a
base for their devilish depredations against Islam. In this department they
prepared extremely treacherous plans and honed thousands of spies. Their
assiduous endeavours culminated in their enmeshing Muhammad bin Abd-ul-wahhâb
of Najd, who and Muhammad bin Su’ûd, the Emîr of Der’iyya, were ignorant and
perfidious enough to collaborate with them in the establishment of the
heretical sect Wahhâbîism, for which the British
had to pour out millions of pounds and part with powerful armaments, and
devastated the Ottoman Empire, the protector of Muslims worldover, from the
interior. Please see Confessions of A British Spy, one of our
publications!
Abdurrashîd Ibrâhîm effendi ‘rahimahullâhu
ta’âlâ’ makes the following observations in a chapter, headlined “British
Enmity Against Islam’, in the second volume of his Turkish book ’Âlam-i-Islâm,
which was published at Istanbul in 1328 [1910 A.D.]: The main priority in the
British foreign policy is an expeditious abrogation of the Khilâfat-i-Islâmiyya
(Universal Islamic State). They started the Crimean war and helped the Turks
throughout the war. This they did as a stratagem for the
destruction
of the religious state “Khilâfat”. The Paris peace
agreement is illustrative of their motives. [The secret articles of the
Lausanne peace agreement, signed in 1923, betray their animosity.] All the
disasters that befell Muslims throughout history, whatsoever is the cloak used
to disguise them, trace back to British plotters. The ultimate aim of British
policy is to destroy Islam. The reason for this policy is their fear of Islam.
In order to deceive Muslims, they exploit people with venal characters. They
introduce these people as Islamic scholars and great personalities. In short
and in essence the bitterest enemies of Islam are of British nationality.
Abdurrashîd Ibrâhîm effendi passed away in Japan in 1363 Hijrî. [1944 A.D.]
Why should Islam retard progress
of science, technology and work? Everything mankind needs has to go through a
process of preparation, which in turn requires science, crafts, and work. It is
impossible for each and every person to learn all the branches of arts and
crafts. Different branches are learned and practised by different people. This
share of occupations gives birth to business transactions, and everybody is
dependent on people of other occupations to get their needs. This circulation
of reciprocal supply of needs follows its natural course. Therefore, it is
impracticable for a human being to live all alone. For, people have to live
together, and civilization means their living together for the maintenance of
urban welfare and the betterment of conditions.]
When human beings live together, the shrewd
ones try to attack others’ property and rights. Others try to oppress the weak
because every nafs tries to obtain what it likes or desires. When there are a
few of them wanting the same thing, they start to fight among themselves like
dogs around a piece of carcass snarling and showing their teeth to one another.
A judge with strong powers is necessary to enforce law and order among these
fighters. Every businessman will claim that his products are worth more than
others’ products. So it is necessary to determine comparative values of those
products with justice. The measure which determines the comparative value of
goods is gold and silver, i.e. money. Gold and silver are called naqdayn
(the two pecuniary units, two units of cash). Paper bills currently used in
every country are equivalents of gold, which means that governments who are
wealthier in terms of gold can issue more paper bills. Accordingly, if
governments
poor
in gold reserves issue paper bills in excess, the paper bills issued in
surpluss will lose their value. Allâhu ta’âlâ
created gold and silver as money. Nothing else can replace gold. For this
reason we were ordered to calculate and pay the obligatory almsgiving (zakât)
in gold and silver. Values of things therefore, have to be measured with
justice and in terms of gold and silver under the jurisdiction of a just judge.
This judge with authority is the government. A just government prevents
oppression and torture and provides the justice commanded by Allâhu ta’âlâ and determines the values of the goods
with justice.
In conclusion, there are three
prerequisites for establishing justice among people: Nâmûs-i-rabbânî,
hâkim-i-insânî, and dinâr-i-mîzânî. Of these three, nâmûs-i-rabbânî, i.e.
Islam, is the most essential and of utmost importance. Religions are the laws
which Allâhu ta’âlâ sent to
humanity for the establishment of justice among them. He sent these divine laws
so that judges should practise justice. The twenty-fifth âyat of Sûra Hadîd
purports: “We sent aforetime Our apostles with Clear Signs and sent down with
them. The Book and the Balance (of Right and Wrong), that may stand forth in
justice: ...” (57-25) In this âyat-i-kerîma,
“Book” means religion, because religion is the name for the commandments and
prohibitions in the Qur’ân al-kerîm. The word ‘Balance’ implicates gold because weight of gold is
measured with a balance. Those who despise the commandments and prohibitions of
the Qur’ân al-kerîm are unbelievers
and hypocrites (munâfiqs). Anyone who does not
obey the judge or the government is a rebel. [Muslims do not rebel against the
laws of the countries (dâr-ul-harb) outside of Islamic
states and do not commit any crime against them.] A person who denies the value
of gold is a traitor and a thief.
AN IMPORTANT NOTE: First of all, one
should administer justice to oneself, to one’s behavior, and to one’s limbs.
Secondly, one should render justice to one’s household, to one’s neighbors and
acquaintances. Also, members of the judiciary and members of parliament should
mete out justice to the people. Hence, for possessing the virtue of justice, a
person should first have justice in his actions and limbs. He should use all
the forces in his body and all his limbs in a manner consistent with the
purpose of their creation, instead of using them for purposes counter to reason
and Islam and thereby
violating
the divine laws enacted by Allâhu ta’âlâ. If he
has a family and children, he should treat them compatibly with reason and
Islam without any digression at the sacrifice of the beautiful moral values
shown by Islam. He should refine his personality with beautiful habits. If he
is a judge or a governor or a commander or a director of an institution, he
should encourage his inferiors to be steady with their daily religious
practices, himself setting an example for them. A person with these
qualifications has become Allâhu ta’âlâ’s
Khalîfa in the world. And in the Hereafter he will attain those blessings promised
to people of justice. So auspicious and blessed is a person who fulfills these
qualifications that the spiritual haloes of his goodness and barakat permeate
the fortunate time and the blessed place he lives in, the lucky people who live
therein, and even all the flora, fauna, and pabula. If, however, the government
officials at a certain place are far from being compassionate, well-bred and
just, and if –may Allâhu ta’âlâ protect us
against such cataclysms– they violate people’s rights and perpetrate such
iniquities as cruelty, depredation and persecution, they are, let alone people
of justice, companions and friends of fiends and demons.
A couplet:
Do not be deceived by the villas and apparel of dictators,
Gardens of their villas are watered with tears of the oppressed!
People who govern other people
cruelly will be treated mercilessly on the Day of Judgement by Allâhu ta’âlâ. There is a saying which goes
as follows:
Man, lâ yarham, lâ
yurham!
which means, merciless people will not
receive mercy! When such tyrants band together, they form gangs, not
governments. Such people tyrannize millions of their follow men for the sordid
interest of a couple of years’ luxury in this ephemeral life, which never ends
before they have met their nemesis. Amidst all the apparent welfare and
transport they seem to be basking in, vehement trials and tribulations never
let go of them. The only item of their worldly assets to leave them once and
for all is their adored sovereignty, which, in the end, they mostly have to
bear seeing in the hands of their enemies. Such an excrutiatingly humiliating
experience! As a matter of fact, the eighty-first âyat of Sûra Maryam purports:
“To Us
shall return all that he talks of, and he shall appear before Us bare and alone.” (19-80) As is pointed out in this âyat-i-kerîma, each and every one of such people will be brought to the presence of Allâhu ta’âlâ at the Court of Justice in the Hereafter with a black stain on his face. He will not be able to deny all the wrongs he has committed, and will be punished for them severely. All the wrongs and oppressions he has committed will manifest themselves as darkness and will cover him so that he will not be able to see where he is going. He will be thrown to Hell by the angels who are in charge of Hell and punished there much more severely than the punishments and tortures he imposed on people while he was in power. He will not be able to obtain the forgiveness of Allâhu ta’âlâ because he called Islam’s principles and tenets ‘desert laws’ and denied the Islamic religion.