IDEA 27
Twelve Aspects of Justice (B)
If we look to the laws, they afford equal justice to all in their private differences; … advancement in public life falls to reputation for capacity, class considerations not being allowed to interfere with merit; nor again does poverty bar the way, if a man is able to serve the state, he is not hindered by the obscurity of his condition. [Thucydides, The Peloponnesian War, Book II, Chapter VI, 37]
3. Justice can be hierarchical or egalitarian.
For most of human history, the persistence of slavery was not attributed to what the slave had supposedly done wrong, such as having gone into debt or committed a crime, but rather on a general acceptance that society consisted of persons with various degrees of rights and privileges, and that while some, such as kings, had virtually any right they wanted, others had, quite naturally, no rights at all. While the Qur’ān does not deny the reality of social stratification or the rights that masters have over slaves, it denies that society’s outcasts are any less worthy. Nūḥ (peace be upon him) affirmed the basic dignity of his followers (Q11:29-31), who as believers belonged to GOD, despite their being despised and his being reproached by his community’s leaders for allowing them to follow him. We also have the famous verse (Q49:13): The noblest ones among you are the wariest [of GOD]. It is on this basis, which includes the tremendous concern shown by the Prophet (may GOD bless him and give him peace) for the weak, the poor, orphans, widows, and slaves, that we can say that Islam is truly egalitarian.
On the other hand, Islam puts a brake on the modern Western determination to take its egalitarian urges to their logical conclusion by seeking perfect equality between men and women and eroding the rights that parents have over children. While men and women will be judged fairly on what they are given, there is no guarantee that they will have equal power or the right to behave, dress, and live the same way. And do not desire what GOD has favoured some of you with over others. To men belong a portion from what they have earned. For women is a portion from what they have earned. (Q4:32) Valid distinctions – of privilege, not necessarily of merit – can be made between the sexes, between leaders and followers, between masters and slaves, and between the learned and the unlearned. Wealth, however, the main cause of inequity and corruption in Western secular society, is not accorded any privilege or respect in the Qur’ān. The extremes of opulence and poverty we see in Muslim communities today display a blatant disregard for the kind of egalitarianism that was most emphatically present in early Islam.
4. Justice can be particular or approximate.
We are all familiar with the fine-grained justice of commercial transactions. If, after seeing the price tag or agreeing on the discount for a new car, we were to withhold even ten cents, the cashier or dealer would regard our arbitrary subtraction as unjust and unacceptable. This kind of justice is meticulous and exacting, as is clear from Q17:35 – Fulfill the measure when you measure out, and weigh with balance straight and true. That is best and finest from the start.
There are, however, situations in which justice only works well when its edges are smudged with large amounts of mercy and forbearance, usually on both sides. The most successful divorce settlements, for example, are those in which the two parties are not too fussy about how the property should be divided or who has more time with the children. We see this aspect of justice in the Qur’ān as well, such as in Q2:237 – That you forego [your right] is more akin to piety. And be not heedless of benevolence among you. Justice is sometimes best served with a large helping of humility and tact; men with multiple wives are reminded that You will not achieve equality with women, and even if you want to, yet do not lean all one way [from one of them] so that you leave her, as it were, suspended. (Q4:129)
5. Justice can be intention-based or outcome-based.
The convergence of these two versions of justice can be seen in Q4:92-93. The first case is that of unintentional murder, often referred to as manslaughter in the West. The penalties for this type of offence are emancipation of a slave and the payment of blood money to the victim’s relatives, indicating that outcomes do matter, even without intent. The second case, intentional murder, is serious enough to warrant Hell as punishment in the Everafter, along with the Wrath of AL-LĀH; the penalty in this world, however, is set forth in other verses, namely, death or blood money if the relatives do not demand capital punishment. It is clear, therefore, that intention makes offences more grievous … and it is intention, likewise, that gives good deeds their full weight in terms of rewards.
Because intentions are invisible and difficult to measure, the law has to deal mainly in outcomes. The question with the payment of zakāt, for example, is not what occupied your heart when you performed it but only if you paid the correct amount. In view of the intangible dimension of intentions, which are best left to GOD in any case, most systems of law, particularly utilitarian ones, concentrate mainly on the result in determinations of guilt. If you are guilty of speeding, your intention is almost always irrelevant. Cases of great consequence, however, such as fraud, murder, treason, insurrection, and apostasy, must take intention into account because what is meant or intended can represent the principal part of the crime.
(to be continued)
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