Justice is one of the essentials maintaining social order. Every country employs its individual judicial system. However, owing to the persistent difficulties experienced in the contemporary judicial systems, the quest for an ideal model has never ended.
There is one essence of the ideal judicial system aspired to across the world: the establishment of a judicial mechanism in which each and every person is fully repaid for his acts without being subject to any form of prejudicial discrimination. Despite new methods, different approaches, and projects and solutions devised to attain this ideal model, however, exercising justice remains a steep road yet to be taken.
The moral deterioration of society accounts for these unfavourable situations. Deterioration, a simple consequence of non-adherence to the values commanded by Allah, brings harm to societies in all domains of life.
Again, this deterioration accounts for swindling, bribery, cheating, injustice and many social evils. Daily life abounds with examples of this sort. A frequently encountered situation in business life, for instance, is businessmen who cheat on their partners and deceive them by embezzling their money, houses or cars. Meanwhile, a longstanding friendship and the material and spiritual losses the other party suffers do not mean anything to the swindler. Primarily concerned about his self-interests, values such as friendship, family ties, spirituality, social cohesion and good morals have no meaning whatsoever to the swindler.
All relations this person establishes with anyone else will be under the influence of such a rationale since he fails to reflect that Allah is aware of all that he does, and that he will account for every act he commits. Never remembering that swindling is an unfair gain and unjust behaviour contributes to this crooked rationale.
The following example will contribute to a better understanding: a person who believes that swindling is a horrible crime, will strictly avoid it throughout his life. Once, however, someone thinks he can derive personal benefit, the same person may bear false witness against another or slander him for something of which he is completely innocent. Meanwhile, he may find refuge in some excuse: that conditions compelled him or his responsibilities to his family laid the ground for such a crimeé No matter what these excuses are, the fact remains that slander is wicked under all circumstances.
This aforementioned pattern appears particularly at times when people feel their interests are at stake. This rationale also holds true for thieves, swindlers and oppressors. In a society riddled with people with vested interests, the existence of injustice, interest conflicts and chaos is unavoidable.
Nevertheless, no matter what compelling forces there are, a person living by the Qur’an would never stoop to these wicked deeds and never display attitudes inconsistent with its values. Someone having strong fear of Allah never forgets the fact that one day he will meet each and every deed in which he engages and each and every word he utters. Injustice, which is an outcome of moral deterioration such as only pursuing one’s own interests, hoarding possessions, ignoring the needy and those in trouble, has a unique solution: the dissemination of the values of the Qur’an among people. That is because in the Qur’an, Allah commands His slaves who believe and live by these superior values to be just:
You who have iman! Be upholders of justice, bearing witness for Allah alone, even against yourselves or your parents and relatives whether they are rich or poor, Allah is well able to look after them. Do not follow your own desires and deviate from the truth. If you twist or turn away, Allah is aware of what you do. (Surat an-Nisa’: 135)
Allah commands justice and doing good and giving to relatives. And He forbids indecency and doing wrong and tyranny. He warns you so that hopefully you will pay heed. (Surat an-Nahl: 90)
In a society where people have an understanding of justice as described in the aforementioned verse, injustice does not prevail. That is because in an environment where the values of the Quran and the Sunnah are observed, the strict exercise of justice is essential. In the practice of this justice, one’s kinship, wealth, status or other factors allow for no exceptions. Nevertheless, current implementations of systems of justice around the globe are rather varied. In some cases, in consideration of someone’s wealth, status and social environment, his crimes are simply ignored or his punishment is alleviated. This is unlikely to happen in a society where real justice prevails. Factors such as kinship, wealth or status never become reasons to deviate from justice.
Peace: The Natural Consequence of Securing Real Justice
Once all these facts are considered, we arrive at the conclusion that only living by the Qur’an will ensure a completely fair social structure. That is because only the morality of the Qur’an brings moral conduct and wisdom. Selfish, egotistical, heedless people will change into merciful, just people who think for the good of others and thus provide solutions. This simply means the end of many problems.
In societies enjoying real justice, people do not stoop to moral weaknesses such as pursuing vested interests, fraud or violating other’s rights. The basic Qur’anic teachings command matters such as co-operation and mercy, which are the essence of a just society. In such a society, everyone safeguards each other’s interests and thus the rights and interests of all are secured. This is what brings overall peace and security to society. In this sense, the responsibility of all believers is to communicate the values praised by Allah and the just religion to the whole world. This is one of the most important attributes of the believers:
Let there be a community among you who call to the good, and enjoin the right, and forbid the wrong. They are the ones who have success. (Surah Ali ‘Imran: 104)
Those who make tawba(repent), those who worship, those who praise, those who fast, those who bow, those who prostrate, those who command the right, those who forbid the wrong, those who preserve the limits of Allah: give good news to the believers. (Surat at-Tawba: 112)
Allah mentions the existence of people who live by these values and accordingly summon people to them. Only those making people avoid wicked deeds will attain salvation:
Then when they forgot what they had been reminded of, We rescued those who had forbidden the evil and seized those who did wrong with a harsh punishment because they were deviators. (Surat al-A’raf: 165)
Harun Yahya is a prominent Turkish intellectual.
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