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 crime… 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)