Islam & the Modern World · Islam as a Working System

Justice binds you against yourself

In short

• 1.Q 4:135 requires standing for justice even against yourself and your own family.
• 2.Q 5:8 forbids letting hatred of a people lead you away from justice.
• 3.The Prophet, peace be upon him, said earlier nations were destroyed by punishing the weak and sparing the powerful.

The claim being examined

Justice is widely endorsed and quietly applied selectively — to allies more gently than to opponents.

The Islamic position

The Qur'an commands testimony against oneself, one's parents and one's own kin, and forbids hatred of a people from producing injustice toward them.

Analysis

These two verses are among the most striking ethical statements in the Qur'an and should be quoted in full. Q 4:135 commands believers to be persistently standing firm in justice as witnesses for God, even if it is against themselves, their parents or their relatives, and whether the party is rich or poor. Q 5:8 commands justice and states that hatred of a people must not lead you to be unjust, adding that justice is nearer to God-consciousness — a prohibition on selective standards toward an enemy. The Prophetic illustration is equally direct: when intercession was sought for a noblewoman of the Makhzum tribe who had stolen, the Prophet, peace be upon him, said that those before them were destroyed because when a noble among them stole they left him, and when a weak person stole they applied the punishment, and stated that he would apply it even to his own daughter Fatimah were she to do it (Sahih al-Bukhari 3475). Two honesty requirements. Muslim states and communities frequently fail this standard, including in the treatment of migrant workers, minorities and the poor, and it is better to say so than to be told. And the standard is offered as a criterion by which Muslims themselves may be judged.

From the Qur'an

From the Sunnah

Sources

Qur'an 4:135 · Qur'an 5:8 · Sahih al-Bukhari 3475 · Qur'an 4:135; Qur'an 5:8

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