Islamic morality commands believers to behave justly when taking a decision, speaking or working, and in short in all areas of their lives. Allah's commandments in the Qur'an and the sunna of our Prophet describe that understanding of justice in great detail. All the messengers revealed to us in the Qur'an, brought peace and justice to all the communities they were sent to with their warnings, and the prophets were a means whereby cruelty and despotism were lifted from the shoulders of the community of the faithful. As Allah has revealed in one verse;
Every nation has a Messenger and when their Messenger comes everything is decided between them justly. They are not wronged. (Surah Yunus: 47)
The most important feature of the Islamic understanding of justice is that it commands justice at all times, even if the person one is dealing with is very close to one. As Allah commands in another verse:
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 you to return to their owners the things you hold on trust and, when you judge between people, to judge with justice. How excellent is what Allah exhorts you to do!... (Surat al-Nisa': 58)
As that verse makes clear, the wealth or social status of the person he is dealing with is of no importance to a believer. The important thing is fairness, that nobody should be treated unjustly, and the scrupulous implementation of the holy verses of Allah. This is how it is commanded in another verse:
You who have iman! show integrity for the sake of Allah, bearing witness with justice. Do not let hatred for a people incite you into not being just. Be just. That is closer to taqwa. Have taqwa of Allah. Allah is aware of what you do. (Surat al-Maida: 8)
In that verse, Allah orders the faithful always to act justly, even when it comes to their own enemies. No Muslim can make a spontaneous decision on the basis that the person he is dealing with once harmed him or left him in a difficult situation, or that he is a personal enemy. If the other side is genuinely in the wrong, the Muslim has a duty to respond with good and to display the morality commanded by Allah.
Allah has issued the following commandment to believers: Allah does not forbid you from being good to those who have not fought you in the deen or driven you from your homes,or from being just towards them.Allah loves those who are just. (Surat al- Mumtahana: 8) He has informed Muslims what the nature of their relationships with other communities should be. These verses are the very foundation of a believer's view of all other people. A Muslim's attitude towards others is formed not by the nature of the person he is dealing with, but rather by Allah's revelations in the Qur'an. That is why Muslims with pure hearts always support what is right. Their determination on this matter is revealed in these terms,
Among those We have created there is a community who guide by the Truth and act justly according to it. (Surat al-A'raf: 181)
Other verses on the subject of justice read:
Allah commands you to return to their owners the things you hold on trust and, when you judge between people, to judge with justice. How excellent is what Allah exhorts you to do! Allah is All-Hearing, All-Seeing. (Surat an-Nisa': 58)
Say: 'My Lord has commanded justice. Stand and face Him in every mosque and call on Him, making your deen sincerely His. As He originated you, so you will return.' (Surat al- A'raf: 29)
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)
According to the view of justice as set out in the Qur'an, the religion, race and gender of the person is dealing with are of no importance. That is because Islam maintains that all races and genders are equal. Our Prophet's words that "All men come from the Prophet Adam, and the Prophet Adam comes from the earth' stress that there is no difference between people."(Ibni Mace, Menasik, p.84) Features such as skin colour, social status and wealth confer no superiority on anybody.
All over the world people are subjected to cruel treatment because of their race, language or skin colour. Yet according to the Qur'an, one of the reasons for the creation of different tribes and peoples is that 'they should come to know one another.' All tribes and nations are the servants of Allah, and must come to know one another and learn their different cultures, languages, customs and abilities. One intention behind the existence of different nations and races is cultural wealth, not war and conflict. All true believers know very well that only godliness can impart superiority, in other words the fear of Allah and faith in Him. As Allah has revealed in the Qur'an:
Mankind! We created you from a male and female,and made you into peoples and tribes so that you might come to know each other.The noblest among you in Allah's sight is the one with the most taqwa.Allah is All-Knowing, All-Aware. (Surat al-Hujurat: 13)
Elsewhere, He has revealed:
Among His Signs is the creation of the heavens and earth and the variety of your languages and colours. There are certainly Signs in that for every being. (Surat ar-Rum: 22)
When we look at the history of Islam we see many examples in which the faithful behaved with complete justice towards other races. Islam grew unbelievably quickly over a wide area, taking in Africa, Asia and Europe. The beauty of Islamic morality were thus spread by means of these conquests. Islam has spread to all races, nations, social structures and regions, and has brought millions of people together with a bond of brotherhood the like of which the world had never before seen.
Professor Hamilton Alexander Rossken Gibb is one of the world's foremost experts on Islam. In his book Whither Islam he describes the Islamic view of other races:
"No other society has such a record of success uniting in an equality of status, of opportunity, and of endeavors so many and so various races of mankind . . . Islam has still the power to reconcile apparently irreconcilable elements of race and tradition. If ever the opposition of the great societies of East and West is to be replaced by cooperation, the mediation of Islam is an indispensable condition." (H.A.R. Gibb, WHITHER ISLAM, London, 1932, p. 379. http://bama.ua.edu/~msa/islam.html)
Islamic morality aims at a society built on brotherhood, peace, freedom and security. That is why all communities that have come into contact with Islam have given up their oppressive, cruel and aggressive ways, and instead built a society built on peace. (For further details see Justice and Tolerance in the Qur'an by Harun Yahya) Many Western historians have expressed that fact in their works and stated how Islam had deep and positive affects on communities that came into contact with it. In his book The Making of Humanity, Professor Robert Briffault discusses the relationship between Western society and Islam:
"The ideas that inspired the French Revolution and the Declaration of Rights, that guided the framing of the American Constitution and inflamed that struggle for independence in the Latin American countries [and elsewhere] were not inventions of the West. They find their ultimate inspiration and source in the Holy Quran."
(Prof. Robert Briffault, The Making of Humanity, http://www.tolueislam.com/Bazm/Shahid/SM_012.htm)
The truths in the above extracts are an indication of the way that Islamic morality has taught people about peace, tolerance and justice down the centuries. Nowadays, everybody is seeking just such a model, and there is no reason why such a culture should not once more come about. All that is necessary is for people to want to live by the morality of the Qur'an, beginning with themselves and later making efforts to spread it to other people. When the morality commanded in the Qur'an begins to be implemented everybody, from the very highest ranks to the very lowest, will be just, compassionate, tolerant, full of love, respectful and forgiving, and that will bring peace to the whole of society.
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