We hear this Ayah in every Jumu’ah Khutba in practically every masjid on the face of the earth. Let us focus on just two words in it – Al Adl wal Ihsaan.
إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ يَأْمُرُ بِٱلْعَدْلِ وَٱلْإِحْسَـٰنِ وَإِيتَآئِ ذِى ٱلْقُرْبَىٰ وَيَنْهَىٰ عَنِ ٱلْفَحْشَآءِ وَٱلْمُنكَرِ وَٱلْبَغْىِ يَعِظُكُمْ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَذَكَّرُونَ
Nahl 16: 90 Indeed, Allah commands justice, and excellence (mercy, forgiveness) and courtesy to close relatives. He forbids indecency, wickedness, and aggression. He instructs you so perhaps you will be mindful.
Al-Adl is justice. Justice is not natural. Justice is a choice. It is a decision that we take to establish it, even if we stand alone. Especially if we stand alone, because we ask ourselves, ‘If not me, then who?’ That is why Allahﷻ commanded it. It won’t just happen. It happens only when there is an intention followed by firm, sustained, consistent action. There is no justice in nature. Lions don’t say, ‘Only one of us must hunt one antelope. We must be just.’ Three lionesses will go for the herd of Impala and stampede it into a shallow ravine in which the other four are waiting. As the Impala stampede down the ravine, they attack them in the most energy-efficient way possible and one or two of the Impala die, only because they were on the outer edge of the group. The zebra calf at birth imprints the stripe pattern on the hind quarters of his mother not because he loves abstract art, but because if he can’t find his mother in the herd of a million migrating animals, no other zebra mother will nurse him, even though she may be nursing her own calf. If he can’t find his mother, he will die. Justice is not natural. But justice is the single, most prominent sign of civilization. That is why Islam is all about justice.
Anthropologist Margaret Mead was asked by a student what she considered to be the first sign of civilization in a culture, and she said, ‘When I discovered a skeleton with a fractured femur which had healed. I could see where the broken bone had healed and fused back.’ They asked her why. She replied, ‘In nature, when an animal breaks a femur, it is a death warrant. It can’t run. It can’t hunt or escape hunters. It dies. A broken femur that healed means that there was someone who took care of that individual until it healed. That was the beginning of civilization.’
I wept when I read that, as I weep now because it reminds me of how barbaric we have become. It reminds me that all the veneer of education and sophistication is just that. A veneer. Beneath it, lies the barbarian, the unjust, the real savage, who will kill children who are not his own. Who will rape and plunder if he can do it with impunity. Who needs force to render him harmless. So, are we truly civilized?
To be civilized is to be self-regulated. To be civilized is to care for others, who don’t matter to us in any material urgent way. To be civilized is to do what is right, not because it is convenient, or profitable, or safe. But because it is right. To be civilized is not to eat well but to ensure that nobody goes to bed hungry. To be civilized is not to wear good clothes and live in palaces but to ensure that nobody is naked and living on the street. The principle on which this self-regulation is based is called ‘justice’. Justice is not natural. It is an active choice. Justice is the basis of being civilized. Because to be civilized is not natural. It is a reflection of the Divine, because the source of justice is Allahﷻ. Justice is evidence that we have a Creator who loves us and is concerned for us and so taught us how to self-regulate our natural desires in a way that results in safety and caring for all of us. Justice is the criterion on which we will be judged when at the end of our lives, we will meet the One who gave us that law. Allahﷻ commanded us in the Qur’an:
إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ يَأْمُرُ بِٱلْعَدْلِ وَٱلْإِحْسَـٰنِ وَإِيتَآئِ ذِى ٱلْقُرْبَىٰ وَيَنْهَىٰ عَنِ ٱلْفَحْشَآءِ وَٱلْمُنكَرِ وَٱلْبَغْىِ يَعِظُكُمْ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَذَكَّرُونَ
This is a world of cause and effect. If you want to change an effect, you must address its cause. Peace is an effect. Its cause is justice. Without justice, peace can never be established. Without justice, any apparent peace is only a recess between wars. There are two truths about justice which we all know very well. One, injustice to one is injustice to all. Two, justice can never be established until those that are not affected by injustice are willing to stand up against it. The question is, what are we willing to do about establishing justice? We will do that only when we see how not establishing justice will come around to bite us. I know that self-interest is not the most noble of motives, but I say, if that is what it takes for us to stand up, so be it. But stand we must, for those who can’t. Stand we must because it is about us, not about them. Rasoolullahﷺ commanded us as Abu Sayeed Al Khudri (R) narrated:
“Whosoever sees an evil, let him change it with his hand; and if he is not able to do so, then [let him change it] with his tongue; and if he is not able to do so, then with his heart — and that is the weakest of faith.” [Muslim]
The purpose of Islam is to establish justice in our lives which begins with worshipping the One who created us. In Islam, justice is the fundamental principle that emanates from the truth of accountability to Allahﷻ alone.
يَـٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ كُونُوا۟ قَوَّٰمِينَ بِٱلْقِسْطِ شُهَدَآءَ لِلَّهِ وَلَوْ عَلَىٰٓ أَنفُسِكُمْ أَوِ ٱلْوَٰلِدَيْنِ وَٱلْأَقْرَبِينَ إِن يَكُنْ غَنِيًّا أَوْ فَقِيرًا فَٱللَّهُ أَوْلَىٰ بِهِمَا فَلَا تَتَّبِعُوا۟ ٱلْهَوَىٰٓ أَن تَعْدِلُوا۟ وَإِن تَلْوُۥٓا۟ أَوْ تُعْرِضُوا۟ فَإِنَّ ٱللَّهَ كَانَ بِمَا تَعْمَلُونَ خَبِيرًا
Nisa 4: 135 O believers! Stand firm for justice as witnesses for Allah even if it is against yourselves, your parents, or close relatives. Be they rich or poor, Allah is best to ensure their interests. So do not let your desires cause you to deviate ˹from justice˺. If you distort testimony or refuse to give it, then ˹know that˺ Allah is certainly All-Aware of what you do.
The purpose of justice is to create a society and world that is good for all. Not only for the elites who have wealth and power. Justice is the criterion of civilization and that is defined by how society takes care of those in need. Today we live in a world where we express ourselves in terms of accumulated wealth. Our aspirations are exclusively material. Our so-called education is merely skill training, no matter how sophisticated or complex. Tell me where do we teach ethics, morals, and values? Because that is the framework, we need to navigate the journey called life. Where in our schools and colleges do we teach this? Net worth means amount of money in the bank. But being civilized is judged based on how we behave, how we treat others, especially those who don’t have power. It is based on the state of the weakest, not the wealthiest. Being civilized is based on the loftiness of thought and ideas, not the loftiness of buildings. Being civilized is reflected in our speech and actions, in our manners. Not in the diamonds we wear or the gadgets we flaunt. It is human behavior, not technology, which defines a nation. That is the greatest deception that we have inflicted on ourselves today. We have created an upside-down world and then we wonder why there is misery.
Then there is the other word, which is something more than justice. Something more valuable in the sight of the One before whom we will be called. Something which indicates the peak of all virtue – Al Ihsaan. Rasoolullahﷺ described Al-Ihsaan in the famous Hadith Jibreel as: “To worship Allahﷻ as if you can see Him. And though you don’t see Him, know that He sees you.” This doesn’t apply to Salah alone but to every aspect of the life of a Muslim. Rasoolullahﷺ demonstrated that in his entire life, one of the most powerful instances of it was during and after Fatah Makkah.
We see the commander of a conquering army entering the city that he had conquered, mounted on his camel but how? His blessed head bowed so low that it almost touched the pommel of the saddle. Not cheering and shouting as was the custom and culture of the time and totally acceptable to this day but saying:
لا إله إلا الله وحده صدق وعده و نصر عبده و هزم الأحزاب وحده
Then he purified the Ka’aba from all idols and pictures around and inside it and prayed inside the Ka’aba. Then he returned to the doorway, standing on its elevated step, gazed in thankfulness at the huge crowd below and delivered the celebrated address: “There is nobody worthy of worship but Allahﷻ Alone. He has no associates. He fulfilled His Promise to His slave and helped him and defeated all the Confederates alone. Bear in mind that every claim of privilege, whether that of blood, or property, is under my heel, except that of the custody of Al-Ka’aba and supplying water to the pilgrims. Bear in mind that for anyone who is slain, even though semi-deliberately, with a club or whip, for him the blood-money is very severe: a hundred camels, forty of them to be pregnant. “O people of Quraysh! surely Allahﷻ has abolished from you all pride of the pre-Islamic era and all conceit in your ancestry, (because) all men are descended from Adam, and Adam was made out of clay.” He then recited:
يَـٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلنَّاسُ إِنَّا خَلَقْنَـٰكُم مِّن ذَكَرٍ وَأُنثَىٰ وَجَعَلْنَـٰكُمْ شُعُوبًا وَقَبَآئِلَ لِتَعَارَفُوٓا۟ إِنَّ أَكْرَمَكُمْ عِندَ ٱللَّهِ أَتْقَىٰكُمْ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ عَلِيمٌ خَبِيرٌ
Hujuraat 49:13 O humanity! Indeed, We created you from a male and a female, and made you into peoples and tribes so that you may recognize one another. Surely the most noble of you in the sight of Allah is the most righteous among you. Allah is truly All-Knowing, All-Aware.
He asked, “O you people of Quraysh! What do you think about how I will treat you now?” They replied, “O noble brother and son of our noble brother! We expect nothing but goodness from you.” Upon this he said, “I speak to you in the same words as Yusuf (AS) spoke to his brothers:
قَالَ لَا تَثْرِيبَ عَلَيْكُمُ ٱلْيَوْمَ يَغْفِرُ ٱللَّهُ لَكُمْ وَهُوَ أَرْحَمُ ٱلرَّٰحِمِينَ
Yusuf 12: 92 Yusuf said, “There is no blame on you today. May Allah forgive you! He is the Most Merciful of the merciful!
Then he said to them, إذهب فأنتم الطلقاء (Go, you are free).
That is the meaning of Al-Ihsaan. It would have been just for him to have punished the evil doers who had mercilessly persecuted him and his family and companions. It would have been just for him to demand compensation, even punitive compensation for loss of property, and mental and physical torture that he and his companions had been subjected to by the Quraysh. But he didn’t. Instead, he forgave them all. That is more than justice because mercy is more than justice and is the root of forgiveness. The action of Rasoolullahﷺ is unique in the history of mankind and a shining example for anyone in authority who has the power to retaliate. He must pause and ask, ‘What did Rasoolullahﷺ do in such a situation?’ The Seerah is the Tafsir of the Qur’an and its Field book for those who want to live by it.
This is what we are reminded to do every Friday. To be just and then to be merciful because the One above the heavens is merciful to those who are merciful on earth. I ask Allahﷻ for His Mercy and Forgiveness for us all and to keep us safe from His displeasure and anger.
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