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Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books The Heart of Islam: Enduring Values For Humanity CHAPTER SIX: DIVINE AND HUMAN JUSTICE Peace and the Question of War O believers, be ye steadfast before God, witness for justice. Quran 5:8 God loves the just. Quran 5:42 Shall I inform you of a better act than fasting, alms, and prayers? Making peace between one another: enmity and malice tear up heavenly rewards by the roots. Prophetic hadith I bear witness that He is Justice and that He acts justly.

‘Ali ibn AbiTalib, Nahj al-balaghah THE INNATE HUMAN SENSE OF JUSTICE AND THE SEARCH FOR JUSTICE Like the sense of peace and nostalgia for peace, the sense of justice and quest for its realization seem to have been kneaded into the very substance from which humanity was created.

No matter how ambiguous and dim the philosophical, theological, and even juridical meaning of justice may be in our minds, our souls have in their depth a sense of justice that shines within our conscience, and a fire burns deep within us urging us to live justly, to administer justice, and to protect what we perceive to be just.

Messengers, apostles, and sages-from the Hebrew prophets, Zoroaster, and Confucius to Solon, Plato, and Aristotle to Christ, the Prophet of Islam, and countless later religious thinkers, including Muslims-have uttered numerous statements and written many texts on the subject. Sacred scriptures from the Upanishads and the Bible to the Quran contain many illuminating passages on the centrality of justice to the moral and spiritual life.

Every people and nation speaks of justice even when injustice abounds in this world, and the human spirit seems no more able to live without justice than it can without beauty, peace, love, and compassion. And yet when it comes to the understanding of the exact meaning of justice, on the formal plane the concept differs in various religions and moral philosophies and even within a single religious universe. The case of Islam is no exception.

The theme of justice permeates the whole of Islamic life and the Divine Law, the goal of whose implementation is the establishment of justice. The Quran is strewn with references to the subject of justice and identifies the good society with a just one.