The Importance of Justice in Islam

The Importance of Justice in Islam

Opening and Salutations

Bismillah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim, alhamdulillah, wa salatu wa salamu ala Sayyidina Rasulullah. Alladhi arsalahu Allahu subhanahu wa ta'ala rahmatan lil alamin, wa ja'alahu sayyidan wa imaman wa hasuran lil salikeen. Salawatullahi wa salamuhu alaihi wa ala alihi wa athaaruhu wa sahabihi al-abrar, wa man ittada bi sunnatihi, ittada bi hadihihi ila yawm at-taqwa musa'a. We praise Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, we send peace and blessings upon our beloved messenger Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, upon his family and his companions and those who follow him until the end of time. Brothers and sisters, assalamu alaikum wa rahmatullah.

Introduction and Context

Mashallah, it's great to be in the ATL, especially this weekend, a lot going on, alhamdulillah, and it's great to see a number of old friends and faces that I've known throughout the years, and of course it's great to be working, alhamdulillah, hand in hand, with Helping Hand, to address the tremendous suffering and challenges that face our Syrian brothers and sisters.

Justice: The Foundation of Community

What I would like to talk about briefly, just for a few minutes, is the idea of justice and how Islam views justice as one of the most important means. In fact, we say, al-adl lil-mujtama' ka al-wudu' lil-salah. We actually say that, you know, justice is to a community what wudu' is to salah. If we don't have wudu', we can't what? We can't function, we can't pray. So if we don't have justice, then we can't function as a society and as a community. That's why Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says:

"Indeed, Allah commands you to do justice and to do good."

Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says in the Qur'an that you've been commanded to be just and to establish excellence.

The Problem of Sunni Quietism

And unfortunately, we see in the contemporary Muslim community, people who, for some reason or another, are discouraging us from working to establish justice in our personal lives, in our communities, and then of course, the tremendous challenges that we're facing in America, as well as beyond. And at times, actually using the religion to placate us and create what one scholar calls Sunni quietism.

The idea of Sunnis seeing it as a religious obligation to be silent in the face of oppression and injustice. And in fact, using the idea of khuruj an al-hukkam, you know, to rebel against the ruler, is a major sin. So confusing

legitimate efforts to work for justice and work for the rights of others and protect the vulnerable, conflating that with actual sedition.

So I would like just to spend a few moments on that and perhaps leave you with some gulab jamun for your brain, that you can go home and perhaps research for yourself and continue this discussion.

The Quranic Command for Justice

So the first is the idea, of course, of justice is one of the foundational principles of Qur'an. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says:

"Indeed, Allah commands you to render trusts to whom they are due and when you judge between people to judge with justice."

Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says very beautifully in Surat An-Nisa, that you have been commanded by God to establish the trust amongst people and that you have been commanded, and here he's talking to the rulers actually, that you have been commanded to establish justice when you rule amongst people.

The Prophet's Warning Against Inaction

Also we know that the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam in a hadith from Imam Abu Dawood, reminded us and warned us of Sunni quietism. When he mentioned in a great hadith that there will be a person who's punished in the grave, and that person will ask, why are you punishing me? And the angels will say:

(Sunan Abi Dawud)

"You passed by the oppressed and you did not help them."

The angels will say to that person that you witnessed oppression and you did not help people. So we understand that being punished in the grave is a sign of something being forbidden. So that means not engaging in justice and establishing justice and looking out for those most vulnerable is haram.

Learning from the Salaf: Social Justice in Action

The second is our history as a community. We perhaps maybe have forgotten the early days of our community, as our beloved messenger Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam said:

خَيْرُ النَّاسِ قَرْنِي ثُمَّ الَّذِينَ يَلُونَهُمْ ثُمَّ الَّذِينَ يَلُونَهُمْ )Sahih al-Bukhari 2652, Sahih Muslim 2533(

"The best generation is my generation, then those who follow them, then those who follow them."

And in the name of Sunni quietism, we tend to restrict following the Salaf to simple acts of worship, like salah or zakah or issues of aqidah. But very rarely do we turn, for example, to Imam al-Husayn, for example, for political inspiration. So we only use the Salaf for acts of worship, but we don't take, for example, their social programs.

The Example of Imam Zayn al-Abidin

So like Imam Zayn al-Abidin radiallahu anhu. You know when he died, the great great grandson of Sayyidina Ali, when he died, the request for zakah in his community in one year rose by 12%. And they asked, why suddenly is there this kind of massive change in the numbers of people asking for zakah? And they said, because al-Imam, the Shaykh, he used to provide us with employment.

So here we see one of the Salaf, who's not only worried about the theological needs of the people and the liturgy of the people, but he's also invested in social agency. Why don't we also take that as an example? To be social entrepreneurs, for example. To be people who see that being a social entrepreneur is to be on the way of the Salaf. Instead, we framed the Salaf as a means to divide and weaken and destroy the Sunni Muslim community, in the name of Sunni quietism. But if I'm gonna follow the Salaf in salah, I should follow the Salaf in justice.

Selective Following of the Salaf

If I should be concerned with the Salaf, what their belief was on the attributes of God, then I should also be concerned with their concern for the attributes of people and society.

"Do you believe in part of the Scripture and disbelieve in part?"

Do we believe in some of what they left us and we neglect the other part of it?

Historical Examples of Justice in Islamic Leadership

So if we look at our history, our spiritual ancestors, we see people from the time of Sayyidina Abu Bakr radiallahu anhu, who purchased people's freedom. We see from the statement of Sayyidina Umar al-Khattab to Sayyidina Amr ibn al-Aas radiallahu anhuma:

مَتَى اسْتَعْبَدْتُمُ النَّاسَ وَقَدْ وَلَدَتْهُمْ أُمَّهَاتُهُمْ أَحْرَارًا

"When did you enslave people after Allah allowed them to be born free?"

Umar ibn Abdul Aziz: Establishing a Day for the Oppressed

And then we go to the time of Sayyidina Umar ibn Abdul Aziz, and this is very remarkable, subhanAllah, this is our history, as mentioned in a number of important texts, that in the time of Sayyidina Umar ibn Abdul Aziz when he was the governor of Medina, the needs of the people became much more complex, like Islam spread, new cultures, new languages, new types of people came into the community, and with that infusion of new people becomes more problems, more complexities.

So he decided, he said, I'm going to establish one day of the week where I sit in the mosque and listen to the claims of the oppressed. فَأَسَّسَ يَوْمًا - he created a day for the oppressed, subhanAllah, and he would sit in the mosque and listen to people.

"And do not obey among them a sinner or ungrateful disbeliever."

In the Qur'an, don't obey a sinner.

Classical Scholarly Positions on Justice and Leadership

And we find, subhanAllah, our ulama, classic scholars, taking very, very important positions. So for those students of knowledge, if you go to Jassas's Tafsir Al-Ahkam, Ayat Al-Ahkam, Volume 1, page 86. He says very clearly when Allah says:

"My covenant does not include the wrongdoers."

In Surah Al-Baqarah, that My promise is not for the oppressors. He says:

فَثَبَتَ بِهَذِهِ الْآيَةِ بُطْلَانُ إِمَامُ الْفَاسِقِ

"This verse proves that the leadership of an oppressor, someone who doesn't obey Allah, in the sense of the Muslim community, and someone who oppresses people, is false."

وَلَا يَلْزَمُ الْمُسْلِمِينَ طَاعَتُهُمْ

"And that it is not an obligation upon the Muslims to obey them."

Imam Al-Razi's Commentary

Imam Al-Razi, in his famous tafsir, Volume 10, page 84. He says, that commenting on this verse:

Different qira'at. You know, after he says to Sayyidina Ibrahim:

(2:124 Quran) إِنِّي جَاعِلُكَ لِلنَّاسِ إِمَامًا

"Indeed, I will make you a leader for the people."

About my children?

"He said: My covenant does not include the wrongdoers."

The leadership isn't for the oppressor, the verse says. It's in front of us. And now we have people in the Muslim community telling us that we should not work honestly and responsibly, of course. I'm not saying go crazy. That's the other extreme. We have a problem. We're either dormant or we're insane.

"And thus We have made you a middle nation."

We should be in the middle. Al-Razi, he said something very powerful. He said that the obedience, and he was talking about the leaders of his time. Absolute obedience to these people. He said:

بَلْ أَكْثَرُ عَلَى الْمُحَرَّمَةِ

"In fact it is not allowed."

لِأَنَّهُمْ لَا يَأْمُرُونَ إِلَّا بِالظُّلْمِ

"Because the only thing that they command us to is oppression and evil."

Imam Al-Nawawi and Ibn Hajar on Political Engagement

We find of course scholars like Imam al-Nawawi in his explanation of Sahih Muslim. He says:

فَقَدْ أَجْمَعَ الْعُلَمَاءُ عَلَى أَنَّ الْخُرُوجَ عَلَى الْحُكَّامِ حَرَامٌ

Imam al-Nawawi, he says, there is a consensus amongst Ahl al-Sunnah that any type of political engagement is haram. But Imam Ibn Hajar who comes 200 years after al-Nawawi, he corrects this statement.

And remember this:

دَعْوَى الْإِجْمَاعِ دَعْوَةُ الضَّعِيفَةِ

You know, to claim consensus usually it's not strong. But Imam Ibn Hajar, he said that if it is possible to remove a rebellious evil leader in a peaceful way. And we saw what happened in Egypt in the real revolution. I was there when some of the Sufi sheikhs and some of the Salafi sheikhs came on the radio and told us it's haram, don't go outside, stay home كُلِّ التَّعْمِيرَةِ وَالْقُولَ وَالْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ، مَا شَاءَ الْحَالِ . So people were like confused. But that was a peaceful protest, mashallah.

So Imam Ibn Hajar who comes in the 9th century after everybody, he says, if it is possible to peacefully and without harm remove these people:

فَقَدْ وَجَبَ

"Then it becomes an obligation."

Our Responsibility in America and Beyond

So the point that I'm trying to make is that in general, in America, we should be committed to Black Lives Matter. We should be committed to these immigrant brothers and sisters, 4,000 children on the Mexican border. We should be committed to the... And this is something that we're really going to face, especially with AI coming into the situation and this environmental catastrophe, environmental resilience is the Sufism of this era.

You should go home tonight and get rid of all the plastics in your house as much as you can. That is an act of great religious commitment to buy used clothes. That is an act of a person who really is in tune with

environmental resilience. Buying Yeezys is to be caught up in the cult of consumption. Although sometimes, you know what I mean.

Rejecting False Sunni Quietism

And then secondly, we should not be duped by this false message of Sunni, and I'm saying because we're Sunnis, Sunni quietism that goes back to the time of the Umayyads who began to craft a message that political engagement in any shape or form is forbidden. And then it was fleshed out by the Abbasids where as we see now, I just gave you examples of early Muslims, scholars, nuancing this position.

And that's why Sayyiduna Abu Bakr, Imamuna Abu Bakr Siddiq, he said:

أَطِيعُونِي مَا أَطَعْتُ اللَّهَ وَرَسُولَهُ

"Obey me as long as I obey Allah and His Messenger."

فَإِنْ عَصَيْتُ اللَّهَ وَرَسُولَهُ فَلَا طَاعَةَ لِي عَلَيْكُمْ

"And if I disobey Allah and His Messenger, then you have no obligation to obey me."

The Example of Imam Husayn

And that's why Sayyiduna Imam Husayn, when he rose up against Yazid, he said:

وَمَا أَظُنُّ أَنِّي أَعْذِرُ عِنْدَ اللَّهِ

"I believe that if I don't oppose you, I will have no excuse in front of Allah."

وَلَا أَعْلَمُ أَعْظَمَ فِتْنَةً مِنْ وِلَايَتِكَ

"And I know of no greater fitna for the ummah than your leadership."

So we see he's compelled by a sense of justice.

The Danger of Charisma Without Knowledge

That takes me to the last point. And that often times we get really charismatic in our community historically. Remember this and this is something we can talk about in the future. We've always been swayed by charismatic idiots. And neglected scholarship.

So now we find that people, oh, I just can't wait to hear this talk. But if you say, your local imam is teaching twice a week, you should go and really invest and learn your religion. Man, that's boring, man. Whereas subhanAllah as Imam Ibn Qayyim said, that's more important than the charismatic high.

We see in this country through the evangelical community, charisma which is untethered from the gospel of Christ, and we'll let my brother talk about it, has allowed people to be swayed away from the beatitudes, to be swayed away from the sermon of the mount, to be swayed away from prophecy. Because passion that is untethered leads people away from prophecy in a way which is very dangerous because it feels good. Like the young boy who commits to like a jihadist group, he feels that he's doing something right.

Imam Ibn Qayyim said, this is the worst most dangerous type of trick of shaitan, because he makes it look good to you. But when I tether myself in religious knowledge, and I root myself in orthodoxy, I protect myself from irresponsible conservatism and irrational liberalism.

Practical Steps: Supporting Justice Through Action

So the last point is, maybe you're listening, you're like, yo, I'm ready to go vote right now. There's no election tomorrow. But one thing we can do, and this is what the United Nations continues to say, is that the greatest asset we can give to threatened societies is sustainability. Sustainability and the opportunity for education.

We see now Helping Hand, mashallah, in the name of establishing justice. Because justice is the outcome of a deliberate process of incremental ideas and strategies. Justice just doesn't happen tomorrow. But by supporting the work, especially, subhanallah, in Syria, I don't know if people appreciate the devastation that has happened across the board in Syria.

You have a generation of children, generations of children now, who had no opportunity to begin their public school education. So you have the threat of illiteracy. You have the threat of people not being given basic rudimentary skills to think about life. So in the face of that, we find Helping Hand.

And again, the UN study that says, the greatest way to counter terrorism or jihadist groups or radical groups like ISIS, heterodoxical groups, is development and opportunity.

Conclusion: Contributing to Justice

So brothers and sisters, mashallah, tonight we're going to be asked to help. And I hope that you will find your donation, your commitment, is something which is contributing to that long process of the establishment of justice. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala bless all of you and bless this community.

Barakallahu feekum wa jazakumullahu khayran. Wassalamualaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh.