An earlier post, on Equity and Fairness in Islam, added to conversations in ethics about the balance between equity and equality. Similarly, in ethics classes we look at questions of justice, which usually takes us to Rawls and Pogge. What else might we consider when thinking about these broader justice issues? And, what other traditions, peoples, and cultures could inform that conversation? In 2017, Ramon Harvey published "The Qur'an and the Just Society" (with Edinburgh University Press), providing a useful addition. The book is an academic work (building on a PhD thesis). However, it is largely accessible (maybe for a university audience), with the aim making this ethical perspective more readily available in English. The author concludes by saying: "It is my hope that through sustained careful work of this kind, a distinctive Qur'anic vision of the just society can be adequately represented in the complexity of the contemporary world." (p. 194). A few notes from the book:
"I produce a thematic reading of the Qur'anic blueprint for the just society. That the Quran could contain such an ethical structure beneath the surface of the scripture's language, and encoded within the dynamic reshaping of lives in its first audience, has been a fundamental assumption in writing this book. Angelika Neuwirth seems to have a similar idea in mind when she states, 'There was a vivid image in the Qur'an of the Ideal City - the City of God - long before al Farabi's famous reworking of Plato's Politeia.' I read the Qur'an as an intensely moral text, continuously and repeatedly hailing the reader, or listener, as a responsible agent who must make choices with deep spiritual implications." (p. 2)
"...the Qur'an's story of the human condition holistically can furnish us with key aspects of its moral theology that are lost when considering verses in isolation. The leitmotif of this narrative is God's wisdom to create life as a debt owed and ultimately repaid as a test of morality. Although this notion of wisdom makes human life purposeful and intelligible, there remains an element of ineffability in its application as a quality to characterise the divine. Within the created world, it is represented by the Scale, read here as a Qur'anic analog to natural law. This interpretation, combined with the Qur'an's general discourse and specific notion of fitra, leads to a moral realist metaethics, corresponding to the knowability of at least basic ethical norms before the descent of revelation. The justice that the Qur'an calls upon its audience to establish, then, is predicated on realizing the wisdom of God's revealed Law such that it builds upon His natural law." (p. 25)
"The Qur'an sets the establishment of justice within society as a central goal of human life, yet inextricably links it with the inward quest to be true to the spiritual covenant with one's Creator. Here, then, is a moral teleology to which the normative function of the shariah, the divine law and moral code, is directed. If human beings, by virtue of their intelligence and free will, are able to despoil the world, so too are they called to act as stewards. The guidance delivered through revelation, whether in the form of commandments, prohibition, or recommendations, is not merely to test the obedience of moral agents, but to embed wise purposes [hikmas] within the life of the wider community. Based on this understanding, societal justice [qist] is the condition of society realized by the Wisdom [hikma] of God's Writ [kitab], which matches the scale [mizan] of moral value." (p. 191)
