Fairness and Justice

“The Messenger of Allah at the end of his sermon would say, ‘Tuba (a tree in paradise) is for those whose moral behavior is polite, whose consciences are clean, whose privacy as well as public matters are all well, who give the excess in their properties in charity, who hold back their unnecessary words and yield to justice for people against their own souls.’”

“Whoever likes to guarantee four things for me, I guarantee four homes in paradise. (He should guarantee me) to give charity without fear from his poverty, to speak out loud the greetings of peace in the world and quit excessive argumentation even though he is on the side of right. He must yield to justice for people against his own soul.”

“I heard Abu ‘Abdillah (a.s.) saying, ‘The masters of good deeds are three things: To yield to justice for people against one’s own soul. So what you do not like to happen to you, do not agree to happen to people also, to cooperate with your fellow believer in matters of properties and to speak of Allah in all conditions: not just saying, ‘Glory belongs to Allah, all praise belongs to Allah and no one deserves to be worshipped except Allah, but that if in case Allah, the Most Majestic, the Most Holy, has commanded you to do a certain thing, you must obey the command, and if it is a case you know that Allah, the Most Majestic, the Most Holy, has prohibited you to do, you must stay away form it.’”

“Amir al-Mu’minin (Ali ibn abu Talib) (a.s.) has said in one of his speeches, ‘You must note that due to a person’s yielding to justice for people against his own self, Allah increases his respect and honor.’”

“Three people of all creatures will be the closest to Allah, the Most Majestic, the Most Holy, on the Day of Judgment until all accounting is finished: a man whose power does not lead him in anger to do injustice to his subjects, a man who mediates between two people and does not lean toward anyone of them even to the size of a grain of bailey (needle’s head), and a man who speaks the truth regardless, it is for or against his own self.”

“In a Hadith he has said, ‘What is the most forceful obligation from Allah upon His creatures? I must ask you.’ The Imam mentioned three things of which the first was yielding to justice for people against one’s own soul.”

“The Messenger of Allah has said, ‘The masters of deeds are yielding to justice for people against your own soul, cooperation with your fellow believers for the sake of Allah and to speak of and remember Allah, the Most Majestic, the Most Holy, in all conditions.’”

“Once Abu ‘Abdillah (a.s.) said to me, ‘Should I tell you about what Allah has emphatically made obligatory on His creatures (are three things)?’ I said, ‘Yes, please do so.’ The Imam said, ‘You must yield to justice for people against your own soul, cooperate with your fellow believers, and speak of and remember Allah in all places. I, however, do not mean thereby saying, ‘Glory belongs to Allah, all praise belongs to Allah, no one deserves to be worshipped except Allah, and Allah is greater than (can be described), although, it also is speaking of Allah. It is speaking of and remembering Allah, the Most Majestic, the Most Holy, in all places whenever you are faced with a deed of obedience or prohibition.’”

“Abu ‘Abd Allah (a.s.) has said, ‘The believer is not tried with anything more difficult than three depriving things.’ It was asked, ‘What are they?’ The Imam said, ‘They are to cooperate with one who has an established relation with you with whatever financial means available, to yield to justice for people against one’s own soul and to speak of and remember Allah very often. I, however, do not mean thereby saying, ‘All glory belongs to Allah, all praise belongs to Allah, and no one deserves to be worshipped except Allah. Speaking of Allah, and remembering Him is to do so (remember Him) when facing something that He has made lawful or that He has prohibited.’”

“Once an Arab man came to the Holy Prophet when he was about to leave for an armed campaign. The Arab held on to the harness of the horse of the Holy Prophet and said, ‘O Messenger of Allah, teach me a deed with which I can go to paradise.’ He said, ‘Do to people what you like them to do to you, and do not do anything to people that you do not like to be done to you. Now allow the horse to go.’”

“Justice is sweeter than water for a thirsty man. How vast is justice if exercised on an issue, even if it is a little one!”

“Whoever yields to justice for people against his own soul is accepted to judge others’ cases.”

“Allah, the Most Majestic, the Most Holy, sent a revelation to Adam that said, ‘I will gather together all words for you in four words.’ He asked, ‘O Lord, what are they?’ He said, ‘One is for Me, one for you, one between Me and you and one between you and other people.’ He then said, ‘O Lord, explain them to me so I can learn.’ He said, ‘The one for Me is to worship Me and do not consider anything as My partner. The one for you is that I will reward you for your deed with something that you need most. The one between Me and you is that you pray and I will accept and answer your prayers. The one between you and people is that you must like for people what you like for yourself and dislike for people what you dislike to happen to you.’”

“Be pious before Allah and practice justice; you blame other people for not doing justice to others.”

“Justice is sweeter than honey, softer than butter and smells sweeter than musk.”

“The Messenger of Allah has said, ‘Whoever has three things, or even one of them, will have a place under the shadow of the Throne of Allah on the Day when nothing will have any shadows (protective shelter). A man who gives to others what he asks from them, one who does not prevent another man from a forward position or move backward except after knowing that his own moving forward is what Allah wants. A Muslim does not blame his Muslim brethren for a shortcoming until he removes such shortcoming from his own self; as soon one removes one defect from his soul another shortcoming and defect emerges. To be occupied with correcting one’s own self is a full time occupation (to deal with before getting involved in people).”’

“The Messenger of Allah has said, ‘Whoever comforts the poor with his property and yields to justice for people against his own soul indeed is a believer.”

“I heard Abu ‘Abdillah (a.s.) say, ‘If two people disagree in something, one of them gives half as much to his companion, but if he would not accept, it will be compensated for him (recipient of more than half for his injustice).’”

‘‘Allah has a paradise wherein no one is admitted except three kinds of people of whom one is he who judges himself with the truth.”

“Justice is sweeter than water is for a thirsty man. How vast is justice when it is practiced in an issue even though it would be very little!”