إِنَّ اللَّهَ يَأْمُرُكُمْ أَنْ تُؤَدُّوا الْأَمَانَاتِ إِلَى أَهْلِهَا وَإِذَا حَكَمْتُمْ بَيْنَ النَّاسِ أَنْ تَحْكُمُوا بِالْعَدْلِ إِنَّ اللَّهَ نِعِمَّا يَعِظُكُمْ بِهِ إِنَّ اللَّهَ كَانَ سَمِيعًا بَصِيرًا (58:4)

God commands you to hand over the trusts to their rightful owners and when you judge between men, pass this judgement with fairness. Indeed this is from God an excellent admonition. Indeed, God is He who hears and sees all things. (4:58)

A look at the context of the above mentioned verse shows that it occurs right before the verse that has been discussed earlier under “The Basic Principle”. Consequently, it shows that the real responsibility of a state which is based on this principle of obedience to Allah and His Prophet (sws) is to consign the trusts of the nation on the basis of merit to people and to strive to establish justice in its ultimate form in every walk of life. Imam Amin Ahsan Islahi comments on this verse in the following words:

… this is a delineation of the most important aspect of the trust referred to as well as an explanation of the responsibility attached to political authority. The foremost responsibility of those who are blessed with political authority by the Almighty is that they should decide all disputes that arise among their people with justice and fairness. Justice means that there should be no discrimination in the eyes of the law between the various classes of society like the rich and the poor or the upper and the lower class. Justice should not be a commodity that can be bought or sold. Partiality and bias should not creep into it nor should indifference and apathy arise in dispensing it. No power or influence, greed or fear of any kind should affect justice in any manner.

Whoever are blessed with political authority by the Almighty in this world, have been blessed as such so that they may discharge justice. Therefore, this is their primary responsibility. A just ruler will receive great reward from the Almighty, and an unjust will be punished grievously [on the Day of Judgement]. Consequently, the verse says that this is an excellent admonition from the Almighty to the believers, who, therefore, must not show slackness in following it. The attributes of the Almighty mentioned at the end of the verse (one who hears and sees all things) caution us that even the most concealed injustice is in His knowledge. [1]

It is to this responsibility that the Companions (rta) of the Prophet (sws) referred when they launched offensives against the Roman and the Persian empires. They proclaimed to the world that any person wishing to leave the servitude of man could do so by entering into the servitude of Allah, and any who wished to, he could leave the narrowness of this world and enter into its vastness. Finally, they stated that whoever wanted to leave the oppression of various religions and enter into the just folds of Islam could do so. [2]

The Prophet (sws), on this very basis, insisted that a person who selfishly desires public office should never be considered eligible for it, since justice cannot be expected from such a person. He is reported to have said:

إِنَّا وَاللَّهِ لَا نُوَلِّي عَلَى هَذَا الْعَمَلِ أَحَدًا سَأَلَهُ وَلَا أَحَدًا حَرَصَ عَلَيْهِ

By God! We shall not grant any person a post in this system if he asks for it and covets it.[3]

The Prophet (sws) also urged his Companions (rta) to fear Allah in such matters and never ask for a public office:

لَا تَسْأَلْ الْإِمَارَةَ فَإِنَّكَ إن أُوتِيتَهَا عن مَسْأَلَةٍ وُكِلْتَ إِلَيْهَا وَإِنْ أُوتِيتَهَا من غَيْرِ مَسْأَلَةٍ أُعِنْتَ عليها

Do not seek a public office. If it is granted to you because of your desire you shall [find yourself] being handed over to it, and if it is granted to you without your desire, you shall be helped.[4]

Consequently, history bears witness that in order to establish justice, the Rightly Guided Caliphs always kept their doors open for criticism and for petitions and appeals from the public, adopted the lifestyle of the destitute to the extent that they even wore patched-up clothes and administered their realms with utmost simplicity and austerity. In short, the heavens and the earth bore witness that they lived among the masses for the masses on the same standard of living as the masses: they were like kings even in indigence and princes even in poverty.

(Javed Ahmed Ghamidi)

(Translated by Dr. Shehzad Saleem)

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[1]. Amin Ahsan Islahi, Tadabbur-i Quran, vol. 2, 323.

[2]. Abu Ja‘far Muhammad ibn Jarir al-Tabari, Tarikh al-rusul wa al-muluk, vol. 4(n.p.: Dar al-fikr, 1979), 701.

[3]. Muslim, Al-Jami‘ al-sahih, 818, (no. 4717).

[4]. Al-Bukhari, Al-Jami‘ al-sahih, 1145, (no. 6622).