The Just God

From previous lessons we have read and learned that:

1. Creation and its marvellous harmony is a veritable witness to the existence of an Omnipotent and Omniscient God.
2. We cannot encompass without finite minds and wisdom the Omnipotence and Omniscience of God, because what we understand. From the unique power and knowledge of God in the world of creation is only a small part of the great and magnificent totality of His creations, each one of which is evidence for His unlimited Power and infinite Wisdom.
3. Unlike the continual need of all creation, God is the Absolutely Needless, and He stands in need of nothing.
4. Because God has boundless love, He is continually bestowing His favours on his servants.

اَللہُ الَّذِیْ جَعَلَ لَکُمُ الْاَرْضَ قَرَارًا وَّالسَّمَاءَ بِنَاءً وَّ صَوَّرَکُمْ فَاَحْسَنَ صُوَرَکُمْ وَرَزَقَکُمْ مِنَ الطَّیِّبَاتِ۔ ذٰلِکُمُ اللہُ رَبُّکُمْ فَتَبَارَکَ اللہُ رَبُّ الْعَالَمِیْنَ۔

Allah is He Who made the earth a resting-place for you and the heaven a canopy, and He formed you, then made goodly your forms and He provided you with goodly things; that is Allah, your Lord; blessed then is Allah, the Lord of the Worlds. (S.40,V.64).

Now we may ask if ‘it is possible for God, Who bestows all these favours on his servants, to be unjust? We know that injustice stems from ignorance, weakness, arrogance or similar causes, none of which can exist in His Pure Existence. If we seek to find the cause for injustice, we may find the following reasons.

1. Fear of failure. When the director of a factory sees that his profits are threatens by the establishment of another factory, and he fears possible bankruptcy, he will do anything against his rival, unless he is a man of active conscience and strong faith.
2. Privation of rights. Sometimes, when after much struggling someone cannot get what are his rights from an unjust person, he is led to extremes, and begins to act with all kinds of injurious acts to bring down that person. The reaction to being deprived of ones rights becomes a pretext for violence and crime in some people. When they find themselves powerful after their position of subjugation, they do what they want, and derive pleasure from killing and burning weak and helpless people. The groans of these people are Use music to their ears, but a cause of sadness for us.
3. Ignorance. Laws which are drawn up by human minds sometimes cause much oppression and injustice, because man’s knowledge is flint and limited and mixed with ignorance and misconceptions. Some of the great injustice against black people can be attributed to this cause. Some people, convinced of their own superiority, and thinking that virtue and greatness depend on the colour of one’s skin, ignored the rights of the black people. However, we know that the criterion for superiority and virtuousness is knowledge and humanitarianism, and in this matter black and white are the same.

These and similar results of weakness and ignorance are impossible for God, because He has unlimited knowledge and Power and is in need of nothing whose loss could cause Him to be afraid. So He is incapable of any injustice.

This is a very clear and obvious matter. Those who doubt this have not considered what we have explained, or else they do understand what justice is.

What is Justice?

Justice is that everybody’s rights should be respected that no distinction should be made between people for no reason. For example, in a school examination, all those who have a certain mark can move up to the next grade. Thus, the headmaster cannot make any distinction among the students and allow some of them to proceed to the next class while depriving others of this right while their marks are the same, because creating such a distinction among students who have the same right of entry into the higher class constitutes an injustice.

But in a situation where the question of rights does not arise, and only for the goodness of the act is something given to someone, discrimination between individuals cannot he counted as injustice. For instance, if someone wishes to invite some deprived persons to a meal, and chooses only some of these unfortunates, or makes a distinction between them in inviting them. His action does not constitute injustice, because here there are no rights which are being violated. What is given to them is only given in order to help them and out of a sense of doing good.

The observance of equality and justice is necessary when all have the same right, but where no rights exist, there can be no discussion of equality and justice, and discrimination between two individuals cannot be called injustice.

Thus, those who find difficulty in understanding the creation of things, and ask why God has not created all people equal and without distinction, and why He does not behave towards every one with equal measure, and imagine that God’s Justice has been proved to non-existent and completely imaginary have not understood the real meaning of Justice. For the beings of the world have no right to claim of God that His distinguishing constitutes injustice. If

God does not create anyone at all, or if He distinguishes between beings, nobody’s rights have been violated so that we can say that there is injustice.

However, since God is Knowing and Wise, and does nothing without a good purpose, we can ask what the reason for these distinctions among created things is. Are they unnecessary in the order of things? These questions will be answered in the following lessons.