Thursday, January 6, 2011

What is Justice?



What is justice? Giving water to trees.  
What is injustice? Giving water to thorns.  
Justice consists in bestowing bounty in its proper place,
        not on every root that will absorb water.
A poem by Rumi (from his Mathnawi)


***

"I turn to right and left, in all the earth
I see no signs of justice, sense or worth:
A man does evil deeds, and all his days
Are filled with luck and universal praise;
Another's good in all he does - he dies
A wretched, broken man whom all despise."

  ~ابوالقاسم فردوسی (Shahnameh: The Persian Book of Kings)


***

“O you who Believe, be of those who stand up firmly for justice as witnesses to Allah. Let not your dislike for others cause you to swerve from justice. Be just, for justice is closest to piety”

(Qur'an 5:8)

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