Imam al-Mawardi has summarized the social implications of distributive justice in the following way:

One of the things that reforms worldly affairs is the principle of distributive justice. It facilitates amicable relations between people, engenders obedience to the Divine Law, and brings about the prosperity of countries. It is the basis of a thriving economy, strong families, and stable government. Nothing devastates the land nor corrupts the mind as quickly as tyranny. That is because there are no acceptable limits [to regulate tyranny].¹²

For this reason, Ibn Taymiyya sees the responsibilities of Islamic government emanating from a single verse in the Qur'an, God enjoins that you deliver the Trusts to their rightful possessors. And when you rule over [or judge between] people, that you do so with justice... [Quran 4:58]¹³ The Noble Prophet has said in this context, "Surely the most beloved of people with God and the closest to Him on the Day of Resurrection will be a just leader. And the most hated of people and the furthest removed from Him will be a tyrannical leader."¹⁴

Clearing himself from even an inadvertent association with oppressive, unjust acts, our beloved Prophet is reported to have said:

You bring your disputes to me for adjudication; perhaps one of you is less eloquent than another, and I rule against the wronged party on the basis of what I have heard. Therefore, if I inadvertently grant one of you something owed to his brother do not take it, for I am granting him something that constitutes a piece of Hellfire.¹⁵

Our impeccably just Khalifa 'Umar b. al-Khattab uttered the following penetrating words:

Verily, God sets forth parables for you, and He directs admonition towards you in order that hearts will be quickened. Surely, the hearts are dead until God quickens them. Justice has signs and portents. As for its signs, they are shyness, generosity, humility, and gentleness. As for its portents, they are embodied in mercy. He has [likewise] made for every affair a gate, and He has made that gate accessible by providing a key. The gate of justice is a deep consideration of consequences, and its key is otherworldliness. Consideration of consequences ultimately involves remembering death and preparing for it by freely parting from one's wealth. Otherworldliness involves dealing justly with everyone and being satisfied with what suffices. If one is not satisfied with what suffices him, no abundance will every enrich him.¹⁶

Much of this discussion has focused on distributive justice. However, the Qur'an also places great emphasis on commutative justice. God commands us, Do not be moved by partiality to discriminate in meting out divinely legislated punishments. [Quran 24:2] The Prophet Muhammad mentioned that one of the reasons behind the ruination of a nation is a lack of commutative justice.¹⁷ In this context, he mentioned that if his very daughter were to steal, he would not hesitate to punish her to the full extent of the law.¹⁸

In summary, this brief discussion should make it clear to any Muslim that peace and justice are comprehensive concepts with deep implications and we have to be people committed to peace and justice. We must clearly illustrate to the world that our religion is indeed the religion of peace. However, our striving for peace must never allow us to be unjust, nor should it allow us to passively accept injustices. We must take a stand for justice, as we are ordered in the Qur'an, Be you upright supporters of justice... [4:135] However, that stand must go far beyond slogans, such as the one mentioned at the beginning of this article, and move into the realm of positive action; action inspired by the Qur'an and the words and deeds of our illustrious Prophet.

Excerpted from the book "Scattered Pictures", by Imam Zaid Shakir

Notes

1. This slogan has been particularly popularized by the New York-based activist Rev. Al Sharpton and his followers.
2. Raghib al-Isfahani, al-Mufradat fi Gharib al-Qur'an (Beirut: Dar al Ma'rifa, no date), 239.
3. Al-Isfahani, 239.
4. See The Holy Bible, Isaiah, 9:6-7; and John 14:27.
5. Ibn Hajar al-'Asgalani, Fath al-Bari, 13:369, no. 7321.
6. This Hadith is related by Muslim, Abu Dawud, and at-Tirmidhi in their collections. Quoted in an-Nawawi, Riyaz as-Salihin, 289-290. Ibn Hajar al-'Asgalani, Fath al-Bari, 11: 26-27. The full text of the Prophetic Tradition follows: A man asked the Prophet "Which Islam is best?" He replied, "That you provide food, and extend the greeting of peace, to those you know and those you know not:"
8. This is the full narration of the Prophetic tradition mentioned in note no.4 above.
9. This meaning is narrated in prophetic traditions that are related by al-Bukhari, Muslim, and Ibn Majah. See for example, Fath al-Bari, 6:599-600. The above quote is the version of Ibn Majah. Al-Bukhari's version mentions that Jesus will "put an end to war."
10. These and other definitions of justice are mentioned in Salih b. 'Abdullah b. Humayd, Nadra an-Na'im fi Makarim Akhlaq ar-Rasul al-Karim (Jeddah: Dar al-Wasila, 2000), 7: 2792.
11. Quoted in Ibn Humayd, Nadr al-Na'im, 8:3153.
12. Quoted in Ibn Humayd, Nadr al-Na'im, 7:2793.
13. See Ahmad b. Taymiyya, As-Siyasa Ash-Shar'iyya (Beirut: Dar al-Afaq alJadida, 1983), 4-5.
14. At-Tirmidhi, no. 1329.
15. Ibn Hajar al-'Asgalani, Fath al-Bari, 5:354.
16. Quoted in ibn Humayd, Nadra an-Na'im, 7:2811.
17. This concept is mentioned at the beginning of the tradition where a lady from Bani Makhzum, one of the most aristocratic Arab tribes, stole something and the companions were moved to intervene for a lessening of her punishment. The Noble Prophet responded, "O people! Those before you were ruined in that if a noble person among them stole something, they left him alone. On the other hand, if a lower class person stole something, they punished him!" See this narration in its entirety in Abi Zakariyya Yahya b. Sharaf an-Nawawi, al-minhaj: Sharh Sahih Muslim (Beirut: Dar at-Ma'rifa, 1419 AH/1998 CE), 11;186-187, no. 4386.
18. An-Nawawi, Al-Minhaj, 11:186-187, no. 4386.

Here are 11 pieces of advice to help you in winning others hearts.These pieces of advice are like arrows that aim at shooting hearts as its only target mean here, to be the virtuous merits, that captivate others hearts and help in overcoming imperfections. Actually, such merits have their own effective power in charming hearts.

O you who is in love with Allah (subhanahu wa ta’ala) and your brothers in Islam, here are the arrows; be careful with them, try hard to be a clever shooter…

And pray to Allah (subhanahu wa ta’ala) to help you.

Smile :

It is the first arrow and the fastest of them all. It is like the salt for food. It is also regarded as a kind of worship and alms-giving as is mentioned in a hadith

Abdullah ibn al Harith tells us about the Prophet (peace be upon him) saying that he had never seen someone smile at the other’s face as the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) used to do. Be always the one who initiates greetings:

This arrow is the one that lets you to be in the innermost depths of the others hearts. This arrow needs a skillful shooter. The needed skills are the hearty smile, the warm shaking of hands and the friendly welcoming to the other. Being successfully achieved, such kinds of skills are going to be rewarded, referring to the hadith: “In greetings, the better is he who initiates greeting the other”.

Umar al Nadi tells us that he went out once with Umar ibn al Khattab’s son. While walking, he found him saluting all whom he met, whether being old or young. Al Hasan al-Basri also said

The Presents:

It has a strange charming affection that captivates all senses. Hence, exchanging presents and gifts in different occasions is a pleasant habit however gifts should be within one’s tolerable expenses. Ibrahim al Zahri tells us about his father saying “ My father got a sum of money as a reward , in due , he asked me to send donations to his family members and friends . As we were about to finish , he asked me “ Have we missed any one?” I answered “No!” He said “I think that we did.” He continued ”We have missed someone whose welcome to me was really warm. Would you please send him this sum of money?”

Look how he loved the man and wished to reward him for his warm welcome.

Be silent. Speak in what benefits:

Loud voice and chattering are bad merits. You have to be sweet-worded, tender in expressing yourself. Concerning this merit, The Prophet (peace be upon him) said

If the good word has its own magic in winning the hearts of your enemies how powerfully it would work then with your brothers’ hearts!!

Here the Prophet’s wife addresses the enemies saying “Damn you” and the Prophet (peace be upon him) prevents her saying “Calm down. Allah likes for the matters to be dealt with gently”. He also said:

The pious Allah-fearing may keep silent, in spite of being eloquent.

Be a good listener:

It is to listen patiently and never interrupt the speaker, as the Prophet (peace be upon him) never interrupted a speaker till he ended his speech. And he who fights for this merit gains others love and admiration, whilst on the contrary is the one who chatters and interrupts the other. Atta` tells us about how he behaves concerning this merit and says “When someone speaks to me , I listen to him as if it is the first time I have heard this subject, though I have heard it thousands of times before.

Appearance and dressing well:

You have to be careful with your appearance so as to be neat, well –dressed and sweet smelling as well. The Prophet (peace be upon him) says that Allah loves beauty to be in every thing. Umar Ibn Al Khattab said also

Abdullah Ibn Ahmad Ibn Hanbal tells us about his father saying “ I’ve never seen some one who is as caring to the cleanliness of his dress , his hair , his moustache and other undesirable body hair as Ahmad Ibn Hanbal used to do”

Being in others favor and helping them:

Good treatment of the other is the only way of captivating his heart.

Good treatment you classifies you as an obedient, beloved slave of Allah as the Prophet (peace be upon him) Muhammad says

A great poet said:
Be a dear friend to all, whom you know,
For all, you should be as freshening as iced pure water
I really wonder for that man who pays money to buy slaves, while he can buy those who are free by being good to them, for those (who treat other well) find many to be in their help.

Being Generous :

Offering money is the key for most of the closed doors that hinder you from reaching others hearts, especially in these days.

Now I will tell you a story about the magic of the merit of generosity.

Notice how the Prophet (peace be upon him) found the missing key and succeeded in moving his heart. Some people behave stingily as if they see the ghost of poverty waiting to attack them once they think about being generous in offering money.

To have a good opinion of others and to give them an excuse

Keeping an eye on others behavior is a bad merit that blocks your way to their hearts. On the contrary is to have a good opinion of them. So, try hard to give your brothers the excuse as much as you can. Concerning this merit, Ibn Al Mubarak says also “The believer is he who gives his brothers the excuse , and the hypocrite is he who seeks their slips.”

Express your feelings… instantly:

If you loved someone, or felt good feelings about him, don’t wait, just tell him at once. Regarding this, the Prophet (peace be upon him) said

He added “It is the way relations are to be strongly indicated”. Such love is to be blessed by Allah if it is for Allah’s sake, not for any other personal affairs such as seeking high position, money, fame etc…. Unless this love is for Allah’s sake, it is a fruitless kind of brotherhood then. When they meet each other on the Day of Judgement, they are not brothers any more but enemies, as Allah says in the Quran

The Prophet (peace be upon him) says “A man is in the company of whom he loved”. By this he means that on the Day of Judgment, a person will be with whom he loved. So, we have to choose then between two kinds of societies, one is in enmity and the other is a kind brotherly one. Hence, we find that the Prophet (peace be upon him) associated the Makkan immigrants and the Medinan followers as brothers. It was a rare kind of brotherhood that even two brothers were to be buried together in one grave after being martyred in the conquests. Means of brotherhood was always being indicated by the Prophet (peace be upon him) as he says “You are not allowed to enter heaven till you believe in Allah and you will not be true believers unless you love each other. Shall I tell you something to do that indicates love between you? It is to spread salutation of Peace among you.”

The pity is that people are always either cruelly and harshly treating each other or extremely tender that they adore each other. Actually, it is a matter of striking a balance between heart and mind, something that differs according to the difference of characters and circumstances. It is absolutely a blessing given by Allah.

Sociability :

It is the art of being social. Here, a kind of misconception could exist between sociability and hypocrisy. Could you differentiate between the two meanings?

The Prophet (peace be upon him)’s wife, Aisha said “A man came to visit us, but to my surprise, once the Prophet (peace be upon him) saw him, he said “O…that ill- mannered man”, but the Prophet (peace be upon him) changed completely once he sat with him. He welcomed the man warmly, smiling in his face. When the man left, I asked the Prophet (peace be upon him) about what had surprised me; how he considered this man as being bad, and how he talked to him in such warmth? The Prophet (peace be upon him) answered “Have you ever seen me behaving as a hypocrite?” He added “In the Day of Judgement, the worst degrees are for those whom people deserted for being mistreated by them.”

Al Qurtubi differentiates between hypocrisy and sociability, regarding sociability as a desirable legal behavior, saying that sociability means sacrificing the worldly affairs for the sake of improving either life on earth or religion, or so as to improve both, while hypocrisy aims at sacrificing religion for the sake of the worldly affairs.

Hence, being sociable for ill-mannered people is aiming to achieve two purposes:

Firstly, to avoid being mistreated by them.

Secondly, being good to them could be guidance for them to step the right way. Compliments should be within worldly affairs only, never in religious affairs, otherwise, it will be a matter of hypocrisy.

To be sociable, means to be tender, smiling, praising to the other, intending in the meantime a legal benefit. The Prophet (peace be upon him) says “Being sociable, is as alms-giving”. Ibn Battal says also “Sociability is an ethic of the believers; it is to show open-mindedness in treating others and to delicately speak to them. Both are important elements in seeking reasons for intimacy”

May Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala make us from those who hear the advice and put it into action.

Source : islamgreatreligion

Islam demands that our relationship with mankind should be one of sincerity and responsibility. It should be one where we have respect for the honor, reputation and privacy of others. Islam teaches us that we are not only held accountable for our own attitudes and actions but also for anything else over which we have control or influence over, in our society or the world around us.

God has forbidden the believers from backbiting

O you who believe! Avoid much suspicion, in deeds some suspicions are sins. And spy not neither backbite one another. Would one of you like to eat the flesh of his dead brother? You would hate it (so hate backbiting). And fear God, verily, God is the one who accepts repentance, Most Merciful. (49: 12)

When we reflect deeply over this assimilation it should be enough to keep us away from backbiting!

Many of us back bite and gossip without thinking. We think it is minor matter, however God reminds us to be careful and even though we think we are doing something little it is in fact very big in the sight of God!

God teaches us to speak out against Slander and try to put a stop to it

And why did you not, when you heard it, say? "It is not right of us to speak of this: Glory to God, this is a most serious slander" (24:16)

Many people are so busy spreading the slander they hear that they do not even stop to think if it is true or not.

Shaitan (Satan) wants us to use our tongue to create conflict and hatred

Say to My servants that they should only say those things that are best, for Satan does sow dissensions among them, for Satan is to man an avowed enemy. (17:53)

Are we falling into Shaitan's (Satan's) trap? We can all analyze ourselves.

Hadiths: Let's see what Prophet Muhammad said about Backbiting in the hadiths. God states in the Quran - You have indeed in the Messenger of God an excellent pattern of conduct. (33:21)

Prophet Muhammad said :"Do you know what backbiting is?" They said, "God and His Messenger know best." He then said, "It is to say something about your brother that he would dislike." Someone asked him, "But what if what I say is true?" The Messenger of God said, "If what you say about him is true, you are backbiting him, but if it is not true then you have slandered him." (Muslim)

Prophet Muhammad said : "Who protects his tongue from unlawful utterances and his private parts from illegal sexual intercourse, I shall guarantee him entrance into Paradise." (Bukhari and Muslim)

The definition of the best muslim

"I asked the Messenger of God : Who is the best Muslim? The Messenger of God replied, "He is the one from whom Muslims are safe from the evil of his tongue and hands." (Muslim)

Deriding people in their presence by making negative facial expressions or by hand gestures while they are unaware is also a form of backbiting.

"When man wakes up in the morning each day, all parts of the body warn the tongue saying, ‘Fear God as regards us for we are at your mercy; if you are upright, we will be upright and if you are crooked, we become crooked.’" (At-Tirmidhee)

Backbiting and slander is so widespread that it has become the topic of people’s meetings and an avenue for expressing their anger, misgivings and jealousy. Those who indulge in backbiting are oblivious of the fact that they are only harming themselves. This is because of the fact that on the Day of Resurrection both the wrongdoer and the wronged will stand before God, Who is the Just Judge, God will then give this wronged person from the good deeds of the person who wronged him in accordance with his wrong by backbiting.

Some situations allow us to inform others of what someone has done. It is allowed for us to inform the authorities when someone does injustice to us or others. It is allowed for us to inform someone who can help a perpetrator from committing further vice. It is also permissible for us to tell whoever seeks our advice on a person for business dealings or marriage. In this case it is not allowed for us to hide what we know about the person so that the enquirer will not be deceived. All these types of speaking about others are lawful.

Islam teaches us that if people are being ridiculed or backbited in our presence, we should defend their honor. If we neglect this, we shall deprive ourselves of ever needed help and mercy from God - If a man's Muslim brother is slandered in his presence, and he is capable of defending him and does so, God will defend him in this world and in the next. But if he fails to defend him, God will destroy him in this world and the next. (Baghawi). What will we do the next time we are tempted to backbite or hear slander in our presence? Right now the choice is ours!

We ask God the Most High, the All Powerful, to teach us that which will benefit us, and to benefit us by that which we learn. May God grant blessings and peace to our Prophet Muhammad and his family and companions.