Imam Ali's Philosophy of Law and Justice - Ebad Abidi || Fatimiya 2019

11 المشاهدات· 19/02/17

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Al-Rasoul Society | Fatimiya Nights Youth Program 2019

أظهر المزيد

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[0:00][Music] greetings honored brothers and sisters I would like to begin my

[0:16]speech by giving thanks to Allah for allowing us to be gathered

[0:19]here and for his love and the love of his Prophet Muhammad

[0:30]sallallaahu I'll ever send them and so there and for the love

[0:32]of the I lose bait and I would like to thank you

[0:35]all here for coming to tonight's program for the Fatih Mian nights

[0:37]today I will do a brief discussion of a amirul mumineen not

[0:41]just as an imam or a warrior or even as one of

[0:46]God's most beloved creations but also as a lawgiver and a source

[0:51]of justice in this world in our Western world the legal system

[0:54]that binds Western societies is one that is developed over preceding centuries

[0:57]through a never-ending cycle of social changes in philosophical shifts from the

[1:02]12 tables of Roman law to the Enlightenment and the Industrial Revolution

[1:06]the laws of Western countries for all their specific differences are united

[1:11]by a series of shared assumptions about the nature of justice and

[1:17]order these assumptions can take the form of overarching concepts such as

[1:20]the rule of law and the supremacy of constitutional power human rights

[1:24]etc two more specific legal norms and presumptions for example the presumption

[1:29]of innocence in criminal trials certain evidentiary rules on hearsay and privilege

[1:34]these legal norms form the bedrock of Western legal traditions and are

[1:39]the basis today that which all other societies and legal systems are

[1:43]judged these societies those societies which do not subscribe to these principles

[1:49]or which disregard and ignore them in practice are often attacked by

[1:53]Western legal scholar Act scholars academics and advocates as unjust inefficient systems

[2:00]in recent years unfortunately some scholars have attacked Islamic legal traditions by

[2:04]arguing that these traditions fail to adhere to the norms and principles

[2:10]of justice which underpin legal traditions in Western countries and perhaps to

[2:16]some extent when we look at the laws that are enacted and

[2:19]practiced in many Muslim countries such concerns are somewhat perhaps warranted yet

[2:25]when we assess the justice of by practice by Imam Ali ABI

[2:30]talib peace be upon him what we see isn't that in fact

[2:32]Islamic legal traditions not only subscribe to Western traditions but in fact

[2:37]predate and build upon them in the 25 years that Imam Ali

[2:45]was sitting behind the scenes of the khalifa of Omar and Abu

[2:48]Bakr and in the five years that Imam Ali ruled the Khalifa

[2:53]what we see is an attempt and perhaps success by the Imam

[2:56]to lay down overarching principles and specific legal rules explicitly and implicitly

[3:01]which are analogous to modern Western norms and perhaps in some ways

[3:05]even go beyond them in establishing justice and order to begin we

[3:11]can start by looking at the overall perception of justice advocated by

[3:15]the Imam in Western traditions the concept of justice is one that

[3:18]is seen as an objective determination which can be reached through sufficient

[3:22]diligence and growth in our own perception of right and wrong the

[3:25]search for justice is linear as societies move forward technologically culturally and

[3:33]socially their understanding of what is just and what is fair in

[3:36]this world also grows the purpose of Justice is not utilitarian ie

[3:40]maximizing the most good for the most people rather it is focused

[3:44]on securing as much the rights of the individual as much as

[3:48]it is focused on securing the well-being of the community any policy

[3:52]or judgment which disadvantages a single individual for the benefit of the

[3:57]whole cannot be considered just under modern conceptions of justice today to

[4:01]us this might seem self-explanatory anyone that has any understanding of modern

[4:07]philosophies and ideas of justice would think that this is pretty taken

[4:14]as grant taken for granted yet historically as we have seen this

[4:17]is not always the case the famous Greek philosopher Plato for example

[4:21]provided a conception of justice which was largely utilitarian an increase instead

[4:25]favoured a world where justice was assured when the individual limited his

[4:30]interests to position in society he was destined to inherit if you

[4:34]were destined to be a worker or a farmhand justice was that

[4:39]you remained a farmhand and you never tried to rise above your

[4:41]station in such a society justice was merely an illusion created by

[4:49]the ruling classes and an individual seeks to advance his own interests

[4:53]at to advance his own interests in station in life undermines the

[4:57]fabric of the whole and therefore commits injustice against nature and his

[5:02]society this is a perception of Justice which is quite prevalent in

[5:06]Marxist fascist and even some so-called Islamic world views as people of

[5:11]the 21st century of we have of course seen how the Platonic

[5:15]theory of justice has led to tremendous suffering and naked injustice for

[5:19]the people of such societies yet when we look at it mom

[5:21]I leave peace be upon him we see his recognition of the

[5:25]dangers of utilitarian justice we see how he lays down the correct

[5:28]perception of Islamic justice in Nigel Belaga it is narrated that Imam

[5:34]Ali was asked if generosity is better than justice to which he

[5:37]replied with the following justice as a universal path while generosity is

[5:41]a particular case hence justice is the superior and the nobler of

[5:45]the two in another sermon he elaborates in a beautiful statement he

[5:49]who finds justice restricting will surely find oppression much more restricting from

[5:54]this narration what we see is an endorsement for the objective perception

[5:58]of justice justice is a standard that must be achieved by civilized

[6:03]societies rather than a construct of the ruling class furthermore what we

[6:07]also see is a tempering of many of the altruist principles which

[6:12]temper other theories of justice altruism asserts that public good is achieved

[6:18]through selflessness that individuals should sacrifice their personal good for the well-being

[6:23]of others on an individual level on an individual level the value

[6:27]of altruism is undeniable giving and generosity appraised in Islam is valued

[6:32]virtues and Allah will question all of us on the day of

[6:34]judgment on our generosity to those that need generosity however the embrace

[6:40]of altruism as a form of justice is unrealistic as it requires

[6:44]people to be selfless and though we may all recall we may

[6:49]all ask ourselves and others to be selfless what we know is

[6:52]that in practice individuals are more complicated than that any system of

[6:55]governments were the less fortunate are protective through the grace kindness and

[6:59]generosity of the ruling class is a system that is inherently unstable

[7:04]as it is simply too easy for those less fortunate to be

[7:08]neglected and oppressed with Imam Ali we see his recognition that though

[7:12]generosity is a praiseworthy virtue it is not a realistic one to

[7:17]govern an entire society in Canada for example we do not rely

[7:22]on the virtue on the grace of the virtuous altruist to protect

[7:24]the rights of minorities and the economically deprived rather we have a

[7:27]charter which guarantees and rights to all people within Canada we have

[7:31]ameliorative government schemes to provide income assistance free health care and legal

[7:36]aid Canadian law especially in the realm of Commerce has steadily steadily

[7:40]moved away from the lazy fare anything-goes principles buyer beware which underpin

[7:46]commercial and labor contracts two principles which codify fairness and seek to

[7:51]prevent abuses of bargaining power fraud and misrepresentations to give an example

[7:54]labor law in many Western countries was governed by this lays a

[8:01]fair principle that you get what you pay for and if you

[8:02]want better living conditions it's only because your employer feels like giving

[8:07]you those living conditions obviously we've moved away from that by codifying

[8:10]that in law yet fourteen centuries ago we see Imam Ali recognizing

[8:16]the inherent danger in a system based on generosity where Western legal

[8:20]traditions have only moved towards codifying these principles in the last 50

[8:26]40 years what we see is over a thousand years ago imam

[8:33]ali saw the danger in ruin prioritizing generosity over justice justice by

[8:39]as articulated by imam ali as a universal standard which can be

[8:43]held to all individuals regardless of their personal views of our generosity

[8:47]when justice is established as an under as an objective standard it

[8:50]is much more difficult to undermine furthermore justice cannot be compromised for

[8:54]the sake of utility and convenience again as we see in the

[8:57]teachings and the sayings of imam ali to give a western example

[9:03]in criminal law there are many protections that are afforded to the

[9:06]accused and this is because of the great penalty that underpins criminal

[9:15]offenses so courts have repeatedly said that simply because it is easier

[9:20]for the prosecution to establish their case that does not justify undermining

[9:25]these protections justice cannot be undermine for the sake of convenience again

[9:30]we see 14 centuries ago in Nigel Belaga imam ali beautifully articulates

[9:36]this principle we see how in the lead-up to the wars with

[9:39]malaria the threat of another fitna led many of the imams well-meaning

[9:42]companions to suggest that perhaps his reforms his pursuit of justice in

[9:47]the Islamic Ummah should be slowed down and relaxed and perhaps foregone

[9:52]in the pursuit of peace in the Ummah they argued that by

[9:58]refusing that that by slowing down the pursuit of justice there would

[10:01]be greater good in peace after all in peace we don't see

[10:04]people killed on battlefields we don't see lands ravaged by armies but

[10:10]Imam Ali understood that to compromise on justice today is to undermine

[10:15]and destroy the very integrity of the Ummah if justice is not

[10:19]protected then what is this umma that these companions are arguing we

[10:22]should save in there of course well-meaning intent the the Imam provides

[10:28]a beautiful reply to these companions who ask that perhaps the pursuit

[10:34]of justice should be relaxed yet he says do you really ask

[10:39]me to seek support through injustice by Allah I will not do

[10:42]it as long as the world lasts and one star follows another

[10:47]in the sky even if it were my own property I would

[10:49]distribute it with justice what we see is a perfect conception of

[10:53]the idea underpinning contemporary discussions on the topic justice must never be

[10:58]compromised on however the conception of justice on its own is only

[11:00]half the struggle justice must also be paired with the rule of

[11:06]law to describe what the rule of law is a difficult concept

[11:08]and we could be here for days trying to grasp of what

[11:12]it is so it is easier to describe rule of law by

[11:17]what to see just understand if it is present or not the

[11:19]world Justice Project states that the rule of law has four key

[11:26]aspects accountability just laws open government an accessible and impartial dispute resolution

[11:30]ie courts when we assess Imam Ali's justice and his government government

[11:35]what we see is that all four of these principles were articulated

[11:41]and practiced by Imam Ali the essence of accountability is that the

[11:45]rulers are accountable to the ruled that they cannot simply exercise their

[11:49]powers arbitrarily to their own personal gain but rather to the benefit

[11:53]of their constituents furthermore accountability requires that when the ruler fails to

[11:56]exercise those powers appropriately the ruled have recourse to demand answers and

[12:02]enforce sanctions against their rulers so if the ruler only enriches himself

[12:09]at the expense of his people the people have a means to

[12:14]hold him to account and if necessary to remove him from power

[12:17]when we read a mom at least teachings we see a fundamental

[12:21]appreciation of accountability again in Nigel belaga Imam Ali describes the rights

[12:27]of rulers over their subjects as a reciprocal duty with similar rights

[12:33]of the subjects over their rulers so the rulers will have rights

[12:36]over their subjects but their rights are not absolute if they abuse

[12:40]their powers their subjects have the right over the rulers and if

[12:43]the rulers does not respect that right and respect those rights and

[12:48]he has to answer to Allah imam ali repeatedly speaks of how

[12:53]the shedding of the unjust shedding of blood and the unjust enrichment

[12:57]of rulers at the expense of their constituents will be punished gravely

[13:02]by alone the day of judgment similarly upon his accession to the

[13:06]khalifa imam ali began his reign by promising to return the funds

[13:12]that were stolen from the muslim treasury by the preceding administration what

[13:16]we see is a clear understanding from the imam that state funds

[13:19]are not the personal wallet of the state's rulers which was something

[13:22]very unprecedented for the societies that were contemporary to the islamic to

[13:28]the islamic empire oftentimes the state treasury the taxes were extracted from

[13:34]the people were nothing more than the king's own bank account to

[13:37]build and use as he pleases about where their mom oddly recognizes

[13:40]is that the money that I take from my people is not

[13:44]money that I use for myself and his money that I use

[13:46]for them I am the trustee to my people and again as

[13:50]we see Imam Ali holds the preceding administration to account he states

[13:57]that he will stop at nothing in Nigel Belaga to repatriate every

[14:00]dear harm that was embezzled from the people and in the same

[14:03]narration Imam Imam Ali clearly states that there is a wide scope

[14:09]and room in the dispensation of justice and what he says when

[14:13]we translate it to language that is more familiar perhaps to scholars

[14:17]today is that no one is above the law in essence -

[14:21]Imam Ali clan tribe status position in life we're all meaningless when

[14:26]dispensing justice and these are ideas that were unprecedented for his time

[14:31]the the accountability that he demands from his from other administration's he

[14:40]also demands from his own in his famous letter to Malika Lester

[14:43]upon his appointment to governor of Egypt Imam Ali warns Moloch to

[14:48]check his desires and passions upon assuming office he warns Moloch to

[14:53]remind himself of the glory of Allah and to humble himself by

[14:55]remembering that Allah watches his actions Imam Ali reminds Moloch to do

[15:01]justice towards the people against himself and his personal associates Imam Ali

[15:04]implores Moloch to up contain passions and to check his heart in

[15:10]doing anything a pet oppressive or contrary to the rulings of Allah

[15:12]when we see thus is a set of instructions and a warning

[15:17]to those who are delegated power by Imam Ali it is particularly

[15:20]noteworthy how Imam Ali emphasizes idolize supremacy over man and all rulers

[15:25]as the law of Islam comes from Allah the law of Islam

[15:27]is Allah and by the amp and by emphasising that Allah is

[15:33]always supreme Imam Ali emphasizes that Allah's law is also supreme that

[15:37]even a khalifa or his governors or or administrators or other officials

[15:42]are bound by allah's laws if we frame the discussion one of

[15:47]law what we see is a conception of rule of law accountability

[15:51]and supremacy of the law that is quite natural to Western legal

[15:54]traditions what we see is contrary to what would be practiced in

[15:57]Greek Roman and Persian societies as the system where establishment of justice

[16:02]is not a discretionary activity of the ruler that the ruler may

[16:06]enact when he feels but a requirement for the sovereign by law

[16:11]it is a rejection of the despotic absolutism which had plagued non-islamic

[16:14]and even Islamic society up to this point a conception that would

[16:19]not be challenged in Western society until the signing of the Magna

[16:23]Carta in 1215 and the birth of constitutionalism almost a thousand years

[16:27]later Imam Ali lays down the simple proposition no one is above

[16:32]the law and he does so so beautifully and eloquently and in

[16:34]a time when this idea would be so alien to the ruled

[16:39]and to the rulers in any society of the world for a

[16:44]momily the pursuit of political office is not the end itself it

[16:46]is merely a means by which an individual or group of individuals

[16:49]can establish justice in their community in that sense power should not

[16:53]be hoarded for the sake of power but Imam Ali does not

[16:57]stop there in the same beautifully written letter Imam Ali also tackles

[17:01]the second part of rule of law which is that laws must

[17:05]be fair fairness as defined by the world justice project requires that

[17:09]laws are just applied evenly across all people and which protects certain

[17:14]fundamental rights such as the right to Liberty freedom of thought religion

[17:18]property and other core human rights in his letter to Monica her

[17:20]mom on the articulates that rulings by Malik and a subordinate should

[17:24]favor the common people over the rich and powerful Imam Ali establishes

[17:28]that for the law to be fair it must not favor those

[17:32]with the means to advance their interests over those that do not

[17:37]Justice accounts for the fact that one party is economically socially and

[17:42]politically better better off compared to the other party Imam Ali in

[17:46]line with Islamic teachings articulates the role of the ruler as the

[17:49]trustee of the people he demonstrates his respect for human rights by

[17:53]instructing Malik not to hinder the lives of his subjects despite the

[17:59]fact that Egypt was largely non-muslim Arum in its composition imam ali

[18:04]r instructs malik to respect the customs of the locals to not

[18:08]discontinue their good lives in which the earlier people of this community

[18:12]had been acting and only to intervene to improve their lives imam

[18:15]only provides further guidance on executive officers who implement Malik's laws requiring

[18:20]that they be tested and appointed and partially based on their merit

[18:23]and virtue but that they should also be watched and held to

[18:29]account for any potential malfeasance he instructs malik to be merciful with

[18:32]the people of egypt to look past transgressions and to ensure that

[18:35]any laws enacted over them are fair and do not unnecessarily prejudice

[18:38]their rights result is a conception of laws which are not only

[18:42]fair but are implemented fairly in the context of a seventh century

[18:46]pre-industrial society imam ali's teachings also touched on the fourth on the

[18:51]third aspect of rule of law which is the idea of an

[18:56]open government an open government requires that the processes by which laws

[19:00]are enacted administered enforced are accessible fair and efficient in the same

[19:05]letter imam ali discusses his above-mentioned recommendations for appointing executive officers and

[19:10]councilors he has struck instructs malik to surround himself with competent candid

[19:15]counsel and to only appoint virtuous tested officers imam ali instructs malik

[19:21]to not isolate himself from his subjects to always be available and

[19:25]accessible to the people most affected by his policies momily also discusses

[19:29]the appointment of clerical staff and secretarial workers he struck said those

[19:34]were non negligent and honest and who have the best reputation among

[19:37]the people should be appointed in the sense appointments should be granted

[19:41]based on what is approved most approved by the people and what

[19:44]is thus best for the people you should not appoint subordinates who

[19:51]will only support his agenda but rather people who have the trust

[19:55]and the faith of the community that they represent and what we

[19:58]see this as a command by Imam Ali that the instruments of

[20:02]governance remain transparent and accessible to the people his requirements that senior

[20:05]officials be well paid to avoid bribery and excuses and to avoid

[20:11]bribery and excuses cements the importance of administrative efficiency and his command

[20:18]to look after the lowest rung of society to ensure that no

[20:21]one is left behind by the laws of Islam finally Imam Ali

[20:26]establishes the last component of rule of law which is a fair

[20:29]and impartial dispute mechanism this requires the justice be delivered in an

[20:34]ethical competent and independent manner by representatives who embody these virtues who

[20:40]are neutral to the disputes being waged and possess the resources to

[20:43]do their jobs and reflect the community they serve this is assured

[20:46]by Imam Ali's instruction on the appointment of judges and court officials

[20:49]similar to executive officers a mom on the instruct instructs Maalik to

[20:54]appoint virtuous honest judges from among his constituents who can demonstrate impartiality

[20:59]and a lack of greed judges who value the truth and reason

[21:03]who are patient with litigants considerate or considerate of arguments he instructs

[21:08]that such judges should be paid well so that they have no

[21:15]excuses to avoid listening to complaints and and litigants Imam Ali even

[21:18]establishes an appeal Mecca appeals mechanism so that potentially unfair rulings can

[21:24]be checked by Malik to ensure that they comply with Allah's justice

[21:28]the result is a perception of a court system very similar to

[21:31]our own today guided by many of the principles which underpin our

[21:34]own court systems it is fair to say that mama Lee's letter

[21:39]to Malika letter along with the Holy Quran is the Oma's Constitution

[21:43]when we analyzed this constitution along with the other teachings of the

[21:48]prophet sallallaahu i li was son l'm husband father my peace be

[21:51]upon her and our imams peace be upon them what we see

[21:55]is that in fact Islamic law actively promotes the ideas of rule

[21:58]of law and good governance which define developed societies the criticisms which

[22:03]are levied against Islamic law and against Islam is being incompatible with

[22:08]Western legal traditions is questionable and an untrue set of an untrue

[22:12]set of criticisms the consumption the conceptions of law that we see

[22:16]in most Muslim countries today are not laws which can be said

[22:20]to be compatible with Islamic with true Islamic legal doctrine or justice

[22:24]the problem then lies not with Islamic law as amirul mumineen has

[22:29]already provided us with a legal framework with which safeguards justice but

[22:33]rather with Muslims will fail to embrace and implement this framework and

[22:37]with that I end this brief discussion of law and justice in

[22:40]the context of amirul mumineen and I thank you all for coming

[22:44]here today and I asked for forgiveness from Allah and for you

[22:47]for any shortcomings with my speech thank you [Applause] [Music]

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Imam Ali's Philosophy of Law and Justice - Ebad Abidi || Fatimiya 2019

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Imam Ali's Philosophy of Law and Justice - Ebad Abidi || Fatimiya 2019

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