The 365 · Verses · Day 218 · Justice
Qur'an 5:42
سَمَّـٰعُونَ لِلْكَذِبِ أَكَّـٰلُونَ لِلسُّحْتِ ۚ فَإِن جَآءُوكَ فَٱحْكُم بَيْنَهُمْ أَوْ أَعْرِضْ عَنْهُمْ ۖ وَإِن تُعْرِضْ عَنْهُمْ فَلَن يَضُرُّوكَ شَيْـًٔا ۖ وَإِنْ حَكَمْتَ فَٱحْكُم بَيْنَهُم بِٱلْقِسْطِ ۚ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ يُحِبُّ ٱلْمُقْسِطِينَ
“They listen eagerly to lies and consume what is unlawful. If they come to you, Prophet, for judgement, you can either judge between them, or decline. If you decline, they will not harm you in any way, but if you do judge between them, judge justly: God loves the just. (Quran 5:42)”
Svenska: …Om du väljer att döma, döm då mellan dem med rättvisa. Gud älskar dem som gör rättvisa. (Koranen 5:42, Knut Bernström)
A reflection to carry
Read the closing words again, slowly. In-Allāha yuḥibbu al-muqsiṭīn. Indeed, Allah loves al-muqsiṭīn, the ones who deal justly. We have spent this cluster climbing: justice in the cradle (Day 214), justice against your own blood (215), justice toward those you hate (216), justice on the scale of your tongue (217). And today Allah lifts the veil and tells you why. Because He loves those who do it. Not just rewards. Not just notes. He, al-Wadūd, the One whose love is the source of every good thing in your life, has placed His love on this specific quality. The muqsiṭ. The one who gives each soul its haqq, its rightful due, no more and no less. The parent who is just between children. The spouse who is just in disagreement. The judge who is just under pressure. The friend who is just in a feud. The believer whose tongue is a mustaqīm scale. Ya akhī, ya ukhtī: do you want to be loved by Allah? Then become a muqsiṭ, today, in the next conversation, on the next scale, in the next moment your hawa whispers 'bend it just a little.' Allah is naming the door. Walk through it.
Read the longer reflection
Yā Rabb, You did not have to tell us. You could have asked for justice as a duty, as a fence, as a rule of community. Instead You opened the door wider and said: in-Allāha yuḥibbu al-muqsiṭīn. You love them. The same You who is al-Wadūd. The same You whose love is the meaning of every sunrise. You attached that love directly to the just heart. And ya Allah, You repeated it: in 5:42, in 49:9, in 60:8. As if You knew our species needs to hear it more than once before we believe You actually mean it. We will be loved for this. So now ya Rabb, take this cluster and make it more than reading. Make me a muqsiṭ on the scale of my children's evening: equal time, equal warmth, equal patience. Make me a muqsiṭ on the scale of my spouse's argument: their full case heard before mine is preached. Make me a muqsiṭ in the small business of my mouth: weight equal across friends and rivals, beloved and disliked. Make me a muqsiṭ when an enemy is wronged in front of me, so that I am the one who says 'wait, that is not fair to them' even when the room is on my side. And ya Rabb, on the Day when love is the only currency that buys safety, let me be raised under the banner of those whom You loved because they gave each soul its haqq. Not because we deserve Your love. But because You attached it, by Your own promise, to a quality we can practice every hour. Make us practitioners. Make us the loved. Āmīn ya Arḥam ar-Rāḥimīn.
A verse, a healing, and a Sunnah, every morning.
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