Al-MawardFs Approach to the Topic
In contrast to other influential thinkers in his age, such as the Mudazilite theologian Qadi 'Abd al-Jabbar (932 -1025) or the philosopher Abu 'Ali ibn Sina (980 -1037), al-Mawardi did not conceive of justice as a matter of theological or philosophical concern.
According to 'Abd al-Jabbar, justice is a central characteristic of God, that can be ascertained by human reason and that affirms free will.42 Ibn Sina discussed justice within the neo-Platonic tradition as a virtue that sustains the natural/holy order of things, both in society and within the family?3Unlike these scholars, al-Mawardi sees justice as a wholly worldly matter that is absolutely central to the functioning of all aspects of society. In his work, Adab al-dunya wa al-din, he lists five main themes: virtues of reason
AO Oskar Rescher, Gesammelte Werke: Eine Sammlung der wichtigsten Schriften Oskar Reschers, teilweise mit Erganzungen und Verbesserungen aus dem handschriftlichen Nachlaβ; in VAbt.: 2,3. Abt. II, SchriftenzurAdab-Literatur; Bd. 3. GBhiz, Abé-Utman 'Amr Ibu-Bahr al-: Das Kitab al-ma- hasin wa,,l-masawi. Das Kitab adab ad-dunya wa,,d-din / Qdd³ ahii"l-Hasan 'AU b. Muhammad al-Mawardi. Aus d. Arab. Ubers. von O. Rescher, ed. Necati Lugal (Osnabruck: Biblio-Verlag, Nachdr. 1984).
41 Ibid.
42 On the views of Qadi 'Abd al-Jabbar concerning the theme of justice, see al-Qadi 'Abd al- Jabbar, Sharh usdl al-khamsa, ed. 'Abd al-Kaιim 'Uthman (Cairo: Maktabat al-Wahba, 1965), 299 - 608; and al-Qadi 'Abd al-Jabbar, al-Mughni fi abwab al-tawhid wa al-'al-, 14 vols. in 16, ed. Ibrahim Madhkur et al. (Cairo: Wizarat al-Thaqafa wa al-irshad al-qawmi, I960), vol. 6.
43 At different points in the text, Ibn Sina discusses his ideas concerning social and family relations. These passages are indicative of his conceptualization of justice.
This is most visible in the thematic area ilahiyyat (‘metaphysics’) towards the end of his work, al-Shifa’ (namely, in the chapters fi 'aqd al-madina wa 'aqd al-bayt, wa huwa al-nikah wa al-sunan al-kulliyya fi dhalik, 447-451, and, und fa al-khalifa wa al-imam wa wufiib ta'atihima, wa al-ishara ila al-siyasat wa al-mu'amalat wa al-akhlaq, 451-455); Abu 'Ali Ibn Sina, al-Shifa’, ildhiyyat, ed. al-Ab al-Qa- nawati and Sa'id Zayid (Cairo: al-Hay'a al-'amma li shu'un al-matabi' al-amiriyya, 1960). (fadl al- ,aqΓ), ethics of knowledge (adab al- ,ilm), ethics of the soul (adab al-nafs), ethics of religion (adab al-dιn) and worldly ethics (adab al-dunya). It is within the last chapter about how to conduct oneself in the world, that al-Mawardi discusses his thoughts concerning justice and demonstrates how it represents a comprehensive concept that should govern all social relations.We find a similar formulation at a later period of the Middle Ages in the work of the distinguished Doctor of the Church Thomas Aquinas (1225 -1274). With regard to the conceptualizsation of justice in antiquity, and with reference to Plato and Aristotle, he spoke of general or universal justice. He meant by this an understanding that is relevant for all basic relations within society. He set up two opposite conceptualizations of justice, however: general justice was separate from special or particular justice, which ordered the relationship between one human and another or within a small group.[91]
Although al-Mawardi differentiates between different spheres of relations within society, he does not find it necessary to differentiate between general and particular forms of justice. For he believes there is no possibility of just relations existing in one realm, if relations are unjust in another. He discerns three conceivable sets of relations within a polity and emphasises how justice must preside within each of these in order for society to function. There is the relationship between ruler and ruled (or in modern terminology the relationship of the state to its citizens); the relationship of ruled to ruler (or the relationship of citizen to the state), and lastly, the relationships of the subjects amongst themselves (relationships between citizens). He finds that justice is not conceivable if the relationships in all three spheres are not just.
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