Contemporary Muslim Scholars and Philosophers on Justice in Islam

Abstract

Muslim thinkers of the early twentieth century analyzed the social, economic, and political plight of the Muslims with focus on the question of governance as reflection of Islamic conception of justice. The major source of the problem was not Islam as orientalists asserted but the fact that beyond verbal confession and rituals, neither Muslims nor their rulers were living according to the rules of Islam. The major problem was that Islamic solutions were not tried in the post-prophetic age. Corrupt and tyrannical governments that had emerged shortly after the passing of the messenger had undermined the teachings of the Qur’an and the Prophet. These thinkers then began to provide alternative understanding of the Qur’an and its conception of justice as a system.