Mohammad Mozammel Haque

If anyone does fail to judge by (the light of) what Allah has revealed, they are (no better than) Unbelievers. (5. Mayedah-44). And if anyone fails to judge by (the light of) what Allah has revealed, they are (no better than) wrong-doers. (5. Mayedah-45) If anyone does fail to judge by (the light of) what Allah has revealed, they are (no better than) those who rebel. (5. Mayedah-45)
All the above three verses are from the Holy Quran-the divine book that the Muslims follow in all spheres of their lives.
That we have to undoubtedly atone for what we are doing good or bad at the Doom’s Day (The Day of Judgement) needs no telling.
Now the point is, in the above stated verses, to what does the word ‘judge’ refer? Does it indicate only the judgement related to criminal activities? Will these verses be followed only in the court? Have these verses been revealed only for those judges who are working in various courts of the world? Won’t the ministers, secretaries, doctors, engineers, teachers, businessmen, MDs, DMDs, FCOs, CEOs, farmers, blacksmiths, fishermen, family members of the whole world fall under these holy verses?
For example: a farmer is not doing justice to other day labourers, he is failing to be neutral to them. Won’t he have to atone for his partiality to Allah the Almighty? Based on the stated verses, is he a true Muslim?
Let us come to a minister. He fails to be unbiased to his people. Somebody he pays more, and someone he pays less. Not only that, he exercises his power unjustly over the citizens. S/he also has to be accountable to his deeds to Allah the Almighty.
Is a teacher or educator free from this? Of course not. Allah the Greatest won’t let him go unpunished if he fails to do justice to his students. For instance: a teacher gives 1 mark more to a student whom s/he likes most. Another student gets 1 mark less as he (this student) has failed to satisfy his teacher. But for this, the teacher must compensate on the Day of Judgement. Allah the Almighty says:
And so, he who shall have done an atom's weight of good, shall behold it; and he who shall have done an atom's weight of evil, shall behold it. (Surah Al-Jiljal, -07-08)
Will an MD be exempted from this judgement if he practices partiality among his colleagues? Some of his colleagues are promoted regularly as they provide the MD with so many things and practice flattery with him. But others who don’t know how to flatter are not promoted. Thus, the flatterers are enjoying what the extra facilities they are receiving from the company. But these flatterers will not take any part from what will be paid to the ‘Honourable’ MD on the Doom’s Day.
Let us see some more verses from the Holy Quran:
O you who believe! Stand out firmly for justice, as witnesses to Allah, even as against yourselves, or your parents, or your kin, and whether it be (against) rich or poor: for Allah can best protect both. Follow not the lusts (of your hearts), lest you deviate, and if you distort (justice) or decline to do justice, verily Allah is well- acquainted with all that you do. (Surah Al-Nisaa-135)
Here, it is crystal clear that we have to practice justice in all spheres of our activities. If anybody does injustice, nobody can see this, but Allah the Almighty is observing it.
‘Whatever he speaks or utters, the guards are there to note them down. (Surah- Qaaf-18)
‘That Day shall We set a seal on their mouths. But their hands will speak to us, and their feet bear witness, to all that they did.’ (Surah- Yeaseen-65)
All these verses clearly indicate that whoever will practice justice to others will be rewarded accordingly. But if anybody dillydallies, s/he will also be paid naturally.
We firmly believe that the said verses are only applicable for the government of any country. In this regard, we forget that the Holy Quran is not the personal property of the Muslims only, rather it is the property for the human beings, and the word ‘human beings’ undoubtedly include Muslims, Hindoos, Buddhists, Christians, Jews etc. In a word, whoever accepts and follows this divine book shall be rewarded. As Allah the Greatest says:
I seek refuge with the Lord and Cherisher of Mankind (Surah- Al-Nas- Mankind-1)
Here, Allah Himself is saying that He is the Lord of the mankind which includes all human beings disregarding the religious, political, social identity. We unfortunately make divisions among us.
Anyway, since any person with some responsibilities has to atone for what and how he will behave with others to Allah on the Doom’s Day, thus the honourable companions of Hazrat Mohammad (PBUH) didn’t want to take any responsibility / governing power of any area thinking that if s/he does otherwise, he has to be accountable for all his followers.
Now, from where should we learn this practice? Of course first of all from the families. Should we think that if we practice partiality in the family, we won’t have to recompense for this? For example: if I have three daughters and one son, I must practice justice to them first. Some people love the sons most and very few people are there who love daughters. They think that daughters are burden for them. And thus they pay more to the sons and comparatively little to the daughters. They must be paid for this in the afterlife.
Moreover, besides distributing wealth among sons and daughters, we also practice unjust activities through other means. Sometime, we deceive our cousins, nephews and nieces, brothers and sisters, uncles and aunties which is really unfair from our behalf. Thus if we practice justice among our families even if the verdict / decision goes against ourselves or against our relatives (as revealed in the Holy Quran), we will be able to do justice everywhere.
But we have to bear in mind- justice delayed justice denied—and justice hurried justice buried—wherever it is—it may be in our families, offices, courts, institutions, educational institutions, businesses, companies etc. Let us keep in our mind that what we are doing every day are being recorded and watched over. May Justice prevail!!!

The writer is a Dean (In-charge), Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, &
Associate Professor, Department of English,
Northern University Bangladesh. He can be reached at Email: mozambiu@yahoo.com