Justice in the Quran: Fairness Even Toward Those You Dislike

The Quran returns again and again to one demanding idea: justice is not a favor we grant to people we happen to like. It is a duty we owe to everyone, including those who have hurt us, opposed us, or whom we simply dislike. This dossier walks through the passages where the Quran builds that teaching, and names the Arabic words that carry it.

The word at the heart: 'adl

The most frequent Quranic word for justice is 'adl ('adl, from a root meaning to be straight, to balance, to set things even). It appears in the command to "be staunch in justice" in [16:90], a verse famous for gathering, in one breath, justice, goodness, and care for relatives, while forbidding indecency and oppression. The picture behind the word is a scale held level: 'adl is not a vague kindness but the act of keeping the balance true. A closely related word is qist (qist, meaning equity, a just share), which the same verse family uses. Together they tell the reader from the start that fairness in the Quran is something measurable and concrete, not just a mood of goodwill.

Returning what belongs to others

Surah 4, which contains some of the strongest justice commands, opens its legal section by telling believers to render trusts and make decisions fairly [4:58]. The verse addresses believers directly and says they should "judge between people with justice" — the same root 'adl. The setting is practical: property, authority, disputes among people. The point is that fairness begins in ordinary transactions, with whatever has been placed in your hands. If you cannot be trusted to give back what was entrusted to you when it is easy, you will not be just when it costs you something.

Standing firm for God, even against yourself

The famous verse [4:135] commands believers to "stand out firmly for justice, as witnesses to God, even though it be against yourselves, your parents, or your kin." The Arabic phrase qawwamin (qawwamin, plural of qayyim, meaning those who uphold and maintain something firmly) paints justice as a posture you hold, not a mood you fall into. The verse is remarkable for naming the hardest witnesses first: yourself and your own family. It then adds two warnings — whether the person is rich or poor, God is closer to both — so that sympathy for the powerful and pity for the weak do not both bend the scales in different directions.

The verse the searcher is looking for: 5:8

The core of this theme is [5:8]. Believers are told to stand firm for God, as witnesses with equity (qist, the same word for just measure), and then comes the striking clause: "let not the hatred of a people prevent you from being just; be just — that is nearer to piety." The Arabic key here is lā yajrimannakum (the verb jarama, here meaning to be driven by something into wrongdoing) and shana'an (shana', hatred, active enmity). The verse does not ask anyone to feel love for enemies; it only forbids letting dislike tip the scale. Fairness toward people you dislike is presented as the very test of God-consciousness (taqwa).

Justice as a universal standard

In [42:15], the Prophet is told to say he believes in what was revealed, and then: "I do not desire to wrong any of you." The surrounding passage [42:13-15] frames justice as something shared across revelations, a common ground even amid disagreement. The Quranic idea is that equity is not the property of one group; it is a standard that binds everyone, including when communities disagree sharply. Disagreement may persist, the passage suggests, but injustice is never made lawful by it.

Protecting the vulnerable

Justice in the Quran is tested first at the edges of society. [6:152] gathers several commands: do not approach the wealth of the orphan except in the best way, give full measure and weight with the just balance (al-mizan al-qist), and do not follow a matter of which you have no knowledge. The orphan, with no protector to defend him, is the emblem of the person toward whom cheating is easiest. The verse links fair dealing in trade to honesty in speech: weighing goods honestly and saying only what you know are presented as the same moral act.

Writing it down: the debt of 2:282

The longest verse in the Quran, [2:282], is about recording debts. It instructs the parties to write down what they owe, call in scribes and witnesses, and not refuse. The Arabic word for the just scribe is kātiban bi-l-'adl (a scribe with justice). What is striking is the detail: the verse even imagines the debtor being slow of speech or weak, and asks for a trusted substitute witness. Fairness here is procedural — a system designed so that neither the strong nor the eloquent can tilt the outcome.

A balance sent down with the prophets

[57:25] says God sent the messengers with clear signs and sent down with them the Scripture and the balance (al-mizan), "so that people may maintain justice." Justice is here pictured as something revealed, weighty, handed to humanity like an instrument. The paired verses [55:7-9] describe the heavens raised and the balance set, then command: do not transgress the balance, and establish the weight with justice and do not skimp the scale. The moral order echoes the cosmic one: cheating in measures is a small version of disturbing something vast.

Even a king must answer

In [38:26], David, established as a khalifa on earth, is told: "judge between people with truth, and do not follow desire, or it will lead you astray from the path of God." The Arabic word al-hawā (hawa, desire, whim, what one is inclined to) names the enemy of judgment: not necessarily malice, but preference. A king — the most powerful judge of all — is warned that personal inclination, even about small things, bends the whole path. The verse shows that in the Quranic view, status never licenses partiality; it multiplies responsibility.

Fairness in conflict

The theme reaches its hardest case in [49:9]: if two groups of believers fight, the rest must make peace between them bi-l-'adl (with justice) and act equitably. Judging between one's own companions and, implicitly, one's own allies is where fairness is most costly. The verse demands the same 'adl here as in any marketplace dispute. Related to this, [4:105] commands that when judging between people, one must not be an advocate for the treacherous — loyalty to a side must never replace loyalty to truth.

When enemies ask for your judgment

[5:42-43] addresses a situation where people who were hostile came asking the Prophet to judge their disputes, and notes that some listen and then twist words. The passage, together with [4:141], shows the Quran's realism: not everyone who comes to your tribunal comes in good faith, and not every observer wants you to succeed. Yet the earlier command of the same surah — be just even to those you dislike — remains the standard. The Quran separates the worthiness of the person from the rightness of the ruling.

The inner balance

Finally, the Quran ties outward justice to the heart's equilibrium. [7:29] says God has commanded justice (al-'adl), and [2:224-225] warns believers not to let an oath taken against doing good block them, while excusing unintentional words. The picture that emerges across these passages is consistent: 'adl and qist are practices of the hand — in trade, testimony, inheritance, and peacemaking — rooted in a heart that refuses to be ruled by shana' (hatred) or hawa (desire). To be just toward someone you dislike, the Quran suggests, is not the exception that proves the rule; it is the rule itself.

The Quranic teaching on justice is demanding precisely because it is universal. It asks for fairness in the small, everyday scales — a debt, a measure of grain, a testimony — and in the largest ones — peace between warring factions, judgment for a king. And it names honestly the two forces that most often tilt the scale: dislike of people and love of our own desires. Holding the balance straight, even when the heart leans, is presented not as a burden but as what brings a person nearest to God-awareness.