Maqsad Al-'Adl Fi Al-Qur’an al-Karim (The Objective of Justice in the Noble Qur’an)

The present book (written in Arabic) under review, originally a lecture, is devoted to an intensive study of one of the cardinal objectives of the Qur’an, i.e., justice (al-[adl). The author, Mohamed Selim Elawa, has engaged thoroughly in the elaboration of justice as an objective of the Qur’an, grappling with the lexical definitions, scriptural evidences, justice in the form of prohibition of injustice, justice in the Qur’anic stories and parables, and the scholars’ views regarding justice as a Qur’anic objective. After discussing a number of lexical definitions of [adl along with the Mu‘tazilite concept of justice, the author argues in favour of a focus on the Qur’anic conception of justice as both the lexical discussions and Mu‘tazilite interpretation of justice are unrelated to maqasid al-Shari[ah (the objectives of Islamic law) (p. 16). The author highlights the multiple dimensions of the Qur’anic conception of justice like just rule, preventing injustice, uprightness, etc. It is insistently highlighted that the objectives of the Qur’an (al-maqasid al-Qur’aniyyah) are the actual goals and universal overriding principles of the Shari[ah (al-maqasid al-kulliyah li’l-Shari[ah al-Islamiyyah). The discussion of these objectives is not confined to the verses bearing the exact word or any related word denoting them....