Social justice is one of the most important aspects of justice in Islam.

There are three basic elements of social justice in Islam. These are:

1. The absolute freedom of conscience,

2. The complete equality of all men, and

3. The social interdependence among members of the society.

Considering the first element, which is freedom of conscience, social justice cannot be achieved except with a totally free human conscience that purely believes that there is no superior authority over any individual except Allah, the Almighty.

Power is only in the hands of Allah, and nobody can work as a mediator between Him and His creatures, even if he is a prophet. As Allah said concerning Prophet Mohamed ﷺ;

قُلْ إِنِّى لَآ أَمْلِكُ لَكُمْ ضَرًّا وَلَا رَشَدًا

Say: “Verily, it is not in my power to cause you harm or to endow you with consciousness of what is right.” [Al Jinn 72: 21]

With this freed soul, man lives with no fear of any creature since nobody but Allah can benefit or harm his life, livelihood, or position. However, this attempt to totally free the man’s soul from the fear of any object or creature except Allah cannot be fully realized since humans are still bonded to basic instinctive needs, the most important of which is food. Therefore, in order for Islam to realistically achieve this freedom of soul, Allah has put a set of social laws that provides the human being with his basic needs and, in turn, guarantees the liberalization of the human soul.

The complete equality of all men

One of the most important laws is the complete equality among human beings. Nobody can assert his superiority over the others by having blue or noble blood running in his veins or by claiming that he is coming from the race of gods.

Islam ”taught the unity of the human race in origin and in history, in life and in death, in privileges and in responsibilities, before the law, in this world and in the world to come.”

This is manifested in Quran when Allah said,

يَـٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلنَّاسُ ٱتَّقُوا۟ رَبَّكُمُ ٱلَّذِى خَلَقَكُم مِّن نَّفْسٍ وَٰحِدَةٍ وَخَلَقَ مِنْهَا زَوْجَهَا وَبَثَّ مِنْهُمَا رِجَالًا كَثِيرًا وَنِسَآءً ۚ وَٱتَّقُوا۟ ٱللَّهَ ٱلَّذِى تَسَآءَلُونَ بِهِۦ وَٱلْأَرْحَامَ ۚ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ كَانَ عَلَيْكُمْ رَقِيبًا

O mankind! Have fear of your Rabb, the One who created you from a single soul, from that soul He created its mate, and through them He spread countless men and women. Fear Allah, the One in whose name you demand your rights from one another and the ties of relationship; surely Allah is watching you very closely. [Al Nisaa 4: 1]

Therefore, human dignity is preserved for every human being; the only difference among people is their morals, not their race nor their colours.

The second important law that guarantees the human freedom is the social interdependence.

Social interdependence means the man’s sense of duty and responsibility towards his society. It doesn’t only mean the emotional sympathy towards the others, but it also means taking pragmatic actions to help the needy in the society to the degree that sufficiently covers their basic needs. This is through paying zakat; if it doesn’t fulfil the basic needs, additional money should be taken from the rich to fill the needs of the poor.