Hossein Askari considers how justice in Islam differs from Western understandings of equality and examines how the teachings of Islam can provide a corrective to unchecked capitalism. He notes how COVID-19 will change our economic and health care systems in the future

Askari, Hossein

Berkley Center-Georgetown University

English

ScholarWorks at WMU

Where is Justice? Islam, Equality, and COVID-19

3/18/22, 1:41 PM Where is Justice? Islam, Equality, and COVID-19https://berkleycenter.georgetown.edu/responses/where-is-justice-islam-equality-and-covid-19 1/5Berkley ForumWhere is Justice? Islam, Equality, and COVID-19By: Hossein AskariApril 14, 2020Religion and the COVID-19 Pandemic: Social WelfareZarathustra was arguably the first to articulate a form of the Golden Rule some three thousand years ago, a rule that hasnever been followed on a scale to make a noticeable difference in our daily lives. If it had been followed, we would bepracticing the principle that humanity is one and doing what we consider best for us as individuals for others. Kant callshumans to go even beyond the Golden Rule by emphasizing intention: to do the right thing and for the right reason. Some twelve hundred years before the period of the Enlightenment, Islam recognized the equality of humanity and equaljustice for all. In Islam, justice emerges within a system. The principles that are its guide include the Unity of Creation;availability of sufficient resources as long as humans share, downplaying the principle of scarcity that is the foundation ofmodern economics; freedom and equal opportunities to develop; and mandated distribution and redistribution forreasonable equity to prevail. Western conceptions of justice ask little of humans, but Islam expects much of Muslims—to follow rules to produce a justworld. Since the Enlightenment, conceptions of justice have “freedom” at their foundation. Islam also emphasizes freedom,but with differing roles envisaged for individuals and governments. Islam puts the burden on individuals: Members of societymust develop themselves and ensure that justice prevails. Western thinking took a giant leap much later during the course of the Enlightenment by recognizing that all humans areequal and deserve similar opportunities to develop, with contractual approaches and principles. They are in large partphilosophical discourses that have little relevance to daily lives in a world of blinding inequality and pain. Justice in Islam, emerging from a set of moral rules that are based on the unity of humanity, is to be contrasted with otherwell-known conceptions. These include justice based on outcome with a goal to maximize, based on outcome but with aprinciple to follow, based on the justness of the process no matter the outcome, and based on rules to follow. Islam is justice and has justice embedded in each of its rules. If it is followed collectively, justice will emerge. Over onethousand verses in the Quran deal with justice-injustice.While Islam’s system and rules are different from Rousseau’s conception of justice, both are optimistic as they envisage asea change in human outlook at the foundation of a more just world. The more recent giants of philosophy have articulatedtheories of justice that focus on the plight of society’s poorest, albeit in different ways. John Rawls put forth an elegantcontractual theory that condones inequality, even severe inequalities, as long as inequalities help the lot of the poorest. This3/18/22, 1:41 PM Where is Justice? Islam, Equality, and COVID-19https://berkleycenter.georgetown.edu/responses/where-is-justice-islam-equality-and-covid-19 2/5Rawls was willing to accept because the talented demand such rewards if they are to work hard, which in turn raises totaloutput and helps the poorest. On the other hand, Amartya Sen advocates a system where all humans are given thecapability to achieve their dreams. It is difficult to conceive a just society without incorporating the interactions of the entire human race (as well as the animalkingdom) and the temporal dimension, as future generations have no vote today. Practically, a sound conception of justiceshould begin by acknowledging that all humans are equal and equally deserving and include as its premise politicalfreedoms, economic facilities, opportunities to develop (nutrition, shelter, healthcare, education), transparency guarantees,and protective security. Where is our society today?The moral philosopher Adam Smith, the father of the system we coin as capitalism today, must be turning in his grave as theworld attributes our unbridled capitalism to him. Smith argued for a market-based system, where markets through the pricesignal indicate what consumers demand and what producers should produce. It was a system with private ownership ofcapital, but which needed important guard rails to ensure that justice prevailed. This market system, if left to itself, couldbecome a veritable jungle. Owners of capital could accumulate great wealth and even band together, or collude, leadingto price gauging, impairing the market’s price signaling function and exploiting labor who might have few employmentoptions. As important to Smith, a deeply religious man, was the belief in the natural equality of human beings. Yes, Smith believed ineconomic freedom enabling some to accumulate capital while others lagged behind, but he stressed equal opportunity todevelop the self. He saw himself as not inherently very different from the person in Africa. The difference was that he had amuch better opportunity to develop himself. The path for creating a better country and a better world was giving everyonegood and equal opportunity to develop. Whether they took advantage of it or not was up to them.If a person wants health care in the United States today, what choice does she or he have? Have the good fortune to find ajob that provides good health care coverage or deplete any and all savings and hope for the best! More practically, in theface of high unemployment and the possibility of losing health care, the average American is forced to accept anyemployment that offers health care. This is tantamount to servitude and is not the system that Adam Smith could havesupported. There are many definitions of what everyone casually refers to as “capitalism,” even classifying it as a religion.But one thing is sure. What we see today in the United States has very little to do with Smith’s vision of a sound economicsystem. One thing is for sure. Many of our long-held beliefs will be trashed or at least modified in the aftermath of COVID-19. Ourperception of justice and our economic and health care system will change. Capitalism as we know it cannot survive. Thefuture will be vastly different from the past. About the Author3/18/22, 1:41 PM Where is Justice? Islam, Equality, and COVID-19https://berkleycenter.georgetown.edu/responses/where-is-justice-islam-equality-and-covid-19 3/5Hossein AskariHossein Askari is emeritus Iran Professor of Business and International Affairs at the George Washington University. Hisrecent books include Reformation and Development in the Muslim World: Islamicity Indices as Benchmark, IdealIslamic Economy: An Introduction, Conceptions of Justice from Earliest History to Islam, and Conceptions of Justice fromIslam to the Present. He is the founder of Islamicity Indices.  In the SeriesJewish Law During a Pandemic Michael J. BroydeThe Role of Religion in a Post-Pandemic Public Square Chris BakerCOVID-19 Recovery: A Strong Safety Net is Needed 

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Where is Justice? Islam, Equality, and COVID-19

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