Interview with Tariq Ramadan

Conducted by Latifa Al Rumaihi

What is the specifi city of the has also to do with the context which Islamic concept of justice? makes it equitable. And the last word is al-Haqq which literally means the truth The concept of justice in Islam is based but it also means the right and when on three sources: the Quran and Sunnah you get your rights it is also justice are the two most important sources. which is perceived both as a goal and And then there is a third source which a principle at the same time. So in Is- has to do with ijtihād. Ijtihād means lam I used to translate the key principle that we have the principles, we have of Islam as justice but now after having the sources but we need to look at the written the book about the Prophet I situation to know how to implement have come to a different understanding them. Because justice is a principle and i.e. that justice is a condition of peace it is a goal. Between the principle and because the highest principle is to en- the goal there is a tension. We have to ter into God’s peace, with all your heart rely on the Quran and the Sunnah but and all your being. No justice no peace. also on rational refl ection. It is through this understanding that I Three words are important to under- understand the meaning of the ayah stand Justice in Islam. Al-‘Adl which is from the Quran that “God commands also a name of Allāh. There is also al- justice and excellence or sincerity”. This Qist which means justice and equity is the highest level. Sometimes we have which is a bit different since equity is to be very cautious when we want to not only the principle of justice but it say that excellence is spiritual well-be-

5 ing, sometimes we have to go beyond In Arab society we are very quick to justice. We have to connect justice with blame others. It does not mean that other dimensions like compassion, for- we are not dealing with colonization, giveness and understanding. There is imperialism and oppression. I am not the story from the Prophet’s life about saying this, but I like very much the Lubaba who owned a fruit tree and a idea that we are colonized because we slave was using it. The Prophet asked were colonizable. And that is very true, Lubaba to let the slave to take the fruit we have to look at our own weakness, from the tree. He told Lubaba: “al- setbacks and failures before blaming though it is your right since you own others. the tree, which is justice, but you have to understand his situation since he is What are the various words a poor man.” And Lubaba said “no.” and names that epitomize the And so another companion of the meaning(s) of justice in Islam? Prophet came and took the fruit tree from Lubaba and gave it to the slave. It is important to remember that there He went beyond justice. Justice is im- is spiritual justice, social justice, political portant but we cannot worship justice. justice and economic justice. Spiritual When we worship justice we become justice is the way you deal with your own obsessed with – for example – our sta- self. Khilafa is not only a political con- tus as victims and this could be a real cept. The Khalifa is also your own body, problem. your own heart, your own feelings and Then it is left to say that justice is your own being. There is nothing in Is- to give every single dimension of your- lam telling us to deny something from self and every single individual citizen your being. This is why in Islam we do in a society his or her right, as a goal not agree with the Christian priest who so it is always that we are dealing with has to avoid getting married because it imperfect justice in this world. And per- is the highest level of spirituality. This is fect justice is God since this is one of why in Islam during Ramadan we have his names. And what we are trying to to avoid during the day to eat and to do is give every single dimension of our drink and anything to do with sexuality. being its rights to be just. And it is why Why? In fact we are trying to master we keep on repeating in our invocation our human qualifi cations, our human asking for forgiveness for our zulm (in- characteristics to experience purifi ca- justice). We ask forgiveness for being tion. So we are experiencing this sense unjust with ourselves and if this is the of purifi cation, but it is temporary. We case we will also be unjust with other have to come back to our humanity human beings. since we are human and in fact we are celebrating divinity by knowing how to Do you believe the Arab deal with our humanity, by mastering, Society has been quick to by checking, by accepting who we are. victimize itself? For example it is important to respond

6 to the needs of our body and the fi rst think not only that we are helping the demand of our body is to eat. It is nec- poor: it is not an assisting procedure. essary to respond to our brains, our It means giving them the autonomy to brains need to think, and this means become autonomous by providing fi - education and knowledge. We need to nancial help so that one day the recipi- deal with our need to be protected in ents will be able to pay others as well. society. It is our right to be protected We are helping them to pay one day and we need housing and it is justice in order for them not to get help all of to be protected in society. It is a right their life. So the meaning here is really to get married because our body and a process to get out of assistance, to our heart is in need of love. And it is be autonomous and to be free. This is among His signs that he created from justice. So here it means exactly that it you a spouse so that you may fi nd love is not about equality of rights but also in him or her. You love each other for equal opportunities in life. Economic your qualities, as well as for Rahma justice depends on political justice and which is mercy and compassion since the two are interconnected. you stay together despite each others’ weaknesses. Do you believe being unjust to yourself is forbidden in Islam? Is this what justice is about in The meaning of Khilafa is to do justice Islam? with what you have got. Since you are When we sometimes stay awake in the not the owner you are just the vicege- night for praying, this is justice to our rent. One day you will be accountable. heart. Then there are levels. So social All the gifts that you receive, i.e. your justice in Islam has a principle and an health, wealth and wisdom you will be objective. This is why we have in Maqa- accountable for how you made use of sid–ash–Sharia the main objective of them. our societies is to get justice. Rawls in his theory of justice is saying two things How do you think religions that are important when it comes to can work together for justice? justice, equal rights and equal oppor- Regarding interfaith dialogue we have tunities. So this is very important from to avoid getting into it as a periphery of the Islamic viewpoint that it is not just our tradition. We really need to go to your rights but also your opportuni- the heart. And I would like to say that ties that are at stake. We have to think the fi rst dimension we have to rely on about how we deal with that. The best is spiritual justice. It means looking at example of this is Zakat. Zakat is a right. the world of our consumption, our pro- It is a purifying social tax. It is purify- ductivity, our getting more and more. ing your body, spirit and heart. When Having more and more and being less we think about implementing Zakat and less. We are putting so much time in specifi c contexts we always have to in having that we are less in our being.

7 This is unjust. This is injustice towards a better share of wealth around the our being. This is why religions have a world and in our society. message. We must talk about spiritu- ality and work more on social justice Will the unjust be punished on together. The very concept of jihad is the means for achieving the goal of jus- the judgment day? tice. Jihad is the reality of my striving, When there are atrocities in a soci- my resisting what is bad, my reforming ety we also need to think about the vic- it in view of what is good. This is the tims. We cannot forgive just like that. very meaning of jihad. Jihad is a two- So a judgment is important. It is good fold concept: it involves both resisting the bad and reforming it in view of the for the victims and also good for the good. It is not the way towards war it is perpetrators. It is better to pay now the way towards peace because we are than to come to God with all your in- trying to reach justice which is peace. justice on judgment day after having So this is the very essence of the word escaped justice all of your life. It means jihad. The best example I have to give also not having emotional justice which for what religions can do together is is retaliation. It is exactly why in the the initiative that I launched together with Yusuf Daudu from Mauritius. We Quran being just is closer to God-con- launched together a jihad against pov- sciousness, and this is a very important erty. What is wrong in our society is point having to do with mastering our poverty. We have to struggle to spread emotions.

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