“Allah commands you to deliver trusts to those worthy of them; and when you judge between people, to judge with justice.88 Excellent is the admonition Allah gives you. Allah is All-Hearing, All-Seeing.”
(The Qur’ān – 4:58)
Here the Quran warns against the evils which had afflicted the Israelites. In the time of their degeneration, the Israelites had handed over positions of trust (i.e. religious and political leadership) to incompetent, mean, immoral, dishonest and corrupt people. The result was that corruption spread throughout the nation. People are directed to take heed of this, and to entrust positions of responsibility only to those who are capable of shouldering the burdens of such positions.
Also, the Israelites completely lost their sense of justice. In their pursuit of personal or national interests, honesty and good faith were often sacrificed. The Muslims, in the time of the Prophet ﷺ, were themselves subjected to gross injustice at their hands. On the one side were the Prophet ﷺand his followers, to whose purity of life and conduct the Jews were themselves witnesses. On the other were those who worshipped idols, buried their daughters alive, married their stepmothers and circumambulated the Ka’bah naked.
Despite this, these so-called People of the Book felt no shame in declaring that the latter were closer to righteousness than the Muslims. After informing the Muslims of the iniquity of the Jews, God now warns them against committing similar injustices. They should rather declare what is right in the face of friend and foe alike, and judge between people with equity and justice.