Almighty God created the universe in His infinite Wisdom on the basis of truth and justice. In His infinite Mercy He created man and made him to reside on earth which is a very small part of his vast and boundless domain. He prescribed justice to His servants as a cardinal principle for both their individual and collective life.
Among God’s attributes the most important is His Oneness (Tauheed); the second is His Mercy which is pervasive and is available to and sustaining every creature; third is justice which He assures and delivers to one and all. He has laid down justice as the cornerstone of mutual relations of human beings. He declares in the Holy Qur’an, “We sent Our Messengers with clear teachings and We sent with them the Book and the Balance that people may stand by justice.” (Al-Qur’an 57:25)
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which was issued by the General Assembly of UNO in 1948, also stresses the need of justice within nations and among nations. India as an independent and sovereign country enshrined the principle of justice in the preamble of its Constitution which was adopted in 1950. It says that India would try to secure for every citizen justice – social, economic and political. No doubt, justice is the strongest pillar on which a vibrant society capable of achieving highest moral and material accomplishment can be built.
This is a tragic reality that in spite of multi-dimensional achievements and overall material development the human society is still far away from the goal of total justice. The large part of human population is still condemned to live in an unjust world. The poor are being still pulverised by the rich, the weak are still being exploited by the strong, and the weaker nations are still being crushed under the hegemony of stronger nations. This is continuously happening in spite of the tall claims of justice and fair play by the so-called champions of liberty, equality and fraternity.
Israel, the illegitimate child of imperialism, has been committing the worst crimes against humanity in occupied Palestine. The USA has occupied and crushed Iraq and Afghanistan. Smaller nations like Chechnya are still crying for freedom. Economic exploitation of the worst kind is still being practised against the impoverished nations of Africa, Latin America and Asia. Economic resources have been monopolised by the rich nations of the world to the extent that 60 per cent of the resources of the world are being utilised by 20 per cent people of the world who are living in rich countries.
A call for justice, a change of heart, a new world order and return to God and His just commandments is the need of the hour. Only this can lift us from the abyss of moral degradation we have fallen into.
Radiance has been waging a jihad against all sorts of moral depravations. It stands for promotion of justice in family, country and the world. We earnestly hope our humble effort in the form of this special issue, Justice and the World Today would help our readers in understanding the dimensions of the problem and enthuse them to work for creating a just equitable and honourable world.