Human Dignity, Justice, Fairness, Youth - Eubios Ethics Institute

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46 Macer, DRJ and Saad-Zoy, S. eds., Asia-Arab Interregional Philosophical Dialogues: Human Dignity, Justice, Fairness, Youth, Democracy and Public Policy (UNESCO, 2011) vedic traditions), Greeks (180 BC-10 AD, north-west Indian subcontinent, bringing with it a confluence of Buddhism, Zoroastrianism, Hinduism, ancient Greek religion and a vast incorporation of various customs into Indian lifestyles), Scythians, Parthians, Kushans (2 nd century BC-4 th century AD, Indo-European tribes with more or less same lifestyle who were influenced by Buddhism in Gandhara), Sassanids (Persian culture), the Huns and later the Arabs. 2 Arabs in 5 th century AD, conquering Persia, moved eastward to Afghanistan spreading Islam which was a totally different religion to this part of Indian subcontinent. During the eighth through the ninth centuries, many inhabitants of what is present-day Afghanistan and western Pakistan were converted to Sunni Islam. Islam as a part of people’s lives came into being around 870 AD in Kabul, around 11 th century in and around the whole of present day Afghanistan and Pakistan and by 1206 AD Delhi Sultanate (of Turkic origins) established the first Indo-Muslim kingdom which lasted till 1526 AD when it was absorbed by the emerging Mughal empire. Late Medieval & Early Modern India (c. 900 AD- 1600 AD) Islam has been a prominent religion and a way of life in the Indian subcontinent since around 9 th century. When the Muslim rulers invaded India, they brought with them all their customs and laws. Sharia law is the moral code and religious law of Islam. Sharia was derived from two sources of Islamic law: teachings of Quran and the example set by the Islamic prophet Muhammad in the Sunnah. The current Islam in India is different in terms of its customs than its counterpart in the middle-east because from this invasion in 11 th century it has assimilated into and has learned to live with the previous peoples of the region. Fiqh was the jurisprudence that interprets and extends the application of sharia to questions not directly addressed. It dictates human behavior based on five types of actions: obligatory (fard), recommended (musthabb), neutral (mubah), discouraged (makruh) and forbidden (haraam). These usually include the consensus of the religious scholars (ijma) and analogy from the Quran and Sunni (qiyas). Shia jurists prefer to apply reasoning (aql) rather than analogy in order to address difficult questions. Thus, concept of justice has been a vague term since the Delhi Sultanate and through the Mughal Empire in the laws of Islam. 3 A concept of ‘Circle of Justice’ has been an integral part of most of the justice systems for Islam throughout history which can be seen from the following verse: There can be no government without men, No men without money, No money without cultivation, And no cultivation without justice and good administration 4 Justice here, in a social sense, points to much more than equality. It shows the relation between the progress of a society and the protection, stable administration, an active responsive infrastructure provided by the government. A just king had to follow this vague notion of ‘justice’ for the farmers, who in turn provided taxes to the treasury, in order that government workers might be paid to protect the kingdom, bring order into society, enforce decisions and refrain from exploiting their subjects. Just like the monarchy previously present in the Indian subcontinent, idea behind supporting a hierarchical social system was to actually show the interdependency of the classes and yet emphasize the need for cooperation between the classes. This idea of justice acknowledged inequalities of power but sought to mitigate their worst effects.
Macer, DRJ and Saad-Zoy, S. eds., Asia-Arab Interregional Philosophical Dialogues: Human Dignity, Justice, Fairness, Youth, Democracy and Public Policy (UNESCO, 2011) 47 The main tools used to tackle these problems were the revenue survey system trying to spot and eliminate the exploitation and the royal court (mazalims) where people’s petitions could be heard even if they lay against the king or his powerful officials. The above concept of ‘Circle of Justice’ was characteristic to Islamic Persia though similar ideas were known in ancient Indian literature. The idea behind the Circle was also familiar to the Ghaznavids (963 AD-1187 AD) who ruled present-day Afghanistan from Gazni. The Delhi Sultans imitated the Ghaznavids’ search for legitimating through the practices of Sunni Islam. 5 They took undue advantage of some of the customs. For example, the term ghaza was used to justify warfare against the pagan Mongols, deemed more dangerous than the Hindus, which actually protected the Indian subcontinent from the fierce Mongolian invasions. Like their pre-cursors, the Delhi sultanate had a very vague and flexible notion of justice. They believed that royal inscriptions proved their dominance more than their justice. Most probably Raziya Sultana (1236 AD-1240 AD) being a woman was the only one legitimated in part by her sense of justice. On the other hand, a reputation for justice was desirable in a king. The king, in spite of his religion, was responsible for keeping social and political order. He was supported by an army the strength of which permitted him to collect wealth. So maintaining the army was more important than justice. He was also responsible for implementation of the sharia. For co-existence of all these he had to make laws outside the context of Islam. Barani realized the importance of interdependency of the ruler and the subjects. He believed that the only reason the Muslim rulers could claim Divine attributes was for the sake of helping the oppressed and the common masses. But he associated these attitudes only towards the higher class people. There were a lot of sayings and praises for the rulers in writing during the Delhi Sultanate, but in actuality, very few of them were sincere in their words. But we cannot talk of justice during this age if we don’t actually what it meant to them. The Circle of Justice formed a minor part of Mughal Empire’s Timurid political heritage. But through the simple yet beautiful custom of growing gardens, they alluded to that cyclic nature of things entailing justice. Babur’s successor Humayun (nominally 1530 AD-1556 AD, but ousted from Delhi 1540 AD-1555 AD) spent much of his life fighting for the throne, often outside India. In the time of Akbar (1556 AD-1605 AD), the Golden Age of the Mughal Empire, due importance was given to this philosophy. As Akbar’s concept of justice in royal behavior and ideology grew and changed over the course of his long reign. While there were the others, kings like Jahangir were dedicated towards their subjects and made real effort to connect with them to solve their problems. Shah Jahan brought people together to events where themes and ideas from ancient empires (Mesopotamian, Persian, and Jewish, Christian, and Hindu as well) were discussed and approved of by Islamic rulers. 5 This strategy seemed very appealing to the elite Hindu population as well as to the Muslims; a lot of them learned Persian, became exponents of Persian culture and learning. But even with Shah Jahan, the bulk of these ideas were aimed at people of higher class. Aurangzeb was a versatile ruler in every sense. There are numerous accounts of his new and helpful policies towards all classes and places including harems. But he was also involved in factional struggle over officials’ appointments which consequently made him loose their service. And of course, there was the infamous jizya tax for the non-muslims. While this was the condition on the side of the dispensers of justice in India during Mughal period, the actual masses (of which Hindus and Buddhists still consisted the maximum percentage), were a bit detached from the state. Zamindars, or the landlords bore arms; collected revenues and resolved local disputes. What’s more, the Panchayats (local rural government bodies dispensing justice) were responsible for local security. The state’s and the ruler’s role in
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