Yahya - Justice and Tolerance in the Qur'an (2003)

THE PROPHETS HAVE BROUGHT JUSTICE
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God commands all His messengers to administer justice
with no consideration of race and ethnicity. The books
revealed to the Prophet Isa' (Jesus), Musa (Moses) and
Dawud (David) summoned people to good morals,
tolerance, peace and trust, as did the Qur'an revealed to the
Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). The following verse makes it
clear that one of the reasons why messengers are sent is "to
establish justice":
We sent Our Messengers with the Clear Signs and sent
down the Book and the Balance with them so that
mankind might establish justice. (Qur'an, 57:25)
In the Qur'an, one of the prophets who is told to display
exemplary conduct in ruling with justice is the Prophet
Dawud. Two litigants came to the Prophet Dawud requesting
him to judge between them with truth:
Has the story of the litigants reached you? How they
climbed up to the Upper Room and came in on Dawud
who was alarmed by them. They said, "Do not be
afraid. We are two litigants, one of whom has acted
unjustly towards the other, so judge between us with
truth and do not be unjust and guide us to the Right
Path. This brother of mine has ninety-nine ewes and I
have only one." He said, "Let me have charge of it," and
got the better of me with his words. (Qur'an, 38:21-23)
As stated in the verse, the two litigants asked God's
Prophet not to be unjust while judging between them and to
guide them to the right path. They trusted in his justice and
submitted themselves to his verdict. The answer of the
Prophet Dawud was as follows: