Justice and the Just Ruler in the Islamic Mirror of Princes

Abstract

This article aims to understand the main characteristics of the concept of justice in the works of al-Ādāb al-Sulṭānīyah (Islamic advice literature). First, the article explores the modernist critique of the classical understanding of justice, which claims a preponderance of tyranny in pre-modern Muslim politicalthought. Modernist critics argue that pre-modern Muslim political thought lacked a proper definition of justice, and simply aimed to legitimize the authoritarian status-quo. Second, the article will analyze the primary sources in al-Ādāb al-Sulṭānīyah literature to understand of how it conceptualized good governance and justice. The article aims to liberate the study of classical Islamic sources from the modernist lens of analysis so it can be understood on its own terms. This article argues that the al-Ādāb al-Sulṭānīyah literature is misunderstood and many political and ethical principles are missed due to unsound approaches. The article seeks to show that al-Ādāb al-Sulṭānīyah not only gave a clear definition of justice, but also integrated it into a broader conceptual system of political definitions that was meant to be a practical guide to good governance.