Page 34 - Justice and Compassion in the Qur'an
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JUSTICE AND COMPASSION IN THE QUR'AN
Throughout his life, the Prophet Muhammad (saas)
advised his people to set aside their ignorant and perverse
values and to live by the Qur'an. In the Qur'an, racist attitudes
are defined as "fanatical rage," and people's ambitious
attitudes are criticized. A related verse reads:
Those who disbelieve filled their hearts with fanatical
rage—the fanatical rage of the Time of Ignorance—and
Allah sent down serenity to His Messenger and to the
believers, and obliged them to respect the formula of
heedfulness which they had most right to and were most
entitled to. Allah has knowledge of all things. (Surat al-
Fath, 26)
Muslims who obeyed Allah‘s call in the above verse led
their lives in peace and security, both during the Blessed
Period of the first community of Islam and in succeeding ages
when just administrators reigned.
In the Period of the Prophet Muhammad
(saas), Contracts Signed with the People of
the Book and the Pagans Secured
Justice in Society
After the migration of the Prophet (saas) from Mecca to
Medina, he encountered many different communities. At that
period, Jews, Christians and pagans who held power were all
living together. Under such circumstances, the Prophet
Muhammad (saas) united the cosmopolitan structure to
secure social unity and peace by making social agreements—
either by sending letters or holding face-to-face meetings—
with more than a hundred communities, and thus achieved
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social compromise. Prof. Thomas Arnold stresses the