Human nature will not change in the course of time. Humans have always supported justice and felt the need for it throughout history.
Justice is not a need that is only felt by a particular group of people belonging to a certain country or nation. Justice has always been a natural need of humanity throughout history. Reliance on justice is the most basic and fundamental principle of a divine movement. It is aimed at continuing what the prophets and the great reformers of history have done throughout history.
Justice is what humanity craves, and it has not been administered in the true sense of the word, except under the rule of the great prophets or Imams – such as the Commander of the Faithful (a.s.). In Islam, the issue of justice is of paramount importance. Justice is one of the indisputable Islamic values which cannot be questioned under any circumstances. Administering justice was one of the goals of the prophets. Similarly, it is one of the goals of the Islamic Republic. Besides attention to God and educating humans, administering justice was always the primary goal of all prophets. Of course, administering justice in the true sense of the word is tightly interwoven with spirituality and rationalism. Justice will lose its real meaning if it is separated from rationalism and spirituality. Not using one’s wisdom and intellect in identifying the manifestations of justice will cause one to be misled and to make mistakes. In this case, one will mistake justice for injustice and vice versa. Therefore, rationalism and logic are one of the prerequisites of administering justice. Similarly, if justice is separated from spirituality – that is, if justice is not accompanied by spirituality – it will again lose its true meaning. Justice will turn into hypocrisy, pretension, and dishonesty if it is not accompanied by spirituality and attention to the moral aspects of life. Such was the case with communist systems whose primary slogan was the administration of justice. Our slogan was justice along with freedom. But freedom was never included in their slogans. In all countries where communist movements had started in one way or another – revolutions or coups for instance – justice was always the basis of all their slogans. But the realities were by no means indicative of the existence of justice. It was exactly the opposite case. Justice does not mean equality in terms of enjoying the same advantages. Rather, it means equal opportunities and rights for everyone. Everyone should have the same opportunities for progress. Justice does not mean that we should not make any investment or that we should not allow investors to make any investments. Our goal is to administer justice in society. This is the goal we would like to achieve. Whatever is done to administer justice is valuable. In a society which suffers from inequalities, even if the society is a wealthy one, only a particular group or social class would reap the benefits. But in a society where justice is administered, the existence of wealth is to the benefit of all the people. Of course, it should be noted that justice does not mean “equality” in all cases. It should not be misinterpreted. Justice means everything should be in its right place. This is the meaning of justice. The definition of justice is not what some simple or narrow-minded people have in mind. They might imagine that all the people in a society should enjoy the same amount of benefits. But this is not the case. There are some people who work harder, who are more talented, and who play a more important role in the country’s progress. Justice means giving everyone what they deserve in a just manner. This is the true meaning of justice. This is the kind of justice which our society needs. Some people believe that justice means the distribution of poverty. However, this is not the case. Those who speak of administering justice do not mean the distribution of poverty. Rather, they mean the fair distribution of resources. Those who say that administration of justice means the distribution of poverty are actually against the administration of justice. We should seek to create wealth so that wealth is distributed instead of poverty. Creating wealth without administering justice will end in what we currently see in capitalist countries. In the richest country of the world – the U.S. – there are people who die of cold or from heat and hunger. These are not slogans. These are the facts that we know. In a society which suffers from inequalities, even if the society enjoys great amounts of wealth, only a particular group or social class would reap the benefits of that wealth. But in a society where justice is administered, the existence of wealth is to the benefit of all the people. Justice means that everything should be in its appropriate place. In defining justice, factors such as making great efforts, displaying great talent, and playing an integral role in the country’s progress should be taken into account. Justice means acting according to what is right and giving everyone his or her rights. Justice means acting impartially in one’s judgments and in protecting the rights of people. Justice means helping the poor and the underprivileged. Justice means that people should be granted their social and human rights in an equal manner and that everyone should be treated equally in regard to carrying out divine laws. In fact justice signifies that a particular group of people should not be granted special privileges. In the absence of justice, the life of humans would be similar to what can be seen in the worst periods of human history. All the miseries of human communities are due to oppression and lack of justice. If justice was prevalent in the life of all humans, then all humans could live in an enjoyable atmosphere under justice. The Islamic Republic follows an Islamic model. That is, the model of progress and welfare accompanied by justice, brotherhood, and kindness in an effort to bridge the gap between the poor and the wealthy in society. Progress in such a society is accompanied by spirituality and this is what Islam seeks to achieve. Of course, it is rather easy to speak of justice, but justice is a demand which cannot be easily satisfied. It requires long-term planning. We need to start such planning and develop a perspective which is focused on justice. In an Islamic government, justice forms the basis of all decisions in executive sectors and all officials in an Islamic government – from the honorable MPs to different officials in executive sectors, especially experts and those in charge of policy making, to judges and those active in the judiciary – should sincerely and in a determined manner seek to administer justice in society. Justice should be forcefully demanded by all the people and youth, so that all officials are made to pay attention to the issue of justice, even if it is against their will. Demanding justice means that justice should be the dominant dialogue among the youth and the students. They should demand justice and demand its administration of all officials. By Allah’s favor, the 4th decade of the Islamic Revolution should be the decade of progress and justice. This means making considerable progress and administering justice in a tangible manner in society. All plans should be focused on the fulfillment of this goal. And this is what makes our nation and country immune to all dangers.