Liyakat Takim - PhD Professor and Chair in Global Islam at McMaster University

This paper will examine some of the salient principles that undergird theestablishment of a just social order. It will initially discuss how reason ratherthan revelation determines the necessity of a just social order. Based onQur’anic principles and the Prophet’s and Imams’ examples of social justiceand human rights, the paper will elucidate how to personify these traits in ourcontemporary socio-political milieu. The paper will also discuss the ethicalfoundations of Islamic juridical tradition and demonstrate how Muslim juristshave invoked the moral ethos of the Qur’an. In the course of their discussion,they have highlighted the moral values that must undergird contemporaryIslamic jurisprudence. My study will also examine the ethical and moralprinciples of the Qur’an that help create a just social order and cite examplesfrom the Prophet and Imams on their concretization of the twin principles ofadl and ihsan. It will argue that the basis of such an ethical structure has to bethe equal and inalienable rights of all human beings and that God’s lawscannot contravene the basic ethical precepts that He has ingrained in theconscience of all human beings

Justice, Qur an, Prophet, Imams, ethics