BrotherHood in Faith and its Justice-Promoting Functions in a State of “Complex Inequality”

The brotherhood model in the words of Amir al-Momenin can be a good model for achieving
equality and repudiation of despotism. To achieve social justice, the model “simple equality” has
been generally proposed by scholars as a way to perpetuate equality and, in consequence, social
justice. Despite all its advantages, the simple equality model faces the serious challenges of
disregarding cultural competency and pluralism. Accordingly, the theory “complex equality” was
proposed by Walzer as a new approach to underlining cultural pluralism and basing the notion of
good on the attitude of distribution. Impeding the spread of inequality and taking account of
various notions of goods pave the way for the realization of a complex equality model. In his letter
to Malek al-Ashtar regarding the repudiation of despotism, Imam Ali stressed the concept of
brotherhood in faithand human equality. The brotherhood model consisting of layers of brotherhood
in faith , Islamic brotherhood, brotherhood in faith , and even brotherhood in humanity can be a
competing theory in the topic of equality in which social inequality is not only controlled (the
negative approach), but it also turns into positive inequality, where everyone sustains loss to the
advantage of others (the positive approach). This model of brotherhood which entails relations
between ruler and subject not only contains the social despotism that Walzer evades, but it also
deals with it. The living model of brotherhood presents a distribution network based on which
negative inequalities not only cease to spread in society, but the ground for spreading equality and
positive inequality is also provided by fostering brotherhood in complex human networks.

Keywords:

Brotherhood , Social Justice , Simple Equality , Complex Equality.