Justice in the Structure of Government in Light of Nahj al-Balagha Letters

Regarding the structure of government and the interconnection of its components, we can speak of
justice on two levels. First, the "structural justice" level together with the question, "what
normative principles guarantee the realization of "justice"-as 'placing everything where they belong
to in the structural arrangement of the components of government?" And second, the "poststructural justice" level together with the question, "what principles guarantee the 'justice' with the
same definition, after the formation of the structure of government?" This study asks the
mentioned questions upon Nahj al-Balagha's letters. Besides, it infers the answers to those
questions by discovering distinctive principles at the two levels of "justice in the structure of
government" and "justice after the formation of the structure of government" using the descriptiveanalytical method and searching in the library resources. The letters of Nahj al-Balagha present
norms for the two fields of "employee recruitment" and "post-recruitment'; as they offer standards
for the two areas of "relation with people" and "relation with the enemy" regarding post-structural
justice. Despite the simplicity of the government structure in Imam Ali's era, this study believes
that meeting the mentioned principles leads complex structure of the modern governments and
results of their activities to notable levels of "justice in the structure of government".

Keywords:

Imam Ali (Peace be upon him) , structural justice , post-structural justice , government.