Absolute Justice For All: The Islamic Judicial Magna Carta Of Omar, In the 7th Century AD

It was promulgated 500 years before Magna Carta was issued in 1215. Magna Carta was extracted by British nobles from King John on behalf of human rights for his subjects. Omar Ibn Al-Khattab, the second to succeed the Prophet Muhammad, as the second of four Enlightened Caliphs, had a sense of absolute justice.

With law being basically an equalizer, the motto "Justice Is the Pillar of Governance" was Omar's creed. Unsurprisingly, it appears on the wall of every Arab court behind the judge's bench. In Arabic it says: "Al-Adl Asas Al-Mulk."

With our present world in disarray, especially in these waning days of jihadism, I opted for translating Omar's judicial creed from Arabic into English.

And for a suitable location for that first-ever translation, I annexed it to my book, recently published by Amazon. The book's full title is "War on Jihadism By Ideology: The New Islamic Religious Revolution." That publication has been dedicated to Al-Azhar in Cairo, and to its Grand Imam, Dr. El-Taiyeb.

Of course, Omar's judicial creed is the very anti-thesis of the catastrophe for justice and human rights summed up in one word: "Guantanamo." For it reads as follows as instructions for a nominee for a judgeship in Kofa, Iraq:

Here follows its full text:

• "From Omar To Abu-Musa Al-Ashaari: Peace Be Upon You!! 
• Know that judging is a firm religious duty, and a tradition observed. Be sure to understand the pleadings delivered before you. And when you reach a decision based on evidence, implement it. For there is no use in speaking about what is right if it lacks execution.
• Maintain a neutral face while on the bench, performing the role of a judge. This ensures that the powerful shall not aspire to your siding unjustly with them. Nor shall the powerless despair of your rendering justice unto them.
• The burden of proof is upon the plaintiff. And those impeaching that evidence should take a solemn oath that their denial has merit.
• Conciliation is permissible between litigants (referred to in general as Muslims). That is unless it is on a basis disapproved by Islamic jurisprudence, or denying what is permitted under that jurisprudence.
• Do not hesitate to review and amend a judgment which you might have reached the day before, only to discover, through your sense of fairness, that it was in error. That is because what is right does not age by the passage of time, as nothing could invalidate an obvious right.
• Returning to the zone of what is rightfully just supersedes any continuation down the path of what is unjust. And if someone claims a right that has not been uncovered before a proof was available, give them a time limit to provide such evidence. If they succeed, rule in favor of restituting to them those rights. But if they fail, they lose their cause. Thus no pretexts can stand, and no blindness to what is evident can prevail.
• Comprehension, comprehension of the pleadings in your court. Especially whatever is in those pleadings which is not based on text either in the Quran or in the Prophet’s tradition. In these situations, resort to prior cases decided by unanimity (ijmaa) or by analogy (quias). Educate yourself about those precedents, then make the judgments which seem to you to be supported by the Quran, as close as possible to the word of God, and nearest to the concept of fairness.
• People (the faithful) have a sense of what is right within their society. With the exception of those whose testimony had been previously impeached as false, or those previously convicted, or those whose sense of loyalty or family lineage is subject to doubt.
• Only God knows what people harbor in their bosoms, and He is the One who shields them from punitive measures. That is with the exception of situations where there is probative evidence and proven faith.
• You are hereby instructed to avoid becoming angry or anxious or bored, or upset by adversaries, or by turning your back upon issues of conflict. That is because good judging on issues of right and wrong is what God dictates to you, and is what you shall be remembered by.
• This is applicable to judges who are endowed with good will and who might rule even against themselves. It is the way prescribed by God for any relationship between a judge and his community.
• But those who resort to mere appearances which they know to be non-reflective of their true feelings, shall not be favored by God. Only honesty can be favored by God, and that is where God shall favor those who adhere to it, rewarding them in their livelihoods and through his limitless mercy.

Peace Be With You."

From the above, a global legal conclusion emerges. Equal protection of the law, otherwise referred to colloquially as "no one is above the law" is the substance of Omar's judicial decree. At that time, mid of the 7th Century AD, judging was integral to rulership.

Prior to the promulgation of Omar's judicial decree, which adorns the entrance to the Institute of High Judicial Studies in Abbasiyah (a Cairo district), the Prophet Muhammad had planted the seed of that concept.

In appointing Moaz Ibn Jabal judge for Yemen, to succeed the Prophet's cousin and protege, Ali Ibn Abi-Taleb, he urged the pursuit of a novel concept for finding the law. In summary, he urged that if the judge cannot discover the rule of law applicable to any case, in either the Quran or the Sunna, he should extrapolate it through common sense -in Arabic "Al-Hekmah." Thus the Prophet made Al-Hekmah the modus operandi of Al-Ijtihad, which in effect is the brain of Sharia (Islamic Law).

From the 7th Century (Omar's decree in Arabia) to the 13th Century (Magna Carta in England), to the 19th Century, when the U.S. Constitution embraces the same concept, the thread holding that legal necklace is one and the same. For the 14th Amendment, ratified on July 9, 1868 provides for "any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws."

So, never accept the ancient Roman saying: "In times of war, the law falls silent." It never does!!

Ibn Al-Khattab put his declared faith in "equality before the law" in practice. Not only was he one of only 17 men in his tribe (Quraish) who could write when Islam began, thus able to enhance the enforcement of his sense of justice. Omar was also a dedicated protector of minority rights.

He chided and punished his appointed governor to Egypt in 641 AD for injustice to an Egyptian Christian subject (a Copt). Omar's words, on that occasion, shall always stand as testimony to "justice is the pillar of governance." For he told the errant Governor: "Why do you enslave people who were born free by the very fact of their birth!!"


NOTE: This blog posting is now monthly, appearing at the end of each month. This pattern shall continue while I am writing my autobiography.