The Rights of the Accused in Islam

Abstract

Introduction As a faith and a way of life, Islam includes among its most important objectives the realization of justice and the eradication of injustice. Justice is an Islamic ideal under all circumstances and at all times. It is not to be affected by one's preferences or dislikes or by the existence (or absence) of ties of blood. Rather, it is a goal to be achieved and an ideal to be sought: "Surely, Allah commands justice and the doing of good" (Qur'an 16:90); "And I was commanded to deal justly between you" (42:15); and "Allow not your mcor for a people to cause you to deal unjustly. Be just, for that is closer to heeding" (5:8). There are also many hadiths in the Sunnah that command justice and prohibit wrong. Moreover, the achievement of justice is one of the objectives towatds which human natm inclines, while its opposite-injustice-is something that humans naturally abhor. Allah has ordained measures by which justice may be known and by which it may be distinguished from its opposite. He has clarified the means by which all people might achieve this objective, facilitated the ways by which it may be accomplished, and made those ways (the most important of which is the institution of judgment (qada), manifest to them ...