The Concept of Justice in Islam: A Socio-pragmatic Analysis

Abstract

This study attempts to extend politeness theory beyond informal situations to a more serious type of discourse, using data collected from the Holy Quran and the Prophet’s sayings. Specifically, different aspects of social justice have been investigated in this study from an Islamic point of view. The data comprises 191 Quranic verses and 100 sayings of the Prophet Mohammed. The study uses qualitative methods focusing on the concept of social justice, and in particular, the way Islam emphasizes numerous principles that organize relationships among members of the society. The theoretical framework of this study is based on the politeness theory as developed by Brown and Levinson (1978, 1987) and Leech’s (1983) model of politeness. The relevance of the politeness strategy is evaluated in terms of two factors: the medium of communication and the seriousness of the topic being discussed. The findings showed that the highest percentage of use is the bald-on-record strategy with (61%), followed by the positive politeness strategy (26%), and (8%) belongs to the negative politeness strategy. The least politeness strategy employed is the Off record with only (5%). Judging from the findings, one might argue that religion has an important role to play in legitimizing social justice and that discrimination is a man-made phenomenon, privileging certain groups of people over others. The findings presented here bear on orientations toward the importance of applying a social system based on divine justice and that in order to bring human justice in line with divine laws, people should exemplify God's justice and mercy in how they think and live.