M1
Justice even against oneself
Justice in the Quran is owed to everyone, including people you dislike, and it binds you even when it costs you or your family: "be persistently standing firm in justice, witnesses for Allah, even if it be against yourselves or parents and relatives" (4:135). The Prophet (pbuh) refused to let the powerful escape the law, saying that earlier nations were destroyed because they punished the poor and spared the noble.
۞ يَٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ كُونُوا۟ قَوَّٰمِينَ بِٱلْقِسْطِ شُهَدَآءَ لِلَّهِ وَلَوْ عَلَىٰٓ أَنفُسِكُمْ أَوِ ٱلْوَٰلِدَيْنِ وَٱلْأَقْرَبِينَ ۚ إِن يَكُنْ غَنِيًّا أَوْ فَقِيرًا فَٱللَّهُ أَوْلَىٰ بِهِمَا ۖ فَلَا تَتَّبِعُوا۟ ٱلْهَوَىٰٓ أَن تَعْدِلُوا۟ ۚ وَإِن تَلْوُۥٓا۟ أَوْ تُعْرِضُوا۟ فَإِنَّ ٱللَّهَ كَانَ بِمَا تَعْمَلُونَ خَبِيرًا١٣٥
Transliteration: yāayyuhā alladhīna āmanū kūnū qawwāmīna bil-qis'ṭi shuhadāa lillahi walaw ʿalā anfusikum awi l-wālidayni wal-aqrabīna in yakun ghaniyyan aw faqīran fal-lahu awlā bihimā falā tattabiʿū l-hawā an taʿdilū wa-in talwū aw tuʿ'riḍū fa-inna l-laha kāna bimā taʿmalūna khabīran
O you who have believed, be persistently standing firm in justice, witnesses for Allah, even if it be against yourselves or parents and relatives. Whether one is rich or poor, Allah is more worthy of both. So follow not [personal] inclination, lest you not be just. And if you distort [your testimony] or refuse [to give it], then indeed Allah is ever, with what you do, Acquainted.
Translation: Saheeh International
-
O you who have believed, be persistently standing firm for Allah, witnesses in justice, and do not let the hatred of a people prevent you from being just. Be just; that is nearer to righteousness. And fear Allah; indeed, Allah is Acquainted with what you do. 5:8
Arabic text and transliteration
يَٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ كُونُوا۟ قَوَّٰمِينَ لِلَّهِ شُهَدَآءَ بِٱلْقِسْطِ ۖ وَلَا يَجْرِمَنَّكُمْ شَنَـَٔانُ قَوْمٍ عَلَىٰٓ أَلَّا تَعْدِلُوا۟ ۚ ٱعْدِلُوا۟ هُوَ أَقْرَبُ لِلتَّقْوَىٰ ۖ وَٱتَّقُوا۟ ٱللَّهَ ۚ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ خَبِيرٌۢ بِمَا تَعْمَلُونَ
yāayyuhā alladhīna āmanū kūnū qawwāmīna lillahi shuhadāa bil-qis'ṭi walā yajrimannakum shanaānu qawmin ʿalā allā taʿdilū iʿ'dilū huwa aqrabu lilttaqwā wa-ittaqū l-laha inna l-laha khabīrun bimā taʿmalūna
-
Indeed, Allah orders justice and good conduct and giving to relatives and forbids immorality and bad conduct and oppression. He admonishes you that perhaps you will be reminded. 16:90
Arabic text and transliteration
۞ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ يَأْمُرُ بِٱلْعَدْلِ وَٱلْإِحْسَٰنِ وَإِيتَآئِ ذِى ٱلْقُرْبَىٰ وَيَنْهَىٰ عَنِ ٱلْفَحْشَآءِ وَٱلْمُنكَرِ وَٱلْبَغْىِ ۚ يَعِظُكُمْ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَذَكَّرُونَ
inna l-laha yamuru bil-ʿadli wal-iḥ'sāni waītāi dhī l-qur'bā wayanhā ʿani l-faḥshāi wal-munkari wal-baghyi yaʿiẓukum laʿallakum tadhakkarūna
If you want to go deeper
7min read
What it means
Two words for justice. ʿAdl means putting things in balance, giving each their due; qisṭ means fairness, especially in measures and judgements. 4:135 uses qisṭ ("standing firm in justice", qawwāmīna bi-l-qisṭ); 16:90 uses ʿadl. Both are about giving what is due, not about being kind or soft.
"Witnesses for Allah." A witness (shāhid) tells what happened. To be a witness "for Allah" means testifying as if before God, not for your side.
What the Quran says
Justice against yourself and your family (4:135). "O you who have believed, be persistently standing firm in justice, witnesses for Allah, even if it be against yourselves or parents and relatives. Whether one is rich or poor, Allah is more worthy of both. So follow not [personal] inclination, lest you not be just. And if you distort [your testimony] or refuse [to give it], then indeed Allah is ever, with what you do, Acquainted" (4:135). This is a Medinan verse in Sura al-Nisaʾ, addressed to the believers. What it commands is justice (qisṭ); the means it names is honest testimony — not distorting it and not withholding it. It names the pressures that bend testimony: love of self, of family, and a bias for or against someone because they are rich or poor.
Justice toward enemies (5:8). "O you who have believed, be persistently standing firm for Allah, witnesses in justice, and do not let the hatred of a people prevent you from being just. Be just; that is nearer to righteousness" (5:8), from Sura al-Maʾida, Medinan. Here the pressure is hatred: even toward people you have reason to dislike, justice is required.
Justice as a command, with good conduct (16:90). "Indeed, Allah orders justice and good conduct and giving to relatives and forbids immorality and bad conduct and oppression" (16:90), from Sura al-Nahl, usually counted as Meccan. Good conduct here is iḥsān (see "Mercy and iḥsān"): justice is the floor, iḥsān goes beyond it.
Judging between people (4:58). "Indeed, Allah commands you to render trusts to whom they are due and when you judge between people to judge with justice" (4:58). The command is to judges and those in authority, about "people" in general — not only Muslims.
What 4:135 does and does not say. It commands justice and honest testimony. It does not command saying every true thing in every situation; Muslim scholars allowed some untruths to protect people (see "Ethics of speech"), and al-Ghazali (Iḥyāʾ, Book of the Banes of the Tongue) even required a lie when the truth would shed the blood of a Muslim hiding from an oppressor; al-Nawawi gives the same rule and case in Riyāḍ al-Ṣāliḥīn (ch. 261), adding that an indirect answer (tawriya) is the more cautious course. Applying it to any innocent person is a modern extension of their example.
What the Prophet (pbuh) taught
The story of the Makhzumi woman. ʿAʾisha (ra) reports that the Quraysh "worried about the lady from Bani Makhzum who had committed theft." The Makhzum were a powerful clan of Mecca. People asked who could intercede for her with the Prophet (pbuh), and said: "No one dare to do so except Usama bin Zaid the beloved one to Allah's Messenger." When Usama (ra) spoke to him, the Prophet (pbuh) said: "Do you try to intercede for somebody in a case connected with Allah's Prescribed Punishments?" Then he gave a sermon: "What destroyed the nations preceding you, was that if a noble amongst them stole, they would forgive him, and if a poor person amongst them stole, they would inflict Allah's Legal punishment on him. By Allah, if Fatima, the daughter of Muhammad stole, I would cut off her hand" (Bukhārī 3475 Ṣaḥīḥ (sound)).
What the story is about. Its point is equality before the law: the same rule for a noble family as for a poor one, and no special pleading by people close to the ruler. Usama was the Prophet's (pbuh) beloved adopted grandson; Fatima (ra) his own daughter. Naming them is the strongest possible way of saying "no exceptions".
The punishment itself. The story involves the classical punishment for theft, cutting off the hand, which the Quran prescribes (5:38). Classical law surrounded it with conditions — a minimum value, proof, and the absence of doubt — but those conditions have not yet been consulted in a named source. Many Muslim-majority states today do not apply it. Readers who find the punishment itself troubling are right to ask about it; this page's subject is the equality the story teaches, and the question of the punishments belongs on a page of its own.
How scholars have understood it
Ibn al-Qayyim: justice is the goal of the law. Ibn al-Qayyim (d. 1350), a Hanbali scholar, writes in al-Ṭuruq al-Ḥukmiyya (1/13) that God's purpose in sending His law is "to establish justice between His servants and for people to behave fairly", and that "Whichever path leads to justice and fairness is part of the religion and does not contradict it" (English as quoted by Abu Amina Elias; translator not named). The often-quoted line "wherever justice is, there is God's law" is a paraphrase of this passage; its exact wording was not found.
The law: what the four schools hold
Testimony for and against relatives. According to islamicfiqh.net, testimony "by parents in favour of their children, or by children in favour of their parents, is not acceptable according to the majority of scholars", and "a testimony by one spouse in favour of the other is unacceptable" — because of the risk of favouritism. But "a testimony against such close relatives is acceptable, as it cannot be motivated by favouritism." This is 4:135 in practice: you may not be a witness for your family, but you must be one against them if justice requires. The page attributes a minority view, accepting testimony for parents or children from a witness of good character, to ʿUmar ibn al-Khattab, the judge Shurayh, ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAziz, Ibn al-Mundhir, and "al-Shafiʿi in one of his two views." The source does not name each school's position separately.
Women and non-Muslims as witnesses. Classical law did not treat all witnesses equally. In the same source, women were not accepted as witnesses in marriage, divorce and similar non-financial matters; in financial matters two men, or one man and two women, were needed; and in matters mostly known to women (birth, breastfeeding), "the testimony of one woman of probity is accepted." These rules are discussed on the page "Does Islam treat women unequally?". The source read does not address non-Muslim witnesses in general.
History
Courts in practice. Readers ask how Muslim courts actually applied this teaching. No historical study of court records was read, so no examples are given here. Honest examples exist in the scholarly literature, both of judges ruling against the powerful and of the powerful escaping; they should be added from named studies, not from popular stories.
What research shows
People obey law they see as fair, mainly because fairness builds trust. [Moderate.] Walters and Bolger (2019) combined 64 studies (95 samples) published between 1990 and 2018. Fair treatment by authorities (procedural justice) predicted belief that the authorities are legitimate, and legitimacy predicted obeying the law. The direct link from fairness to obeying the law was "relatively weak" and "could not be reliably established in longitudinal datasets"; the results varied a lot between studies. In plain words: fairness matters mainly because it makes people trust the system.
The Arab Barometer. That is a real survey, but it measures trust and religiosity, not whether Muslim societies live by 4:135, so it was not used here.
In daily life
At home. If your child or sibling is in the wrong in a dispute with someone else, say so — kindly, but clearly. Family loyalty does not include taking the wrong side.
At work. Evaluate people by the same standard whether you like them or not (5:8). If you have to give a reference or a testimony, give the true one.
In disputes. Before taking a side, ask: would I judge this the same way if the roles were reversed, or if the other person were rich, or poor?
When the injustice comes from religious authorities. 4:135 makes no exception for them. Speak through proper channels — a complaint to the institution, a lawyer, or the authorities — and do not let reverence for a title stop you from naming wrong. The first of al-Nawawi's cases where speaking about someone is allowed is complaining of an injustice to someone who can remedy it (see "Ethics of speech").
For the heart and mind
If you were wronged and no one stood up for you, the Quran is on your side: it commands people to stand up for justice even against their own families. That others failed you is their failure, not a sign that you did not deserve justice.
If you are being asked to testify against someone you love, the verse knows how hard that is; it names exactly that pressure. You can be honest and still be kind: say what is true, and nothing crueller than the truth.
Questions readers ask next
How should I think about cutting the hand in the Bukhari 3475 story?
The story's lesson is that the law must be the same for rich and poor. The punishment comes from 5:38; classical law hedged it with conditions that are not covered here, and many Muslim states do not apply it. It deserves its own careful page.
What does standing firm in justice look like when the injustice comes from religious authorities?
The same as with anyone else: honest testimony and complaint through those who can remedy it. 4:135 makes no exceptions.
What do "pbuh" and "maqāṣid" mean?
"Peace be upon him", said after the Prophet's name. Maqāṣid are the purposes of Islamic law, such as protecting life, faith, mind, family and property.
Does the law give equal standing to women and non-Muslims as witnesses?
Not in classical law: women's testimony counted differently in some areas (see "Does Islam treat women unequally?"); non-Muslim testimony has not yet been checked.
Which work of Ibn al-Qayyim says justice is the goal of the law?
Al-Ṭuruq al-Ḥukmiyya, 1/13: "Whichever path leads to justice and fairness is part of the religion."
How do the schools apply 4:135 to testimony about relatives?
The majority reject testimony for parents, children or a spouse and accept testimony against them.
Sources
- Saheeh International, via the Tanzil text — 4:135, 5:8, 16:90, 4:58 — the verses quoted.
- Sahih al-Bukhari 3475 (English via ccistudyapp.com, https://ccistudyapp.com/hadith/bukhari/3475) — the Makhzumi woman.
- Sahih Muslim 2605a (via hadithunlocked.com, https://hadithunlocked.com/muslim:2605a) — the Prophet's words and al-Zuhri's addition on lying.
- Ibn al-Qayyim, al-Ṭuruq al-Ḥukmiyya 1/13, as quoted in English by Abu Amina Elias, "Ibn Qayyim on Sharia: Justice is the objective of law in Islam" (6 May 2013), https://www.abuaminaelias.com/dailyhadithonline/2013/05/06/ibn-al-qayyim-sharia-justice/ — translator not named.
- "Rulings pertaining to the testimony", islamicfiqh.net, https://islamicfiqh.net/en/newmuslims/22/103/articles/252/ — testimony for and against relatives; women's testimony.
- G. D. Walters and P. C. Bolger, "Procedural justice perceptions, legitimacy beliefs, and compliance with the law: a meta-analysis", Journal of Experimental Criminology 15 (2019), pp. 341–372, https://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11292-018-9338-2 — abstract.
- Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 3475
- Al-Shāṭibī, al-Muwāfaqāt
- Arab Barometer — Is the Arab world really becoming less religious?