Divine (allah’s) Judgment (hokm) Versus Human Judgment (hokm)

Judgment and Justice

When we speak about divine judgment and justice, we must distinguish here between two important matters:

  1. The proceedings of justice

  2. The judgment itself (the sentence, or the ruling).

Both of these components are the wings of justice, and both are part of Allah’s judgment and cannot be separated. It is very important for us to recognize that, as there is no justice ever without having fair court proceedings, and there is no justice without a final court judgment. Both components are like twins who cannot be separated and if one of them became disturbed or corrupted, the other one also becomes invalid even if it is correct.

In other words, if a just ruling was made on a person but with deficient or unjust or incorrect court proceedings, then that ruling is not the divine judgment even though that ruling coincides with the divine judgment.

And the opposite is true; if the court proceedings were fair but the court ruling is not fair, then it is not the judgment of Allah (SWT). It is necessary that both wings be sound and fair in order that the bird of divine justice fly and shadow everyone with its justice, and that is one of the differences between fairness or equity (قسط) and justice (‘Adl). One aspect of قسط relates to the court proceedings while the justice (عدل) is the court ruling itself. Their opposite is injustice and oppression as injustice relates to a part of it with inadequate and unjust court proceedings. Just as oppression equals the corruption of the final court ruling which contradicts the divine judgment.

On the other hand, court proceedings includes: proper selection of a fair judge, ample opportunity for a fair trial in everything, appropriate interrogation, questioning of witnesses, and the right to object during a court trial, the necessity of having a lawyer to speak on behalf of the defendant if he is not able to defend himself, and the authenticity and accuracy of the evidence presented, proper cross examinations of witnesses and evidences by both the plaintiff and the defendant, appropriate confrontation of witnesses and other proceedings which are necessary for the trial which the Islamic law has defined.

By that, we now understand why theHujjatullah (Proof of Allah) will fill the earth with justice and equity (fairness) once he reappears [may Allah hasten his reappearance].

So, in our lives today there is the divine judgment which is the pure justice.A human judgment is only fair and just IF it agrees with the divine judgment in terms of the court proceedings and court ruling . Otherwise, it is considered to be injustice!

It is not necessarily the case that if a person or group of individuals are judged in a conflict or matter with a verdict that it is the divine judgment. It may or may not coincide with it. As a matter of fact, it is more common that these human verdicts do not agree with the divine judgment since the judge in these cases is not a prophet or Imam or a divinely-appointed Wasi or a

wise and just scholar who has fulfilled all the requirements to assume his position according to Shari'aa (God laws).

A human judgment may be issued and executed in this life while it contradicts the divine judgment in the heavens and on earths, and as a result, injustice is committed. That is why injustice and oppression is unfortunately an integral part of our lives.

If the human judgment contradicts the divine judgment, then it becomes invalid and its consequences become invalid too, both in this life and in the next world. Even if the sentence of this verdict is carried out, it is corrupt, invalid, and unjust.