Faculty member of the Hajj Mission of the Supreme Leader of Iran said that indicators of cultural justice, according to Islam, are freedom of thought, equal access and availability of various cultural resources to all in different cultural regions and interaction with different cultures.
According to a report released by Fars News Agency, the Supreme Leader of Iran, Grand Ayatollah Sayyid Ali Khamenei (may Allah grant him long life) speaking in the Second Strategic Thoughts Meeting was not pleased with the ongoing justice situation in the country. He called on all scientific and executive elites to theorize and implement justice from an Islamic perspective. That was why the Thought Group of Fars News Agency has conducted an interview with Ayatollah Mahdi Hadavi Tehrani asking his view about cultural justice from the Islamic perspective. A translation of the interview follows as under:
What is the place and status of justice in religious epistemology?
When it comes to justice, we must note in the beginning that every system claims to be a just system proclaiming that it seeks to establish justice irrespective of whether it is a capitalist or a liberalist system, a communist or Islamic system. The most important issue concerning the subject of justice is the reading or the interpretation which we have rendered from justice. Obviously, the interpretation is subservient to our principles and foundations in anthropology, cosmology and theology.
If we refer to a secular or a democratic system to find out the meaning of justice in their perspectives, justice in those systems is defined with certain indicators such as individualism, individual capabilities and personal interests. And when we refer to a communist or socialist system in whatever areas, economic, cultural and so forth, justice is defined from a communist and socialist perspective. Everything depends on the perspectives and attitudes governing the schools.
When it comes to Islam, considering that Islam has a comprehensive outlook towards man and humankind, justice is put forth in a different way and with a different concept. Islam takes both the individual and social, material and spiritual aspects of human being into consideration.
A second point to mention in this regard is we cannot discuss the concept of justice independently and separately from our perceptions and viewpoints towards man and the world or separately from our view about the principles of a school.
In reality, the concept of justice becomes clear within a set of correlated and interlinked concepts which we call “meaningful system”. The concept of justice in the political dimension is related to the concept of justice in the economic and cultural dimensions. It is believed that these are separate concepts and they have no relationship with each other but that is not actually the case.
Although in the economic context, we must study justice with economic indicators and in the cultural context, we must study justice through the cultural indicators, these concepts are interrelated.
Having said that, if we refer to Islamic concepts, we shall find that in the economic domain, justice has two main indicators:
1. To provide minimum facilities (means of livelihood) for people in society, something which in, today’s economic terminology, is described as “abolition of poverty”.
2. To create an acceptable gap between the affluent and the impoverished class. In other words, as Martyr Baqir Sadr says, “wealth adjustment” should take place between the poor and the rich or as they say between the lower and the upper economic clusters. The gap should be acceptable and tolerable. If economic justice is established in society, we will as a result of it have economic security which in turn will lead to social and cultural security.
What is the importance of cultural justice according to your definition?
As for justice in cultural domain, when we speak of justice, considering the cultural indicators, we must create a circumstance in society whereby each and every individual of society enjoy the opportunity for growth and perfection in the cultural area. We allow thinkers and intellectuals to present their thoughts to others. In this presentation of thoughts, given the indicators that should exist with cultural security, the thoughts that do not run counter to the cultural security of society, even though they are different from ours, should be allowed to be presented and introduced. That is why “freedom of thought” or cultural freedom which does not run counter to cultural security is one of the indicators of cultural justice. That is to say freedom in political, economic and cultural domains is taken into account with this point in mind. The extent of freedom is confined and limited to general security in cultural and economic domains.
The second point about cultural justice is that we should provide access to different kind of cultural facilities in society so that each and every individual should have access to various cultural resources and benefit from them. Of course, the point that was mentioned earlier should be taken into consideration. That is, the cultural security of society should not be violated.
A third point we should note about cultural justice is that we should pave the ground for interaction of the cultures regardless of whether they are religious culture, indigenous culture, natural culture or global culture.
I should underline the fact that paving the way for cultural interaction in society is possible after we have guaranteed cultural security. That is to say the religious, national and tribal cultures should be able to have a positive presence in a constructive interaction. They should help promote the culture of society and it is only then that we can say that cultural justice has been provided in society. This atmosphere will lead to cultural growth of society. We can expect such an atmosphere to exist when a just cultural system is in place.
What does social justice mean? And what is the relationship between economy, society and culture?
Actually, economy refers somehow to the material aspect of society and culture refers to the spiritual aspect. The society itself is an aggregate of people having both the material and spiritual dimensions.
That is why if we implement economic and cultural justice in society we will end up having social justice because social justice has a social aspect which is the abolition of poverty and it also has a cultural dimension which is cultural freedom. Cultural freedom helps the community reach cultural resources and it promotes interaction among the cultures. If such a system is in place, we will reach and achieve social justice.
Social justice means ensuring that people are empowered to obtain a quality of life for themselves. Social justice relates to the sharing of opportunities and a fair distribution of material and spiritual resources. Meanwhile, if one is weak and incapable, there should be a program or a mechanism through which he is helped, enabled and supported and if he is capable, he should be given opportunity to express and manifest his capabilities in a way such that others also benefit from his achievements in a modest and acceptable manner. Hence, therefore, social justice manifests itself in the material aspect of society i.e. economy and also in the spiritual aspect which is culture.
In what sense is social justice interpreted? Have the different models of democracy been able to materialize and implement justice? What is the status of justice in the political thought of Islam?
The justice existing in democratic systems, given their economic and capitalist infrastructures, is in fact subservient to capitalism. In a capitalist and secular system which is based on individualism, if a person finds an economic opportunity or an economic gain, he will also have the opportunity to influence the source of power in the political domain. In reality, there is no guarantee that at the end of the day the political power be surrendered to qualified and eligible people. There is also not any guarantee for public participation in the real sense. That is because people apparently take part in a democratic process such as elections but there are different propagation tools that come from economic power and which just steer the people whom to vote. Apparently, people enjoy political freedom but they are in reality under political pressure to make a special decision.
When we speak of political justice in Islam, we in reality make reference to certain conditions whereby the potentialities have the opportunity to emerge and develop and on the other hand every individual will have enough freedom in the real sense to express his opinion. That is to say, Islamic political justice provides a free and political atmosphere. However, political freedom in an Islamic intellectual atmosphere is the freedom in the real sense. In fact, it is the freedom which is not influenced by propagations; it is the freedom which is not restricted by financial and economic power; and it is the freedom which in reality endeavors, with reliance on certain standards and opinions, to provide an opportunity whereby superior qualities and traits of society emerge and develop and become the ruling standards.
Therefore, on the one hand, stress is laid on the value standards in the political system of Islam and whoever caters them is considered to be a part of the value and content of the system, on the other hand we emphasize on freedom of people and freedom of election in the political domain. In reality, Islam tries to create a situation whereby people can choose the best for political activities in a free political atmosphere.
How do you evaluate the situation of Islamic seminaries and universities in regards to studies and research on justice? Do you think the ongoing research process on justice among the seminarians and academicians is satisfactory?
As I mentioned earlier, justice is not independent of other school elements and this requires a guide model which we should choose for our discussion.
The guidance model which I have put forth since 1990 is the “written thought theory” in Islam on whose basis justice comes within the category of the goals of the school. Justice has a logical relationship with the school foundations and philosophical principles. It has a logical relationship with the system which is formed on the basis of the school foundations and philosophical principles to attain its goals and objectives. Therefore, it is macro-level discussion which requires us to have a comprehensive and systematic look towards Islamic concepts on the one hand and humanities concepts on the other.
The concepts which are discussed in the area of humanities in our universities are discussed with such an approach that they are concepts without any link with values whereas the fact is that all the concepts existing in humanities have some link with values. Unlike the claim that says these are scientific and value-free concepts, the humanities concepts are entirely emanating from man’s perception and understanding about human being, the world and his relationship with the universe. Given the change in our perception from these concepts, we arrive at a new human science in which the concepts are different from the existing human sciences.
Moreover, since many believe that the discussion concerning justice is normative or prescriptive, they do not engage in it. They believe that they should engage in descriptive discussions whereas, as was said earlier, the apparently descriptive discussions are in fact based on value foundations.
For this reason, there is an urgent thing to be done. As the supreme leader (Ayatollah Sayyid Ali Khamenei) said, there is a need for a basic and complete review of humanities in the our universities. These humanities should be introduced and discussed in our seminaries. In fact, the Islamic bases and pillars of humanities should be provided in the seminaries. What is discussed in the universities should be transferred to the seminaries. We should pave the ground for the creation of Islamic human sciences and it is only then that the discussion concerning justice from an Islamic perspective will be meaningful. Of course, in my opinion discussing about justice independently of politics and culture is not very useful. What is useful and implementable and also necessary is to explain justice in various scientific fields such as economy, culture and so on and so forth. Its indicators should be according to a guiding pattern and that guiding logic is, for example, the written thought in Islam.[1]
Office of Ayatollah Mahdi Hadavi Tehrani
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Related link:
- Fars News Agency
- Baztab News
- Pejvak News Website
- Iran Religious Research Website
- Ahlul-Bayt (A.S.) Analytical News Website
[1] - Interview conducted by Abulfazl Anabistani, expert of Thought Group of Fars News Agency