According to Maqayis injustice has two meanings: First is the darkness which is regarded as injustice; the second to misplace something (it is opposite of justice which means to correctly place something.)
It is possible that both may revert to the same origin because injustice (opposite of justice) where ever it be is the cause of injustice and darkness. This may be the reason that Raghib has termed it as darkness.
According to Lisan-ol-Arab the real meaning is tyranny and crossing the limits (of tolerance); another meaning adds that it means the denial of being evenly based. But all the three meanings revert to the same origin.
Some thinkers have enumerated three kinds of injustice:
The injustice done against God through disbelief, polytheism and hypocrisy.
The oppression of one person by another.
Being unjust to oneself
The proof for all is in the Qura’n but in a sense they all revert to being unjust to one because when as person decides to be unjust he is doing injustice to himself and even hurts himself. Verse 160 of Surah A’raf says, “They harmed us not but they used to harm themselves.”
Opposite of injustice is justice and there are two contradictory meanings for it. The famous meaning for justice is to keep something in its proper place. This is a vast meaning which has many examples. This includes the meaning that justice must be proper, it should ensure equality without any favoritism or bias; to protect the rights of others, and the care for the rights and talents of others and finally justice means to purify oneself and adopt piety.
If it has been used against polytheism it is because the polytheists regard declare others to be equal to God. Verse one of Surah Anam says, “Yet those who disbelieve hold others equal with their Lord”
According to Maqayis-ol-Lughata the second meaning of justice is crookedness and some linguist feel that it means oppression (or justice is one word that has contradictory meanings so denying one meaning is also justice.
The word “Qist” means fate and equal share and so is used at times for justice.
It is also used when every one is given an equal share and sometimes used for injustice when some one’s deserving share is confiscated. The first meaning is used for deeds and so there is one name of God called “Maqsat”. The second “Qist” has three dimensions so Qasit means unjust and Verse 15 of Surah Jinn says, “And as for the Qasitun (the deviated disbelievers) they shall be the fodder for Hell.”
Verse 42 of Surah Maidah says, “Verily God loves those who act justly.”
We should also note that “Qist” and “Adl” are used separately also and have the same meaning and sometimes they are used together but contain different meanings e.g. a very famous Hadith in both Sunni and Shia annals from the Holy Messenger that says:
“If there is only one day left in this worldly life God will stretch it so that a man from my progeny comes and fills this world with justice in the way it will full of injustice in those days.”(1)
The words “Adl” and “Qist” have been used together in this Hadith and “injustice” and “Tyranny” has also been used together.
What is the difference between the two? We can say that “Qist” according to its literal meaning in the dictionaries here is “a just division” just opposite bias and differentiation. So ‘Qist” here means that everyone should be given his share and his share should not be given to others.
But the term justice is against tyranny and the usurping of other’s rights or that some one confiscates the right of others for his own benefit. We know that complete justice will prevail in society only when people do not usurp each other’s rights and give it to others. (The rights should be given to the deserving person only)
We discern another difference from some other Hadiths and that is “Adalat” means the implementation of justice while “Qist” means distribution of rights. Lisan-ol-Arab tells us about the Hadith that says:
When these people judge they mete out justice but when they distribute wealth then they resort to be unscrupulous about it. (2)
It is also possible that the meaning of “Adl” is vaster than the meaning of ‘Qist’ because ‘Qist’ is only about distribution while “Adl’ includes this as well as other features. (Reflect).
1. Lisan-ol-Arab, Mafuradat, Maqayis-ol-Loghat and Majmaul Bahrain.
2. Muntakhib-ol-Asr page 247 this book contains 1123 Hadiths with little differences. This issue has also been dealt with in pages 187 to 189 in the book Noorol Absaar of Mohammad Shablanji.
