Islam and Universal Justice Conference

In Sabah State, Malaysia, the Union of NGOs of the Islamic World (UNIW / İDSB), in partnership with our Far East Asian NGO members and the Sabah State Government, organized a seminar titled "Islam and Global Justice" with the participation of 140 NGOs from 60 countries and over 500 experts. Our highly productive seminar, which saw such intense and diverse international participation, commenced with the recitation of the Holy Quran, followed by welcoming and introductory speeches.

The distinguished guest speakers included Advocate Ali Kurt, Secretary General of UNIW (which encompasses 312 members across 63 countries); Prof. Dr. Abdurrahim Ali, President of Munazzamatu Dawa al Islamiyye (Africa's largest NGO) and Presidential Adviser; Dr. Amin bin Senin, Deputy Minister of Education of Malaysia; Ahmad Azam, President of the Global Peace Mission movement (the largest umbrella NGO movement in Far East Asia representing over 70 NGOs and UNIW Council Member); Professor Dr. Osman Bakar from Brunei University; and Aziz bin Hj Jaafar, Mufti of Sabah State.

In his presentation titled "Theory and Practice: Islam and Global Peace from Andalus to the Ottoman Empire", Ahmad Azam examined the concepts and historical applications of peace and justice in Islam from early Islamic states to the Ottomans. He demonstrated with historical examples from major Islamic empires that professionally conducted modern perception operations are false, proving that Islam is inherently a religion of peace and justice.

Prof. Dr. Abdurrahim Ali, in his paper titled "The Concept of Justice in the Quran", illustrated with verse-by-verse examples from the Holy Quran that "Justice" is one of the most frequently mentioned words in our holy book, highlighting that one of Almighty Allah's Sublime Names is "Al-'Adl" (The Just). He explained through prophetic traditions and historical applications that Islam and Justice are inseparable concepts, one necessitating the other.

Presenting his paper titled "Islam and Global Justice Today: A Response", Prof. Osman Bakar analyzed how distortedly the global justice system operates in contemporary geopolitics, noting that Muslims who have drifted from the essence of their faith have been unable to halt this unjust mechanism, and outlined solutions for global justice revival.

We now present the complete speech delivered at the seminar by our Secretary General, Advocate Ali Kurt:

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

الحمد لله رب العالمين والصلاة والسلام على رسولنا محمد وعلى آله وصحبه اجمعين

First of all, I express my sincere gratitude to the Government of Sabah State and its esteemed leaders for organizing and hosting an international conference on such a vital and timely topic, to all institutions and organizations that contributed to this meeting, especially our member organization ABIM, and to my Deputy Secretary General Mr. Ahmad Azam.

As we all know, Islam is a religion of peace and safety. Our Prophet (pbuh) was sent as a mercy to all worlds. The foundational dynamics of our faith continuously urge us to be just, to do good, and to practice peace and solidarity. Indeed, we belong to a faith that equates the unlawful killing of a single innocent person to the slaughter of all humanity. In this respect, Islam is a religion that secures not only human happiness in the Hereafter, but also happiness in this worldly life. We call this "Sa'adet-i Dareyn" (Happiness of Both Worlds).

We have a member organization in Malaysia that explains Islam to tourists visiting mosques. They say, "We categorize people into two groups: Muslims and potential Muslims."

Just as we speak of Ummah of Response (those who accepted the call) and Ummah of Invitation (those yet to accept). This is a perspective that does not ignore non-Muslims, but views them as part of the human brotherhood, focusing on saving their eternal lives.

This is the very spirit of the Madinah Civilization.

As a manifestation of the Sublime Name "Al-'Adl", justice observed at every scale in the universe governs that wonderful balance existing between all things. And our Lord, the True Just One, commands us to practice justice. In Surah Ar-Rahman,

وَالسَّمَاءَ رَفَعَهَا وَوَضَعَ الْمِيزَانَ ﴿٧﴾ أَلَّا تَطْغَوْا فِي الْمِيزَانِ ﴿٨﴾ وَأَقِيمُوا الْوَزْنَ بِالْقِسْطِ وَلَا تُخْسِرُوا الْمِيزَانَ ﴿٩﴾

The fourfold repetition of "The Balance" (Mizan) in these verses, pointing to four degrees and types of balance, demonstrates the immense majesty and paramount importance of balance and justice in the universe. Indeed, just as there is no waste in anything in creation, there is no true oppression or imbalance in anything.

Islamic civilization places justice at the core of every scale.

Consider that Caliph Omar (ra), known as the most stern of caliphs, delivered a sermon upon assuming the head of state and asked the people: "If I were to deviate into injustice, what would you do?" The Companions replied: "O Omar! If you depart from truth, we will straighten you with our swords!"

That powerful man, the single ruler, did not flare up in anger at this response. Instead, he praised Allah for bestowing upon him such companions.

This perspective is the value that the Islamic polity grants to social initiative and justice. Yet, universal justice has unfortunately become the most sought-after value missing in today's geography.

As Muslims, as the symbol of justice Caliph Omar declared, we consider justice to be the foundation of the state ("Adalet mulkun temelidir"). It is a proverbed truth that: "Disbelief may endure, but oppression does not endure" (El-Kufru yedumu ez-zulmu la yedumu). For Divine Wisdom, by the secret of trial, permits the continuation of disbelief, but Divine Mercy does not permit the continuation of oppression.

We are the children of a culture tasked by our Lord, the Wise and Just, with establishing justice on earth.

We belong to the Ummah of a Prophet from whom not the slightest injustice ever proceeded.

Throughout Islamic history, justice has been evaluated under two approaches, as pointed out by Master Bediuzzaman Said Nursi: Absolute Justice (Adalet-i Mahza)—pure, genuine justice—and Relative/Proportional Justice (Adalet-i Izafiye), which sacrifices the right of an individual for the sake of the public good due to certain expediency considerations.

"Absolute Justice means that the right of a single innocent person cannot be canceled, even for the sake of the whole public. A single individual cannot be sacrificed for the salvation of the majority. In the merciful view of Almighty Allah, a right is a right; its smallness or greatness is not considered. The small cannot be canceled for the great. Without the consent of an individual, his life and right cannot be sacrificed for the safety of a community.

Relative Justice, however, sacrifices the part for the safety of the whole. It does not consider individual rights for the sake of the community, acting upon the principle of selecting the lesser of two evils (Ehven-u sherr).

However, if Absolute Justice is applicable, Relative Justice cannot be resorted to. If resorted to, it is oppression."

Likewise, justice can be evaluated in two parts: positive and negative. Positive justice is giving the rightful owner their due right; negative justice is disciplining the unjust.

However, in today's global juncture, international power centers seek to design a fragmented geography—divided into smaller pieces, weak, and maximally open to external interference—aiming to share all resources and unilaterally dictate energy and raw material corridors using maps of their own making.

The five permanent members of the UN Security Council have created a new world order based purely on their own self-interests.

Unfortunately, the greatest victim and target of this structure has been our Islamic world.

Consider Hilf al-Fudul (The Alliance of Virtue)! Where is that noble structure standing against oppressors and protecting the oppressed—which the Noble Prophet (pbuh) praised even after prophethood saying "Had I been invited to it today, I would join again"—and where is the UN today, which serves as a cover for unbelievable international injustice and oppression?

Look, every day in our daily prayers, in every rak'ah, we ask our Lord for guidance upon the Straight Path (Sirat al-Mustaqim). And at the end of the day, closing our record of deeds with the final Qunut prayer, we supplicate:

"Ve nahle'u ve netruku men yefcuruk!" (O Lord! We remove and abandon those leaders who disobey You and indulge in immorality!)

Yes, every single day we give such a pledge before Allah.

So what is our state today? Where do we, as an Ummah, stand relative to these foundational references?

Caliph Omar used to say on the banks of the Tigris: "If a wolf snatches a sheep on the banks of the Euphrates, I fear Divine Justice will hold Omar accountable for it." Yet we know Omar could not personally control every single wolf. But man is the vicegerent on earth. When mankind errs in justice, Divine Destiny permits other creatures to err. And unfortunately, we have committed the error that the great Omar feared.

The Islamic geography today needs unity and solidarity more than at any point in history. Although members of the Monotheistic faith share common grounds around one God, one Prophet, and one Book, over the past century they have been scattered like the beads of a broken rosary!

Master Bediuzzaman Said Nursi explains this historical dispersion in light of a prophetic Hadith:

"It is narrated in traditions: 'If my Ummah proceeds with uprightness, it has one day.' That is, by the secret of the verse 'a day whose measure is a thousand years', it will live sovereignly and perfectly for a thousand years. 'If it does not proceed with uprightness, it has half a day.' That is, it maintains sovereignty and dominance for only about five hundred years.

Allahu a'lam, this tradition does not foretell Doomsday, but speaks of the victorious sovereignty of Islam and the reign of the Caliphate, which manifested as pure truth and a unseen miracle.

For toward the end of the Abbasid Caliphate, its political leaders lost uprightness, so it lasted about five hundred years. But because the general body of the Ummah did not lose uprightness, the Ottoman Caliphate came to the rescue and maintained sovereignty for nearly thirteen hundred years.

Later, when Ottoman politicians also failed to maintain uprightness, that too lasted (with the Caliphate) for about five hundred years. The Ottoman Caliphate confirmed this miraculous prophecy by its own passing."

Today, this blessed Ummah needs a new spirit and glad tidings of revival. Our Lord declared to us: "You are supreme if you are true believers!"

On this axis, instead of complaining about negative circumstances around us, we are obligated to re-establish justice on earth and revive all our values upon our own internal dynamics.

We know we face many problems, but we also know none of them are unsolvable. The ones who will pave the way out are no one else but ourselves.

If three letter Elifs stand separately, each has a numerical value of 1 (totaling 3). But if those three Elifs stand side-by-side, shoulder-to-shoulder on one line, they form a strength and value of 111!

The devoted individuals of this Ummah must gather toward the same goal and direction, rejoining the two ends of the broken rosary and placing the Elifs side by side.

Ittihad-ı Islam—establishing unity and brotherhood among Muslims—is an obligatory (fard) duty.

This geography is both in need of and obligated to know one another, develop sustainable joint projects, protect its own garden, and determine its own future.

Today, our primary responsibility is to secure unity and solidarity among our distinguished organizations across this geography, generating from here a global synergy needed by all humanity.

UNIW, which today brings together over 300 civil society organizations from 63 countries, is an important step taken for this very purpose.

The heirs of a magnificent civilization stretching from Kuala Lumpur and Jakarta to Istanbul; from Astana to Baghdad and Damascus; from Mecca and Medina to Cairo, Tripoli, and Casablanca, are safeguarding the trust entrusted to them with this very spirit.

We pray to Almighty Allah that He grants us success in becoming one body under the consciousness of Ummah-tun Wahideh (One Nation) and re-establishing justice for all humanity.

We know that power lies in unity and solidarity.

With these feelings and thoughts, I convey my respects and greetings once again to all distinguished participants.

إِنَّ رَبِّي عَلَى صِرَاطٍ مُّسْتَقِيمٍ

Esselamu aleykum ve rahmetullahi ve berekatuhu.

Trima kasih! (Thank you!)