The Theory of Justice According to Qāḍī Abd ul-Jabbār; A Comparative Study of Mu‘tazilī kalām (Islamic Theology) and Public Law

One of the crucial topics of kalām is the value-related and normative behaviors of human individuals and societies, and thereby, this discipline of knowledge is related to the act of ruling and public law. In fact, since public law addresses the notions of government and citizen and regulating their relations in its discussion of the concept of state, its addressing of these two domains with a prescriptive approach is the point of junction between the kalām-related and the legal discussions in public law. One of the topics in value-related discussions is the theory of justice. Theory of justice is the point of junction between kalām and public law. In fact, the scholars of kalam address the questions of rulership and government from the viewpoint of theory of justice and theory of morality. Issues like citizens’ political freedom, the relation between states and individuals, the concept of legitimate political Power, in general, the characteristics of an ideal state from ‘Qāḍī ‘Abd ul-Jabbār’s viewpoint are some of the topics related to public law that are addressed in his theory of justice.