The 365 · Verses · Day 220 · Justice
Commanded not just to preach the truth, but to judge by it fairly.
فَلِذَٰلِكَ فَٱدْعُ ۖ وَٱسْتَقِمْ كَمَآ أُمِرْتَ ۖ وَلَا تَتَّبِعْ أَهْوَآءَهُمْ ۖ وَقُلْ ءَامَنتُ بِمَآ أَنزَلَ ٱللَّهُ مِن كِتَـٰبٍ ۖ وَأُمِرْتُ لِأَعْدِلَ بَيْنَكُمُ ۖ ٱللَّهُ رَبُّنَا وَرَبُّكُمْ ۖ لَنَآ أَعْمَـٰلُنَا وَلَكُمْ أَعْمَـٰلُكُمْ ۖ لَا حُجَّةَ بَيْنَنَا وَبَيْنَكُمُ ۖ ٱللَّهُ يَجْمَعُ بَيْنَنَا ۖ وَإِلَيْهِ ٱلْمَصِيرُ
“So Prophet call people to that faith and follow the straight path as you have been commanded. Do not go by what they desire, but say, 'I believe in whatever Scripture God has sent down. I am commanded to bring justice between you. God is our Lord and your Lord; to us our deeds and to you yours, so let there be no argument between us and you; God will gather us together, and to Him we shall return.' (Quran 42:15)”
42:15 Read 42:15 with tafsir
Svenska: Kalla därför [människorna till den rena tron] och gå din väg rakt fram, som du är befalld, och låt dig inte påverkas av deras önskningar utan säg: "Jag tror på allt vad Gud har uppenbarat [för Sina sändebud] och jag har blivit befalld att döma mellan er med rättvisa. Gud är vår Herre och er Herre. Vi skall stå till svars för våra handlingar och ni skall stå till svars för era handlingar. Låt oss inte tvista! Gud skall föra oss samman, Han som är målet för allas färd!"
The story
Ibn Kathīr opens his commentary on this āyah with a striking note: the scholars counted ten distinct rulings packed into this single verse, and said the only comparable verse in the Qur'ān is Āyat al-Kursī. Read that way, 'I am commanded to bring justice between you' is not a throwaway line - it sits among the Prophet's ﷺ core commissions: to call people to the truth, to stand firm on it, and to judge fairly between them. Al-Saʿdī draws out a fine distinction in the wording. Allah tells the Prophet ﷺ not to follow their 'desires' (ahwāʾ), not their 'religion' - because, al-Saʿdī explains, the true religion Allah legislated is the one religion of all the messengers; the disbelievers had simply abandoned it for their whims. Justice, then, is tied to revelation, not preference. Al-Saʿdī adds that the Prophet's ﷺ enmity toward the People of the Book must never bend his ruling: real justice accepts whatever truth they hold and rejects only their falsehood. On 'there is no dispute between us and you,' Ibn Kathīr cites Mujāhid - it means 'no argument' - and al-Suddī, who notes this was revealed in Makkah, before the later verses of fighting. Al-Zamakhsharī reads it as a mutual standing-down once the truth has become plain: argument ends where clarity begins. The āyah lands its justice here - a judge secured by revelation, unmoved by hatred, and honest enough to close the argument once the truth is clear.
In the language
Al-Zamakhsharī pauses on the phrase 'lā ḥujjata baynanā wa baynakum' - 'no argument between us and you.' A ḥujja, he explains, is a proof one party marshals against another; in a dispute each side 'brings its ḥujja.' So the phrase does not mean the two sides have nothing to discuss - it means the presenting of proofs is finished, because the truth has already been established and the other side silenced by it. He calls this a muḥājaza - a mutual laying-down of arms in the arena of argument (mawāqif al-muqāwala), which he carefully distinguishes from the arena of fighting (muqātala). The rhetorical force is that justice, once it has spoken clearly, does not keep quarrelling; it entrusts the final reckoning to Allah, 'who will gather us together.'
Why this verse
This āyah names justice as a prophetic mandate, not a personal virtue - the same voice commanded to call to faith is commanded to judge fairly, binding truth and fairness into a single calling.
Bring it into today
When you are in a dispute you are certain you will win, notice how tempting it becomes to bend the facts your way. Al-Saʿdī's reading cuts against that: the command to judge with justice explicitly overrides your dislike of the other side. So before you settle a disagreement - between two of your children, two colleagues, two friends - ask whether your ruling would look the same if you had no stake and no grudge. Accept the piece of truth your opponent is holding, even while you reject the rest. And when the matter is genuinely settled, follow the āyah's last move: stop arguing. Hand the final account to Allah, 'to Him we shall return,' and walk away without needing the last word.
A reflection to carry
It is easy to be fair to those we love and effortless to rule for our own side. This āyah, as al-Saʿdī reads it, closes that escape: the Prophet ﷺ is told to judge justly precisely between people whose desires he must not follow. Justice is measured at the hardest point - where affection and grievance pull hardest. The verse then models something rarer: knowing when to stop. Once the truth is clear, al-Zamakhsharī notes, the arguing ends and the verdict is left to the One who gathers everyone.
Sources: Ibn Kathīr, al-Saʿdī, al-Zamakhsharī (al-Kashshāf). The Qur'an and its translation are verified; the scholarship is retold faithfully in our own words and credited to its sources, never reproduced verbatim.
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