The Ninety-Nine Names · the 29th name
الْعَدْل
Al-'Adl
The Utterly Just
- The rootع د ل
- From the root'adala: to be even, balanced, to put a thing exactly in its place
The essay
Justice in Arabic is a word about balance, about a thing being placed exactly where it belongs. He does not wrong anyone by the weight of a single atom, and the verse continues, if there is a good deed He multiplies it. That asymmetry is the shape of His justice: exact in what is owed, extravagant in what is given. The Name itself is not used of God in the Qur'an as a noun; the meaning is stated instead, and stated flatly.
In the Qur'an
إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ لَا يَظۡلِمُ مِثۡقَالَ ذَرَّةٖۖ وَإِن تَكُ حَسَنَةٗ يُضَٰعِفۡهَا وَيُؤۡتِ مِن لَّدُنۡهُ أَجۡرًا عَظِيمٗا
Allah does not wrong anyone by the weight of an atom, and if there is a good deed He multiplies it, and gives from Himself a great reward.
from the enumeration · the verse carries the meaning
What it asks of you
Be exact where you owe, generous where you give. You will not be judged by a standard you were never shown.
Read beside it
The words
A story