Identity as Contested Ground for Justice

Sor Juana navigated multiple contested identities: as a woman claiming intellectual authority, as a creole in a Spanish colonial hierarchy, as a nun whose vows supposedly required obedience. She refused to accept the diminished identity imposed upon her by each structure. Islamic adl addresses not only laws and distributions but the fundamental human dignity and equal worth before God of every person. When systems assign people to inferior categories—whether by gender, ethnicity, class, or faith—they violate divine justice at its root. Sor Juana's assertion of her full intellectual and spiritual personhood despite all constraints demonstrates that justice includes the right to define oneself according to one's God-given capacities and calling, not according to others' prejudices. For Muslims engaged with adl today, this means recognizing that oppression often begins with enforced identity—being told who you are and what you may become. Justice requires the space for people to discover and develop their authentic selves in relationship to God and community. Sor Juana's life affirms that resisting dehumanizing identities is itself an act of honoring divine justice.