Islamic adl — justice as divine requirement

In Islamic thought, adl — justice — is not merely a human preference but a divine attribute and a central obligation of social life: Allah is al-Adl, the Just, and humans are required to embody justice in all dealings as an act of worship and submission. The Quranic emphasis on justice includes explicit attention to the protection of the vulnerable — orphans, the poor, women in the context of marriage and inheritance — and holds that rulers and officials who fail to uphold justice are in violation of their obligations to God as much as to their subjects. The tradition has been applied conservatively and progressively; its core principle remains one of the most demanding in any tradition.