Many philosophers, especially philosophers of law, have stated that it is difficult, or even impossible, to define justice regarded as the most fundamental concept of the law. For instance, Hans Kelsen criticizes the definition of justice made by some important philosophers such as Plato and Aristotle, and suggests that, unlike relative justice, absolute justice can not be defined. According to Muslim scholars, justice is essentially definable and feasible. They are in the position of acknowledging justice as something that can be realized. Because their holy book, the Qur'an, commands justice and it is not possible to fulfill this order without knowing what justice is. The concept of justice has been examined in various disciplines such as kalam, philosophy, morality, and fiqh; and also in political literature in the tradition of Muslim thought. Despite the fact that justice has a more advanced level of emphasis and centralization in the field of fiqh as well as in the fields of philosophy, morality, and politics, it cannot be said that jurists (fuqaha) has created a theory of justice or they have theoretically argued it in the sense known today. Perhaps there is a role for jurists' perception about the justice as something that can be known by nature and how it is performed. The reason behind this perception is that the jurists found the provisions and general principles that would help them to organize social relations as ready-to-use data provided to them by the prophet of religion whom they believed. The fact that Allah and His Messenger, whom they call "Shari", is the haqim (erudite) is sufficient for them to accept their provisions as appropriate and fair. Nonetheless, it is clear that the jurists are interested in the concept of justice and describe it at various levels. They work on establishment of justice in judicial decisions and solutions even if it is not in the framework of an independent theory. The answers given by Islamic scholars to the question "What is justice?", in general, can be summarized as the justice is a balance point, a middle point. Muslim scholars have explained justice in terms of two main complementary levels, mainly the former is individual, and the latter is social. Justice at the individual level is handled and defined in the context of moral virtue. According to this, justice is the keep of the carnal, wrathful, and brutish desires of the human being at a point of balance. The wisdom, chastity, and courage accepted as the three fundamental moral virtues can be achieved by avoiding extremes, and the establishment of this balance results in justice. For example, courage arises at the mid-point between cowardice and aggression. For this reason, Islamic moralists describe justice as the achievement of keeping the three basic virtues away from extremes instead of specifically mentioning it as a fourth virtue. Just as the protection of the three main virtues from the extremes is described as justice, the protection of the five basic values (life, religion, reason, property, and descendants), called as al al darurat al hamsa and intended for the protection of sharia, result in social-legal justice. In this respect, justice is not particularly required to be counted among the five basic values, and perhaps justice would be realized if these five basic values are protected as needed. All sharias are aimed at preserving life, religion, reason, property, and descendants. However, the regulations made in the context of achieving this goal could differ between sharias. A typical example is that the punishment for the crime of murder is different in Moses', Jesus', and Muhammad's sharias. The naskh phenomenon between different sharias and within the same sharia is closely related to this fact. The main purpose of this article is (1) to identify the "content" of justice based on Qur'an quotes on it, the meaning that Islamic scholars attributed to it, and the interpretations that they brought to it; (2) to determine how this "content" reflects on Islamic studies (especially on fiqh, i.e., Islamic law); (3) based on these determinations, to expose how Islamic scholars have made justice something concrete and visible for both individuals and society. The influence of Islamic philosophers' ideas on the Muslim scholars' ideas on justice, and the possibility of bringing this effect back to the Greek philosophers is also a matter to be emphasized. However, this issue has not been addressed in this article.
