People’s worldly affairs function more soundly with justice—even when accompanied by shared involvement in various sins—than with violations of people’s rights, even when no sin is shared. Hence the saying:

“Allah sustains a just state even if it is unbelieving, but does not sustain an unjust state even if it is Muslim.”

It is also said:

“Worldly life endures with justice and unbelief, but does not endure with injustice and Islam.”

The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said:

“No sin brings swifter punishment than aggression and severing ties of kinship.”

The aggressor is therefore brought down in this world, even if he is forgiven and shown mercy in the Hereafter. This is because justice holds everything in order. When worldly affairs are founded on justice, they endure, even if the one responsible for them has no share in the Hereafter. Whenever they are not founded on justice, they do not endure, even if the one responsible for them possesses faith for which he will be rewarded in the Hereafter.

The soul harbours an impulse to wrong others by exalting itself above them, envying them, and violating their rights. It also harbours an impulse to wrong itself by indulging in vile desires, such as unlawful sexual intercourse and consuming foul things. Thus, it may wrong someone who does not wrong it, and favour such pleasures even without indulging in them. When it sees its peers committing injustice and indulging in these pleasures, its own impulse towards such pleasures or injustice becomes much stronger.

It may exercise restraint, yet this arouses within it a hatred and envy of the other person, and a desire for his punishment and the loss of his blessings, that it had not previously harboured. In its own view, it has grounds in both reason and religion: that other person has wronged himself and the Muslims; commanding him to do what is right and forbidding him to do what is wrong is obligatory; and striving to that end is part of religion.