God Orders Justice, Good Deeds, Giving to One's Kindred
The Quranic plan is annually organized in summer with the aim of promoting memorization of the Holy Book and spreading the Quranic culture and teachings in society.
This is the 1455th year since the revelation of the Holy Quran to the Holy Prophet (PBUH) and hence the name ‘1455’.
In this plan, every week some verses of the Quran with special themes are selected and their interpretations are discussed in various TV and radio programs.
Then a competition is held about the lessons and discussions.
Following is an interpretation of verse 90 of Surah Al-Nahl of the Holy Quran, given in the “1455 Quranic Plan”:
“Allah orders justice, and good deeds, and giving to one's kindred. He forbids indecency, dishonor and insolence. He admonishes you in order that you take heed.”
This verse draws attention to six principles, three of which have positive aspects and three others negative ones.
The three positive ones are ordering justice, Ihsan (good deeds) and giving to one’s kindred.
Justice is the law that is the basis of all of the world, the skies, the earth and all the beings. The Holy Prophet (PBUH) has said that heavens and earth have been established based on justice.
The human society cannot be exempt from this law and live a healthy life without justice.
We know that justice means placing everything in its proper place. Thus, any deviation, excess, and trampling on others’ rights runs counter to justice.
However, since justice, despite its power and magnificence and deep influence, is not effective alone in times of crises and in special circumstances, God mentions good deeds immediately after justice.
There are times in men’s life that solving problems is not possible with the principle of justice alone. Solving them requires good deeds, self-sacrifice and altruism, which are materialized via the principle of good deeds.
For instance, when the enemy attacks a society or an earthquake, flood or storm destroys part of the country, people cannot wait for justice and normal laws alone to resolve the crisis. Here, all of those who are better off and in a better position financially, physically and intellectually, should act in self-sacrifice and help others, or else the enemy might destroy all the country or natural disasters’ aftermaths could lead to paralysis of a large part of the society.
It has been narrated from Imam Ali (AS) that justice is giving people their rights and Ihsan (good deed) is giving and helping them out of kindness.
Giving to one’s kindred is a kind of Ihsan but the difference is that Ihsan is about helping everyone in society but the other one is about helping those related to the person, namely a smaller society.
The society has been made up of small communities and when these small communities enjoy good solidarity and cohesion, the greater society will benefit from it.
After mentioning these three principles that have positive aspects, God refers to three negative ones, namely indecency, dishonor and insolence. God forbids these sins and emphasized at the end of the verse that “He admonishes you in order that you take heed.”
