Transitional justice in light of Sharia…a fundamental vision culture

Our Arab countries went through – and still are – a pivotal historical stage, which began with the outbreak of the Arab Spring revolutions in 2011. These revolutions constituted a watershed moment in political and social awareness, and expressed the rejection of the peoples of the region to tyrannical regimes that practiced multiple forms of oppression and injustice, including systematic torture and blatant violations of basic human rights. This stage was characterized by great contradictions. While some of these revolutions achieved relative victories in terms of popular demands, others faced obstacles that led to their faltering or the return of new forms of tyranny.

One of the direct results of these experiences is the emergence of an urgent and existential need among Arab societies for transitional mechanisms aimed at removing society from a state of chaos and turmoil. The transition to a state of stability and security is no longer an option, but rather a basic necessity to prepare society to move towards achieving the goals for which the people came out, fought and sacrificed. These goals are linked to freedom, rights, human dignity, society’s goals, objectives and identity, and to establishing the rules of justice and fairness that rebuild trust between the state, people and society.

In this way, the victory of the revolution is no longer just a political event, but rather has become a dangerous transitional phase that requires clear tools for post-conflict management that address the effects of violations, bridge social and political gaps, and put society on the path to comprehensive reform that goes beyond simply reshaping institutions to rebuilding the social fabric and the collective conscience. Here the importance of studying intellectual and legal models that can provide a solid framework for this stage is evident, ensuring that achieving justice and reconciliation does not come at the expense of values ​​and morals, but rather that it starts from them as an indispensable basis for reproducing a balanced and stable society.

Compatibility between justice mechanisms and Sharia

Justice is not a theoretical luxury, but rather an existential condition for restoring the lost balance in the structure of societies. Every war leaves behind cracks in memory and conscience, and every tyranny leaves a moral vacuum that cannot be repaired simply by overthrowing a regime or changing authority. From here, attention turns to the transitional justice systems developed by Western thought as a tool for rebuilding trust, redressing harm, and restoring dignity to victims. However, the question of appropriateness urgently imposes itself: Are these mechanisms, which emerged in a secular environment with its own philosophy regarding man and the state, suitable for application in societies that derive their values ​​from revelation and the objectives of Sharia?

In the face of this profound question, the book “Transitional Justice from an Islamic Perspective” by Dr. Samer Muhammad al-Bakri, published by Dar Al-Fikr in Damascus, comes to present a bold, original proposal through which it redefines justice in its legal and civilizational context, and discusses the limits of compatibility and conflict between the Western model and the Islamic perspective. The book does not limit itself to refuting terminology or criticizing practices, but rather seeks to establish an integrated vision that restores justice as a faith value before it is a legal mechanism, and places reconciliation in its original place within a more comprehensive reform project aimed at restoring humanity and society together.

In his book, Dr. Samer Al-Bakri provides a profound scientific treatment of one of the most pressing intellectual and legal issues in our contemporary reality: How can Arab and Islamic societies regain their balance after decades of conflicts and oppressive regimes, without borrowing tools that are foreign to their value system?

The author starts from a careful critical vision, and compares the concept of transitional justice as formulated by the modern international experience – originally emerging from a European secular background – with the authentic Islamic concepts that constitute the pillars of the moral and legal system in Islam, such as justice, reconciliation, and forgiveness.

Not only does he put these concepts in a contrasting confrontation, but he also shows through historical and intentional analysis that Islamic thought has presented, throughout its long centuries, an integrated model for achieving justice after strife or injustice, based on reforming hearts before retaliating against bodies, and on restoring the group before punishing individuals.

Al-Bakri believes that Muslim societies do not need to reinvent justice, but rather to revive their original perception that combines accountability and forgiveness, establishing rights and reviving the spirit, and legal fairness and moral reform. Justice in Sharia is not a temporary transitional stage, but rather a permanent principle that governs the movement of society in peace as well as in conflict. From this standpoint, the author rereads the pillars of modern transitional justice: accountability, reparation, institutional reform, and ensuring non-repetition in light of the objectives of Sharia.

Over the course of its long centuries, Islamic thought presented an integrated model for achieving justice after strife or injustice, based on reforming hearts before retaliating for bodies, and restoring the group before punishing individuals.

It is not just an Islamization of concepts

A clear methodological distinction emerges in this work: Al-Bakri does not content himself with theorizing or a general call for the “Islamization” of concepts, but rather provides a careful deconstruction of the philosophical structure on which Western justice is based, to show that its greatest dilemma lies in its authority. The goal of justice in the modern materialist conception is to preserve order and the stability of the state, while the goal of justice in the Islamic conception is to reform man and establish rights upon his face. Therefore, the first cannot be imported without subjecting it to the second standard.

The book is distinguished by its style that combines jurisprudential rigor and legal accuracy, the depth of objectives and a realistic vision. It simultaneously addresses researchers in jurisprudence and political thought, and decision-makers concerned with rebuilding post-conflict societies. It provides them with a theoretical framework that can be transformed into an applied model, based on the balance between accountability and forgiveness, between justice and mercy, between preserving rights and building civil peace.

This work, in essence, is a call for a comprehensive intellectual review of what has settled in the minds of many elites that Western models represent the end of the road and the desired goal in building justice. It reminds us that every nation has its own philosophy in looking at the human being and the group, and that justice that is separated from the spirit of Sharia law soon turns into a cold machine that perpetuates injustices from where it is supposed to remove them.

Perhaps what best sums up this vision is the author’s statement that “every solution that does not agree with our Sharia is nothing but an delusional solution, even if it seems realistic…”

The central question that the book revolves around and seeks to answer is: Can these Western mechanisms, with their philosophy and values, be compatible with the Islamic authority? Is it the most appropriate to achieve reconciliation and justice in a society that has its own religious and cultural values ​​and principles, or are there authentic alternatives derived from holy law that may be more harmonious and effective in addressing the effects of violations and establishing the foundations of social security and sustainable development?

These questions are not just theoretical questions, but rather are a vital focus of research, because answering them determines the approach that society should take in moving from the stage of chaos to the stage of construction and recovery, and reveals the extent of the need to formulate justice and reconciliation mechanisms based on the objectives of Sharia, capable of achieving a balance between individual and collective rights, between justice and mercy, and between the painful past and the desired future.