Moral Justice in Tafsir al-Mizan and its Relation to Platonic and Aristotelian Justice

The vast majority of issues on justice discussed in morality by early Muslim philosophers are derived from the views of Plato and Aristotle . Those Muslim philosophers not only promoted Plato’s psychological model and Aristotle’s theory of moderation among Muslims by providing their own explanations as to justice, but also made some effort to regard the Quranic concepts as equivalent to Plato’s and Aristotle’s thoughts, and to impose their ideas on the Quran . “Justice” in Arabic language and Islamic culture means “to give someone his due,” “to put everything in its own place,” “equality,” and “moderation .” In spite of the fact that he points out these different senses, Allameh Tabataba'i includes a combination of Plato’s and Aristotle’s beliefs in Tafsir al-Mizan because he has been influenced by Muslim philosophers whom he calls scholars of morals . Since “moderation” better fits in Plato’s and Aristotle’s thoughts than the other above-mentioned senses, he took it to be the best meaning for the interpretation of “justice .” Therefore, his providing an exegesis of certain verses in which “justice” is used is affected by this presupposition . Moreover, in contrast to the psychological model adopted by philosophers, he did not satisfactorily characterize his psychological model of the Quran .