This passage from the beginning of Māwardī’s Tashīl al-naẓar wa- taʿjīl al-ẓafar (“The Facilitation of Reflection and the Hastening of Victory”), a work on statecraft and governance, conveys a notion of justice that prioritizes moderation, balance, and harmony. Māwardī draws a connection between the sharīʿaand the codes of conduct of past civilizations. In her analysis of Islamic mirrors-for-princes literature on judging in Justice and Leadership in Early Islamic Courts, Louise Marlow uses this passage to argue that Māwardī paid great attention to ancient wisdom when writing about the principles of rulership. The text demonstrates Māwardī’s acknowledgment that the political experiences of the past, diverse as they might be, do coincide with the sharīʿa.
This source is part of the Online Companion to the book Justice and Leadership in Early Islamic Courts, ed. Intisar A. Rabb and Abigail Krasner Balbale(ILSP/HUP 2017)—a collection of primary sources and other material used in and related to the book.