Justice and uprightness (adl)

Linguistically, adl is the opposite of injustice: aiming at what is right and standing between excess and deficiency. In the jurists' usage, an adl is one whose good deeds outweigh his bad ones, a person of good standing who is not open to suspicion ¹.

Qist is wider than adl in meaning; zulm originally means injustice and going beyond a limit; fisq means going out of obedience and is wider than zulm ^{1 2}.

The jurists require uprightness in several matters and differ on some of them: leading the prayer, where the Hanafis and Shafi'is do not require it and the Hanbalis do ²; the zakat collector, where all agree it is required ²; sighting the crescent of Ramadan, the qibla, the purity or impurity of water, the marriage guardian, the executor, the trustee of an endowment, the guardian of a minor, the supreme imamate, judgeship, testimony and the transmission of hadith, with disagreement about whether the uprightness required is the outward or the inward kind ^{4 5 6 7 8}. For a narrator, a reasoned criticism is preferred over a bare commendation when both occur ⁹. Justice in judgement, and justice between wives and between children in gifts, are also required ^{10 3}.

Matters of uprightness are treated in their own entries: prayer leadership, judgeship, guardianship, testimony, endowments, the supreme imamate, the sighting of the crescent, and equality between wives and children ^{2 3}.