Daily Times

Prime Minister, Imran Khan says that only poor people are seen in the prisons. Our justice system can’t catch big fish or influential robbers. Cases are not decided in the courts for scores of years. Some judges, police and other departments work in collusion with each other. Imran Khan has often said that a society can’t progress unless it pays attentions on common man. This was the very foundation of the Sate of Medina where supremacy of law was fairly established.

However, it is much too seek in Pakistan. Here laws nab common men while big guns go scot-free. History bears witness that the societies allowing legal discrimination between the poor and the rich were destroyed. Imran Khan is right because we have seen that if a poor man in Pakistan steals petty amount to feed his family, he has to rot in the prison for years while the rich spend luxurious life after embezzling billions of rupees. They are also called the elite class. Some people go to London under the pretext of medical care and then, violating their promise, they never come back.

This saying of the Holy Prophet (SAW) can elaborate justice dispensed in the State of Medina: It is narrated by Hazrat Ayesha (RA), the mother of the faithful believers, that a woman from Banu Makhzum filched something. She was brought to the Prophet (SAW). Her tribesmen said that they couldn’t dare talk to the Holy Prophet(SAW) but only to his beloved servant, Hazrat Usama bin Zaid(RA) who, at their request, entreated the Holy Prophet (SAW) for her pardon. At this, the Last Prophet of Allah (SAW) said, ‘Listen Usama, Bani Israel perished due to such discrepancies that when some big gun stole, he was let go, but if some poor person stole, he was severely punished. If my daughter, Fatima (RA) had done so, she would have been punished accordingly.” So the standard of justice in the State of Medina was so fair and transparent that if the daughter of its ruler had committed a crime, she wouldn’t have evaded justice. There was no legal discrimination for the rich and the poor.

The Holy Prophet (SAW) had also inculcated such virtues in his noble companions who, when the Holy Prophet ( SAW) left this temporal world for the Eternal world, also established the State of Medina on this very foundation. During the period of Hazrat Umar (RA), Justice was not only done but also seen. During his Caliphate, Jabalah ibn al-Aiham, the lord of Ghassanid state, called on Hazrat Umar(RA) along with his companions and embraced Islam. He also accompanied Hazrat Umar (RA) to perform Hajj. During tawaf around the kaaba, a poor man mistakenly stepped on his robe, making Jabalah almost trip over. When asked the cause of it, the poor villagers replied that it happened by chance, not by design. This infuriated Jabalah so much that he slapped the man on his face. The blow was so smashing that it dislodged his two teeth and bled his nose. After which the man went to the Caliph Umar bin Khattab (RA) and lodged the complaint. The noble caliph summoned Jabalah to trial and asked him if he had slapped this villager. Jabalah replied in affirmative, saying that had it not been the holy place of Kaaba, he would have killed him. Hazrat Umar (RA) said, ‘O Jabalah, you have confessed your crime. Now you should either beg pardon from the aggrieved person or I would punish you.’ Jabalah was surprised and said, ‘Will you punish me for this poor villager though I am the king? ‘ Hazrat Umar (RA) said that in Islam, they were equal in the eye of law. Jabalah requested that the Caliph carry out the sentence the next morning. Hazrat Umar (RA) asked the concerned villager if he allowed him one day. The villager agreed. After getting one day’s deferral, Jabalah fled towards Ghassanid state and again converted to Christianity.

The State of Medina can only come into being when it has the same law for the rich and the poor. It can’t be if the well-heeled persons get bails and run to London while for the minor crimes, the poor rot in the prison for years. The State of Medina can come into being when honorable judges and government should join hands to lay down a standard of justice.

For this, our judiciary will have to play its rule. At present, its standard is so low and cases are so delayed that a grandson has to attend the hearings of the case filed by his grandfather decades ago. People have lost faith in justice system in Pakistan due to its dual standard. That’s why; the trend of mob justice is on the rise. Owning its failure, our superior judiciary should start reforms from itself so that Imran Khan’s idea of the State of Medina should be materialized.