Theory of Justice in Sa'di's Works

 
Sa'di, in addition to his mystical and romantic themes, also addressed political, social, and legal issues. Among his works, the "Justice, Prudence, and Judgment" chapter of the Bostan, the "Kings' Conduct" chapter of the Golestan, and parts of his treatises are dedicated to the topic of good governance.
Justice, as the most prominent ethical institution in law, has been the subject of attention by theorists from the oldest written works of humanity to the present day. Sa'di also refers to this value system in both verse and prose formats. However, unlike the common method in writing scientific texts, or with the dialectical method that was prevalent in the past, he presents the material in the midst of the rich forms of Persian literature and without observing the structure of scientific texts. It is for this reason that extracting a theory from his works requires independent research.
The main purpose of this research is to extract a coherent theory of justice from the scattered related points in Sa'di's works. The first secondary objective is to review the prevailing theories of justice in the history of thought and specifically the prevailing theory of justice in Sa'di's time, and the second secondary objective is to identify the principles of justice from Sa'di's perspective. The main question is whether a coherent theory of justice can be extracted from Sa'di's works? The secondary questions are what justice was in Sa'di's world and where does Sa'di's thought stand in the lineage of justice?
The research hypothesis is that Sa'di's high position as a first-rate Iranian poet has narrowed the opportunity for deep reflection on the content of his thought. If the elegance and pride of language are set aside, he, as a thinker, has remarkable views in various fields, including justice, which, even if neglected on a global level, meaning that it has not found its place among the theories of justice, has formed part of the subconscious of Iranians and Persian speakers. The research hypothesis is not that Sa'di has a theory of justice in itself, which would leave no room for research. The hypothesis is that by putting together the relatively scattered points of Sa'di's thought on justice, a system of ideas can be presented or a theory can be extracted from it to explain his thought. In addition, the research is free from the assumption that the new scientific achievements of mankind in the field of understanding and constructing the structure of justice are entirely indebted to Sa'di. Instead, it seeks to find the place of this Persian thinker in the history of thought.
The research method is in terms of data collection, library-based, in terms of data analysis, analytical-descriptive, and in terms of presenting results, qualitative. For analysis, through content analysis, Sa'di's views on justice are classified and systematized. If in some cases the argument has a comparative aspect, with Aquinas's views, it is only for clarification purposes, not due to the method. It should be emphasized that this research, refraining from taking general positions on Sa'di's thought, only enters his works from the point of view of justice from a legal perspective and in no way claims to know the entire realm of Sa'di.
The findings of the research show that in Sa'di's time, independent Iranian governments held power locally and the country was under foreign rule. He has no realistic hope of the reins of power falling into the hands of the just. Therefore, he offers guidelines for making the existing rulers more just. Even Sa'di's praising of kings has a reason in the direction of this goal.
Sa'di's theory of justice can be summarized in this way that justice is manifested and manifested in the relationship between rulers and the people. Therefore, the compensatory justice that is manifested in various types of transactions has no place in his theory. The ruler in the position of making decisions about individuals and in different situations must have fair choices. Sa'di offers rules as a beacon for justice, including the precedence of the people's benefit, the prohibition of personal use of the treasury, the prohibition of encroachment on the lives and property of the people, the provision of security, attention to people in crisis, addressing people's complaints, hearing the statements of both parties to the dispute in the trial, and observing the rule of innocence.
The central core of justice from Sa'di's point of view is the equal value of human beings with the principle that everyone deserves the treatment that he himself does and must be accountable for his choices. For example, oppressors, fearful kings, criminals, seditious foreigners, and paupers deserve harshness. Such a distinction at first glance resembles the Aristotelian model of treating equals with equals. However, in Sa'di's theory, there is no trace of inequality and grouping of humans based on coercion.