Published in March 2017, Fairness For All is our newest addition to the Noor Kids Muslim children's book series for 4-to-8-year-old Muslims. This title on fairness is one of many high-quality resources for Islamic education in the world. Credit is due to our extraordinary team of creative, educational, and scholarly experts based in North America.

Fairness For All

In the Declaration of Independence, Jefferson wrote, “all men are created equal.” Though the deeper sentiment is true, at face value this is overly simplistic. If we compare any two people we notice that they are far from equal. We differ in talent, strength, appearance, health, opportunity, and just about everything! Therefore, the question isn’t whether people are equal, but rather: what differences matter and how do we treat people with differences.

This is where fairness comes in. Fairness is putting aside our biases to avoid partiality based on unsubstantial factors. The goal of fairness is justice, the concept of things being placed in the appropriate position according to Godly standards, even if it doesn’t always seem fair.

Finding Fairness

Our first story teaches us the lesson that whenever we feel that things are “unfair,” we must look at things from another perspective: if two people are treated differently, that doesn’t mean that it is unfair. Building empathy helps us understand that to truly to be fair, people must be treated according to their own, unique, circumstances.

Acting Fairly

In our second story, we learn that we have a responsibility to act fairly in our social interactions, even if it means going against our own interests. Allah (SWT) says, “Stand firmly for justice, though it may be against your own selves or your parents or near relatives” (4:135). If we do not, imbalance and disharmony would ensue.