Abstract

One of the essential requirements of Islamic political jurisprudence is the necessity of adherence to justice in the realm of actions by government officials, as well as the formulation and definition of the necessary jurisprudential requirements in this field. The process of selecting these individuals is also an arena for the emergence of political behaviors of candidates and voters. This research, using an exploratory-analytical method and drawing from documentary sources, seeks to establish a rule that can evaluate the component of "political justice" for officials in the Islamic system. In this regard, a hadith from Imam Sadiq (AS) has been used as the basis for research, according to which failure to fulfill promises is introduced as a form of oppression and injustice. To achieve this goal, the concept of political justice and the arguments for the condition of justice for Muslim rulers are first explained. Then, the following reasons are used to prove the necessity of fulfilling electoral promises: 1) the absoluteness of evidence for fulfilling commitments (wafā' bi'l-'ahd), 2) general guidelines on the necessity of trustworthiness (amānāh), 3) the principle of honesty-centeredness in Islamic political conduct, 4) teachings guiding ethical behavior, 5) disruption in the system of relations between the government and the people, 6) infringement on public rights, and 7) incompatibility of promise-breaking with the political competence required for officials. The outcome of this writing is that using these reasons, a rule can be established in the form of "isqᾱt al-adᾱlah bil-hinth 'an al-wa'dah" (forfeiture of justice by breaking promises), which can be used to assess the level of justice of candidates for elective positions.