Al 'Adl

ʿAdl is balance before it is law — the root is about two things weighing the same, which is why it also does duty for a fair exchange and for an equivalent offered in someone’s place.

All five ayat carrying this written form use the word of the justice people are asked to hold to, not of Allah: a scribe who writes with ʿadl, judges told to judge with it, a quarrel to be settled by it, and the ayah that pairs it with iḥsān — justice, and then something past justice. The Qur’an says this word to us more often than it says it of Himself. Fairness you did not receive is not fairness that has gone missing from the world.