Introduction: the Circle of Justice -- Mesopotamia: "that the strong might not oppress the weak" -- Persia: "the deeds god likes best are righteousness and justice" -- The Islamic Empire: "no prosperity without justice and good administration" -- Politics in transition: "curb the strong from riding on the weak" -- The Turks and Islamic civilization: "the most penetrating of arrows is the prayer of the oppressed" -- Mongols and Turks: "fierce toward offenders, and in judgements just" -- Early modern empires: "the world is a garden, its wall is the state" -- Modernization and revolution: "no justice without law applied equally to all" -- The Middle East in the twentieth century: "a regime can endure with impiety but not with injustice" -- Conclusion.