{"id":22945,"date":"2025-05-28T16:18:07","date_gmt":"2025-05-28T15:18:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/?p=22945"},"modified":"2025-05-28T16:18:09","modified_gmt":"2025-05-28T15:18:09","slug":"claim-harvard-ranks-quran-as-worlds-best-book-on-justice-misleading","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/claim-harvard-ranks-quran-as-worlds-best-book-on-justice-misleading\/","title":{"rendered":"Claim Harvard ranks Quran as world\u2019s best book on justice, misleading"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Claim: Social media users claim that Harvard University in the United States of America has named the Quran<\/a> the best book for justice worldwide.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Verdict: Misleading. Harvard has not issued any ranking to declare the Quran as the best book on justice. Instead, it recognised a specific verse from the Quran as one of the powerful expressions of justice in history.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Full Text<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Social media has been abuzz with a claim that Harvard University declared the Quran the world’s best book on justice. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We initially received a request to verify this statement via the DUBAWA Chatbot<\/a>. However, we soon discovered that the claim had also been circulated on Facebook and X, as seen here<\/a> and here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
A screenshot of the claim on Facebook.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In Nigeria, matters of religion are so sensitive that they sometimes lead to crises<\/a>. With many users believing this claim to be true and the controversy that might follow, DUBAWA conducted this verification before the situation escalated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Verification<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

We conducted a keyword search and found that Harvard University has not ranked the Quran as the world\u2019s best book for justice. However, there is a gallery of quotations about law and justice, hand-stencilled on walls by Milstein East in Wasserstein Hall at the Law Faculty of the institution. Among these quotes are some words of justice, taken from the Quran.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is \u201cWords of Justice?\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the spring of 2012, Harvard Law School initiated an exhibition in collaboration with professors, staff, and students. It was termed the \u201cWords of Justice\u201d exhibit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Harvard explained<\/a> that the \u201cWords of Justice\u201d exhibit is a historical and educational display featuring critical writings, speeches, and legal decisions about justice worldwide. These words show how ideas about justice have evolved over more than 2,500 years, from 600 BCE to the present day. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This exhibit featured a call for entry, where about 350 submissions were received from the community. Out of them, 33 were later selected<\/a> and inscribed as quotes on the walls.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Among the words inscribed on the walls is a Quran verse taken from Surah An-Nisa, 4:135. It reads:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cO ye who believe!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stand out firmly for justice, as witnesses<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To Allah, even as against Yourselves, or your parents,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Or your kin, and whether<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It be (against) rich or poor:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Allah can best protect both.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
A photo showing a student hand-stenciling the Words of Justice on the wall. Photo Source: Harvard.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In the past, Harvard had debunked<\/a> claims of this nature, including one that says the Qur\u2019anic quote is written on Harvard\u2019s main gate. The school has also posted a video of the wall inscriptions on its Instagram page, which can be viewed here<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

DUBAWA found no place where the school declared the Quran the world\u2019s best book on justice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Conclusion<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Contrary to the narrative, our findings reveal that Harvard has not ranked the Quran as the \u201cbest book on justice\u201d in the world. The claim is misleading.
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Claim: Social media users claim that Harvard University in the United States of America has named the Quran the best book for justice worldwide. Verdict: Misleading. Harvard has not issued any ranking to declare the Quran as the best book on justice. Instead, it recognised a specific verse from the Quran as one of the powerful expressions of justice in history. Full Text Social media has been abuzz with a claim that Harvard University declared the Quran the world’s best book on justice.  We initially received a request to verify this statement via the DUBAWA Chatbot. However, we soon discovered that the claim had also been circulated on Facebook and X, as seen here and here. In Nigeria, matters of religion are so sensitive that they sometimes lead to crises. With many users believing this claim to be true and the controversy that might follow, DUBAWA conducted this verification before the situation escalated. Verification We conducted a keyword search and found that Harvard University has not ranked the Quran as the world\u2019s best book for justice. However, there is a gallery of quotations about law and justice, hand-stencilled on walls by Milstein East in Wasserstein Hall at the Law Faculty of the institution. Among these quotes are some words of justice, taken from the Quran. What is \u201cWords of Justice?\u201d In the spring of 2012, Harvard Law School initiated an exhibition in collaboration with professors, staff, and students. It was termed the \u201cWords of Justice\u201d exhibit. Harvard explained that the \u201cWords of Justice\u201d exhibit is a historical and educational display featuring critical writings, speeches, and legal decisions about justice worldwide. These words show how ideas about justice have evolved over more than 2,500 years, from 600 BCE to the present day.  This exhibit featured a call for entry, where about 350 submissions were received from the community. Out of them, 33 were later selected and inscribed as quotes on the walls.   Among the words inscribed on the walls is a Quran verse taken from Surah An-Nisa, 4:135. It reads: \u201cO ye who believe! Stand out firmly for justice, as witnesses To Allah, even as against Yourselves, or your parents, Or your kin, and whether It be (against) rich or poor: For Allah can best protect both.\u201d In the past, Harvard had debunked claims of this nature, including one that says the Qur\u2019anic quote is written on Harvard\u2019s main gate. The school has also posted a video of the wall inscriptions on its Instagram page, which can be viewed here.  DUBAWA found no place where the school declared the Quran the world\u2019s best book on justice. Conclusion Contrary to the narrative, our findings reveal that Harvard has not ranked the Quran as the \u201cbest book on justice\u201d in the world. The claim is misleading.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22946,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"hannibal_claim_source":"","hannibal_source_label":"","hannibal_card_color":"blue","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_wpscppro_dont_share_socialmedia":false,"_wpscppro_custom_social_share_image":0,"_facebook_share_type":"default","_twitter_share_type":"default","_linkedin_share_type":"default","_pinterest_share_type":"default","_linkedin_share_type_page":"","_instagram_share_type":"default","_medium_share_type":"","_threads_share_type":"","_google_business_share_type":"","_bluesky_share_type":"","_mastodon_share_type":"","_selected_social_profile":[],"_wpsp_enable_custom_social_template":false,"_wpsp_social_scheduling":{"enabled":false,"datetime":null,"platforms":[],"status":"template_only","dateOption":"today","timeOption":"now","customDays":"","customHours":"","customDate":"","customTime":"","schedulingType":"absolute"},"_wpsp_active_default_template":true},"categories":[1571,437,3812,3815,123],"tags":[],"verdict":[],"ppma_author":[3009],"class_list":["post-22945","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fact-check","category-facebook-checks","category-headline","category-homepage","category-mainstream"],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8R6dE-5Y5","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"authors":[{"term_id":3009,"user_id":0,"is_guest":1,"slug":"sunday-awosoro","display_name":"Sunday Awosoro","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&r=g","author_category":"","user_url":"","last_name":"","first_name":"","job_title":"","description":""}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Havard.jpg?fit=1600%2C1280&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22945","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22945"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22945\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22947,"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22945\/revisions\/22947"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22946"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22945"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22945"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22945"},{"taxonomy":"verdict","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/verdict?post=22945"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=22945"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}