TruePresence Developer Reference

There was a boy, born to a poor widow, who early in his youth fell into dishonest ways. His mother, grieving at his thefts, would scold him severely when he brought home stolen goods. Yet even as she rebuked him, she accepted his stolen offerings and used them to support their meager household.

Years passed, and the boy grew into a man, skilled in the art of theft. He stole from merchants, from travelers, and from the homes of the wealthy. His mother, though she wept and lamented, never entirely refused the fruits of his wickedness. Rather, she would accept what he brought, even as she expressed her disapproval of how it was obtained.

One day, the thief was caught by the authorities and condemned to death. As he was led to the place of execution, his mother followed, weeping and wailing. In his final moments, he called out to her and asked that she approach close to his face, as though to hear his final words.

But instead of speaking, he seized her ear with his teeth and bit it off, causing her great pain and anguish. The crowd cried out in horror, and the mother fell to her knees, bleeding and wounded by her own son's hand.

When asked why he had committed this terrible deed upon the woman who bore him, the thief replied: "I do this to fulfill the justice that is due. My mother should have struck me down and refused my stolen goods when I was young and first turned to thievery. By accepting my crimes, she became my partner in wickedness. Every theft I committed thereafter, she shared in the guilt. In wounding her now, I repay to her the wound that her own neglect of justice inflicted upon both our souls."

Thus was the terrible consequence of failing to repay evil with correction made manifest.

After twenty years of wandering, Odysseus finally returned to his island home of Ithaca. During his absence, over a hundred suitors had invaded his palace, seeking to marry his wife Penelope and seize his throne and wealth. They consumed his livestock, drained his wine cellar, and treated his household with contempt. His son Telemachus, now grown to manhood, could do little to stop them.

Odysseus arrived in disguise, testing who remained loyal. He revealed himself only to Telemachus and his faithful servants. When the suitors attempted to ambush and kill Telemachus, Odysseus's righteous anger kindled. Homer's account of the subsequent slaughter emphasizes that what Odysseus undertook was not mere vengeance but commutative justice—the restoration of proper balance through proportional response. The suitors had violated the sacred laws of hospitality, had threatened his son's life, and had attempted to steal his household and wife. Their deaths at Odysseus's bow represented the necessary restoration of violated rights.

The narrative shows Odysseus carefully distinguishing between those who deserved death and those who deserved mercy—killing the suitors and disloyal servants while sparing the faithful and innocent. This discrimination between just and unjust punishment exemplifies commutative justice, the virtue of giving to each person what they are due. Odysseus's restoration of his rightful place was not petty revenge but the reestablishment of legitimate order after grave injustice.

Three brothers, poor and wandering, come upon a king's offer: answer his riddle and marry his eldest daughter; fail, and be hanged. The first brother attempts and dies. The second tries and perishes. The third brother, the youngest, resolves to try.

The king's riddle is this: "One killed none, yet killed twelve; one went to the gallows, yet was not hanged; one lay in the water three days and three nights yet did not drown; and one ate and drank and yet starved." The young man, through wit and observation of the natural world, answers thus: the riddle concerns famine. A famine kills none directly yet brings death to twelve (the king's knights, it is implied). The famine itself was hanged in effigy to ward off evil. In famine, bread lies in water—hard bread soaked in water—yet cannot save the starving. A man may eat and drink the poorest fare, yet if food is scarce, he starves.

The king, astonished and bound by his oath, grants the youth his daughter's hand. Through wit and understanding of justice—answering fairly what was fairly asked—the young man claims his reward. Commutative justice, the exchange of equal values, is satisfied. The youth has given wisdom for a wife, a fair trade that benefits both giver and receiver.

Muhammad ibn Abdullah was born around 570 CE in Mecca and became the founder of Islam. Before receiving his prophetic calling at age forty, he worked as a merchant and gained a reputation for honesty and trustworthiness. However, his greatest contribution to social justice came through his role as a reconciler and lawgiver who transformed Arabian tribal society. Pre-Islamic Arabia was characterized by endless cycles of blood feuds and tribal warfare. The "Days of Jahiliyyah" (Age of Ignorance) saw constant retaliation, where an injury to one tribe required equal injury to another, perpetuating violence across generations. Muhammad recognized this as fundamentally unjust and worked systematically to replace retribution with reconciliation and fair restitution. Muhammad established the principle of commutative justice—that wrongs should be repaired through proportional compensation rather than escalating violence. He advocated for "diya," or blood money, where families of murder victims could receive financial compensation instead of demanding a life. This radical innovation transformed justice from a cycle of vengeance into a system of restoration. He mediated disputes between rival tribes, establishing Islamic law that protected the weak and regulated fair treatment in commercial transactions. The Constitution of Medina, established in 622 CE, created a covenant between Muslim and Jewish tribes that established rules for fair dealing and mutual protection. Muhammad personally intervened in countless disputes, consistently modeling fair judgment. When the tribes of Aws and Khazraj fought a devastating war before his arrival in Medina, he brought them together through careful mediation, teaching them that shared faith transcended tribal loyalty. He established principles of fair wages, prohibiting exploitation of workers and debtors. His system of justice emphasized restitution and reconciliation rather than harsh punishment. Muhammad's approach to commutative justice—ensuring fair exchange and restoration rather than revenge—fundamentally reshaped Arabian society. His legal framework created the basis for Islamic law that emphasized equitable treatment and proportional justice rather than tribal vengeance.