This study examines the relationship between the state and justice in the thought of Imam Ali, based on textual evidence from Nahj al-Balagha and drawing on Azmi Bishara’s ideas as a contemporary theoretical horizon. Its central question is how justice is connected to governmental responsibility, respect for people’s rights, and the exercise of power in Imam Ali’s thought, and what interpretive possibilities this formulation offers for addressing contemporary questions. Adopting an interpretive-analytical approach informed by Gadamer’s philosophical hermeneutics, the study analyzes textual evidence from Nahj al-Balagha and draws on selected concepts from Bishara’s works to highlight the legal, social, and institutional dimensions of the issue. The findings indicate that justice in Imam Ali’s thought is not merely an individual virtue expected of a ruler; rather, it is closely linked to the discharge of public office as a trust, public responsibility, respect for the rights of different social groups, and the performance of government. Bishara’s ideas also provide a basis for raising questions about the conditions and mechanisms required to realize justice within contemporary political structures. Accordingly, this hermeneutical reading does not seek to compare two intellectual frameworks as equivalent systems or to formulate a hybrid theory. Instead, it focuses on interpreting Imam Ali’s thought on the basis of textual evidence from Nahj al-Balagha while broadening the horizon of inquiry into the various dimensions of the relationship between the state and justice.