The oppressor and the oppressed - I

The position of the oppressed in relation to the oppressor:
Allaah Says (what means): " And those who, when tyranny strikes them,
they defend themselves. And the retribution for an evil actis an evil
one like it, but whoever pardons and makes reconciliation- his reward
is [due] from Allaah. Indeed, He does not like wrongdoers. And whoever
avenges himself after having been wronged - those have not upon them
any cause [for blame].The cause is only against the ones who wrong the
people and tyrannise upon the earth withoutright. Those will have a
painful punishment. And whoever is patient and forgives - indeed, that
is of the matters [requiring] determination [i.e. on the part of those
seeking the reward of Allaah]. " [Quran 42: 39-43]
Theses verses include two matters:
First: Taking revenging from the oppressor.
Second: Forgiveness on the part of the oppressed.
Ibraaheem said: "The believers hated anyone to humiliate them, but
whenever they had the chance to take revenge, they would forgive
instead."
Allaah praises the believers in theabovementioned verses for having
the strength and power to avenge in a just manner, for restoring their
rights, and for notallowing aggressors to take advantage of them. They
are by no means incapable, weak or humiliated, and they are quite
capable of exacting revenge, yet they forgive and forget.
This is how Prophet Yoosuf acted with his brothers despite his ability
to take revenge from them. Likewise, the Prophet forgave the man who
attempted to kill him whilst he slept; theman was suddenly overcome
with fear of the Prophet and therefore dropped the sword from his
hand, and the Prophet took hold of it and forgave him, even though he
could easily have killed him.
There are many Quranic verses and prophetic narrations addressing this
issue and encouraging the oppressed to forgive the oppressor when he
is in a position to exact revenge, as this will boost his record of
rewards on the Day of Resurrection. On the other hand, if the
oppressed insists on revenge then this is his right and it is
perfectly permissible to do so, but the revenge must be strictly
limited to the extent that he was wronged. If the wronged person is
one of two wives, it is permissible for the husband to enable the
wronged one to gain revenge, as the Prophet permitted one of his wives
to getback at another one who had badmouthed her.
The supplication of the oppressed against the oppressor:
It is permissible for the oppressed to supplicate against the one who
transgressed his rights, and this is a form of revenge. The wronged
person has the choice to avenge, to supplicate against the one who
wronged him, to persevere and wait until Allaah returns his right for
him in the Hereafter, or to forgive. The best of all of these is to
forgive and to do so would attain the greatest reward from Allaah in
the Hereafter.
The permissibility of the oppressed taking what was taken from him by
his oppressor if he finds it:
It is permissible for the oppressed to do this, and it is also
permissible for him to take something of the same value of the
oppressor's property, but he may not go beyond that. Similarly, if
someone was badmouthed, then he may badmouth the one who badmouthed
him but may not say more than what was said to him, or else he is a
sinner, as the Prophet said: "Whatever two people say (from ill words)
then both their sins lie with one who initiated, as long as the
wronged does not transgress (i.e. exceed the extent to which he was
wronged)." This means that whatever they say to one anotherwill all go
into the record of the one who initiated, as he was the cause of all
of it, but if the wronged person retaliates with more than what he was
wrongedwith, then this is a sin on his partwhich the other person will
not bear.
Along the same lines, one should not supplicate against the one who
wronged him with that which would neither yield benefitto him nor help
him retrieve his rights that were taken; it is better for him to
simply supplicate to Allaah for his rights being returned. The only
exception to this is when the person being supplicated against is a
disbeliever, in which case he may do so.
Forgivingness versus revenge:
The last two verses [42-43] of Chapter Ash-Shooraa which were
mentioned above and which mean: " The cause is only against the ones
who wrong the people and tyrannise upon the earth without right. Those
will have a painful punishment. And whoever is patient and forgives -
indeed, that is of the matters [requiring] determination [on thepart
of those seeking the reward of Allaah]" [Quran 26: 42-43] These verses
confirm that the blame lies with the one who initiated the oppression
and transgression, while the one whoperseveres through it, is doing
something praiseworthy, and willbe highly rewarded.
Al-Fudhayl Ibn 'Iyaadh said: "If a man comes to you complaining about
another man who wronged him, then advise him to forgive him. If he
says, `I cannot bring myself to forgive him and would rather utilise
the right granted to me by my Lord to avenge` then say to him: `If you
can limit yourself to avengingin a fair manner, without transgressing
the limits to which you were wronged, then proceed; but if you cannot
control yourself, then it is safer to return to the option of
forgiving him as the reward for the one who forgives is great with
Allaah."
The one who forgives can sleep at night in a relaxed manner withno
fear that he may have exceeded the extent to which he was wronged,
because he did notavenge at all. However, the one who sought vengeance
will agonise and think to himself:"Did I transgress? Did I go beyondmy
limit?"
Forgiving is a high rank which thecallers to Islaam should possess as
it is a rank that only those with a high status attain, and they are
the ones whom people take as examples to follow.
Abu Hurayrah narrated that a man once badmouthed Abu Bakr while the
Prophet was sitting with them, and the Prophet expressed wonder and
smiled. The man continued, and after he had said much more,Abu Bakr
retorted with some of the same, which caused the Prophet to get up (to
leave) with an angry expression on his face. Abu Bakr said: 'O
Messenger of Allaah! He badmouthed me while you were sitting there!
Why did you become upset and leave when I answered back to some of
what he had said?' The Prophet said: "You had an angel retorting on
your behalf (when you where silent), but when you began answering him
back (i.e., the man), Satan arrived, and I was not going to sit in the
presence of Satan." Then he said: "O Abu Bakr! Here are three
matters,all of which are true: Whenever a man is oppressed but
forgives forthe sake of Allaah the Most High and the Almighty, then
Allaah willhonour him with victory…"