Injustice

Overall Meaning: Meaning of Injustice:
Zulm linguistically:
 It means putting a thing in other than its place. It is said: zalamhu yazlmuhu zalman wa zulmam wa mazlamatan. [1031] al-Misbah al-Munir, al-Fayyumi (p. 146).
Zulm technically: It means putting a thing in other than its specified place, either with increase or decrease, or through mistiming or misplacement. It is also said that refers to surpassing truth into falsehood, which is jawr (tyranny). It has also been described as controlling another’s property, surpassing limits. [1032] al-Mufradat, al-Raghib (p. 537); al-Ta`rifat, al-Jurjani (p. 186).


Difference between injustice and its synonyms: Tyranny (jawr) and deprivation (hadm): [1033] al-Furuq al-Lughawiyah, al-`Askari (p. 385, 557).
Tyranny is the opposite of uprightness in judgement. Injustice is an undeserved harm that is not recompensed, regardless whether it is from a king, ruler, or other than that.
Deprivation is decreasing others' rights. It is said to the one who lost all his rights that he has hudim (deprived). Injustice may be used in reference to some and all. In the Qur’an, “He will neither fear injustice nor deprivation.” (TaHa: 112) Meaning, he will not be denied his right, or part of it. The origin of hadm in Arabic is decrease. From this origin, a concave part of the earth became referred to as hadm. Its plural is ahdam.

Prohibition of Injustice in the Qur’an and Sunnah:
❖ Allah, exalted, says, “Allah wants no injustice for the slaves.” (Ghafir: 31); “Your Lord is not unjust to His slaves.” (Fussilat: 46); “Allah wants no injustice to the worlds.” (Al `Imran: 108)
❖ Allah, exalted, says, “We shall tell the wrongdoers, ‘Taste the torment of the Fire which you called a lie.’” (Saba’: 42); “The wrongdoer will have no friends, nor any intercessor to be heeded.” (Ghafir: 18)
❖ Abu Dharr, Allah be pleased with him, said, “Allah’s Messenger ﷺ said, ‘Allah, blessed and exalted, has said, “My slaves, I have forbidden injustice over Myself, and have made it impermissible among you, so be not unjust to one another…”’” [1034] Reported by Muslim (2577).
❖ Jabir ibn `Abdillah, Allah be pleased with them both, narrated that Allah’s Messenger ﷺ said, “Beware of oppression, for oppression is darkness on the Day of Resurrection indeed. Beware of avarice, for avarice destroyed those before you. It brought them to a degree where they split each other’s blood and violated each other’s honour.” [1035] Reported by Muslim (2578).

Quotes of the Predecessors and scholars on dispraising injustice:
❖ Mu`awiyah, Allah be pleased with him, said, “I am too ashamed to oppress the one who finds no support against me but through Allah.” [1036] al-`Iqd al-Farid, Ibn `Abd Rabbih (1/30).
❖ A man said in the presence of Abu Hurayrah, Allah be pleased with him, “The unjust only oppresses himself.” Abu Hurayrah then said, “You lie! By the One in Whose Hands is Abu Hurayrah’s soul, bustard birds die in their nest due to the injustice of the unjust.” [1037] Reported by Ibn Abi al-Dunya in al-`Uqubat (269) and al-Tabari in his Tafsir (17/231).
❖ `Umar ibn `Abd al-`Aziz, Allah have mercy upon him, had one of his workers write to him requesting that his town be fortified. He replied saying, “Fortify it through justice, and purify its streets from oppression.” [1038] al-`Iqd al-Farid, Ibn `Abd Rabbih (1/31).

Impacts and harms of injustice:
1- The oppressive is turned away from guidance. 
2- The unjust are never successful. 
3- The oppressive has Allah’s curse upon him. 
4- The unjust is forbidden from intercession. 
5- The supplication of the oppressed against the oppressor always hits true. 
6- Through injustice, insecurity becomes prevalent. 
7- Oppression is a cause of tribulation and punishment. 
8- The unjust is promised the Fire.

Forms of injustice:
- Slave doing injustice to himself:
1- Its greatest form is associating partners with Allah.
2- Transgressing Allah’s limits.
3- Preventing that His name be mentioned in mosques.
4- Withholding testimony.
5- Turning away from Allah’s verses by not realising their rulings.
6- Lying against Allah.
- Slaves doing injustice to each other

Forms of verbal injustice:
Backbiting, tale-bearing, cursing and insulting others, belittling, name-calling, mockery and ridicule, slander and false accusations, etc.

Forms of physical injustice:
1- Unjust murder.
2- Oppression against Muslims due to their faith; those who are killed, made homeless, and imprisoned.
3- Taking others’ land, or some of it.
4- Familial oppression. This includes: Children oppressing their parents through being undutiful, men oppressing their wives in their rights, wives oppressing their husbands by not fulfilling their rights, oppressing girls by not allowing to marry, supplication against children, cruelty in treating them, and having favouritism among them.
5- The injustice of those of governance or status. This includes: Neglecting the Book of Allah and establishing man-made laws, not fulfilling the governed their rights, and hiring the less competent at the expense of the qualified.
6- Injustice to workers. This includes: Not giving wages, or neglecting their rights, delaying their due, overbearing them with more than was agreed upon, or matters that are abnormal to delegate.
7- Consuming others’ wealth unjustly. This includes: Consuming the people’s wealth wrongfully, consuming the wealth of the weak such as orphans, consuming usury, theft, bribery, cheating in transactions, and gambling.

Rectifying injustices:
Whoever is trialled by enacting some injustice onto the people, whether through taking wealth or other forms of oppression, then he ought to seek atonement from it in this perishing worldly life. There is no dinar nor dirham in the next life, only good deeds that are taken to the oppressed, or if they run out, sins of the oppressed are carried onto his scale instead. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “Whoever has oppressed another person concerning his reputation or anything else, he should seek atonement from him before the Day of Resurrection when there will be no dirham nor dinar. If he has good deeds, those good deeds will be taken from him according to the oppression which he has done, and if he has no good deeds, the sins of the oppressed person will be loaded on him.” [1039] Reported by al-Bukhari (2449) from the narration of Abu Hurayrah, Allah be pleased with him.

A story of injustice with a moral and admonishment:
The story of Sa`id ibn Sayd, Allah be pleased with him, is an example of injustice done unto one. In the authentically transmitted narrations, it is found that “Arwa bint Uways disputed with him that he had seized some of the land belonging to her. She brought this dispute before Marwan ibn al-Hakam. Sa`id said, ‘How could I take a part of her land after what I heard from Allah’s Messenger ﷺ? Marwan asked, ‘What did you hear from Allah’s Messenger ﷺ? He said, ‘I heard Allah’s Messenger ﷺ say, “He who wrongfully takes a span of land would be made to wear around his neck seven earths.”’ Marwan said, ‘I do not ask any evidence from you after this.’ Sa`id said, ‘Allah, make her blind if she has told a lie, and kill her in her own land.’ She did not die until she had lost her eyesight, and one day as she was walking in her land, she fell down into a pit and died.” [1040] Reported by al-Bukhari (3198) and Muslim (1610) and this is his wording.

Injustice in poetry:
Abu al-`Atahiyah said,
“By Allah, injustice is indeed some ignobility,
The one who does it is always in the wrong.
We traverse to the Recompenser of the Day;
With Allah shall opponents gather for justice.
You will know - when we meet at Recompense
Tomorrow with God - who the blameworthy is.” [1041] Diwan Abi al-`Atahiyah (p. 398)