Oppression

Allah SWT created this religion for humanity to reform two dimensions; first one the relation of the individual with Allah SWT in order to become true slaves of him SWT, and the second one is the relation between humans themselves which it should be based on goodness and justice, which means the human society to be reassured and no one to be oppressed.

Islam is a revolution of values before anything else, it is a revolution against oppression and

tyranny, slavery and singling out, it Is a revolution for justice, equality and social security, Islam Is a revolution of the vulnerable in the face of tyrants and disadvantaged in the face of affluent and slaves in the face of their masters.

This is a fact that been noticed and felt over time, while the humanity was turns to Islam in resolving all their issues of their lives.

And Allah SWT speaks of this in the Glorious Quran in ayah 31 of Surat Khafir which is translated as saying:

Allah does not want oppression of His slaves.

And the hadith of the Prophet SAWS in which it is narrated him to have said:

“Beware of oppression, for oppression will turn into excessive darkness on the Day of Resurrection.”

Dear brothers and sisters, if we analyse this is telling us that even the harshest of oppressors is in place for a short-allotted time and that ultimately the return for all is back to their Lord.

Islam, then, is the scream of the oppressed in the face of the oppressor, and the revolution of the oppressed to restore their human rights, and it is on each one who holds the banner of Islam to be aware of this meaning and live its behaviour and disseminate its culture if he wants this religion to be the nucleus to attract the hearts and minds toward him.

After 1400 years, we still can see people worshiping idols that are not made of stones like what it was on that time, but we see that they worship idols which created by human which consists of authoritarian regimes prevailing in our days, which is going in the opposite direction to their people, and that created the social and cultural decay and a non-systematic political chaos.

So practically, what does this mean for us? Well, the fact is that injustice will exist in this world as that is the nature of the test of this life.

It is one of those topics in which a Hadith Qudsi can be referenced. For those who don’t know, this is a saying of the Prophet in which he is relating the exact words given to Him of Allah SWT outside of the Glorious Quran, it begins by saying:

“O My servants! I have forbidden oppression for Myself, and I have made it forbidden amongst you, so do not oppress one another.

Dear brothers and sisters, it is how we deal with that injustice that determines our outcome from this test. Therefore, to conclude are 3 things we can all do to keep ourselves right in the face of oppression.

Firstly, supplicate to your Lord. Everything in your life is an opportunity to pray to your Lord, to talk to your Lord and to plead to your Lord. As Muslims, we have been blessed with a minimum of 5 allotted times to communicate with Allah SWT directly and so let’s use that to ask for justice and strength through our injustices.

Secondly, perform extra acts of Worship. Surely, if there is a time when we are needing Allah SWT’s help then we ought to do what is asked of us? Allah SWT has made it clear in the teachings of the Prophet SAWS and through the Glorious Quran, what is expected of us so let’s carry out those actions. Things like extra prayers such as Tahajjud, acts of Charity and dedication to the Quran are all things that will be rewarded insh’Allah and may be the in this life as well as the next.

And finally, the act of Charity as mentioned earlier. If one is feeling injustice, then what better way than to eliminate that act for someone else. For example, the food box at the back is for people who are hungry in our local neighbourhood and in these times it is especially important. Only last week a homeless man in city centre froze to death. That is an injustice and we can work towards eliminating someone else’s then maybe that is the act that will help our injustices from being removed.

Dear brothers and sisters, oppression will always exist in a world that was designed as a test for the believer. Whether it is done by famous tyrants of yesteryear or the powers of today that hide in the shadows, we need to be aware of such actions on our soul and work towards counteracting that through acts of worship as mentioned earlier.

May Allah SWT enable us to identify the oppressors and the oppressed. May Allah SWT enable us to counteract oppression with acts of worship and may Allah SWT reward us for our acts of worship.