Hadeeth Twenty Six: The Muslim Does not Commit Oppression

From Jaabir ibn ‘Abdullah (radiyallaahu ‘anhu) who said that Allaah’s Messenger () said:

Beware of committing oppression for on the Day of Resurrection oppression will be darkness, and beware of avarice for avarice destroyed those who came before you, it led them into shedding blood and into making lawful that which was forbidden for them.^[1]

Oppression is of two types: (i) A person oppressing his own soul and (ii) his oppressing others. Both of these have been forbidden by Allaah, the One free and far removed from all imperfections. So a person oppressing his own soul causes him to feel at home with his sins and to commit them, and causes him to abandon acts of obedience to Allaah. Then with regards to him oppressing others, it is by violating their rights, by behaving unjustly in dealings with them, and by lowering their status in order to raise one’s own! On top of this, what oppression is worse than attributing partners to Allaah in one’s worship? And we seek Allaah’s refuge from that! Oppression is, furthermore, the key to sins, since if a person refrains from oppression his heart becomes tender and his certainty increases, whereas oppression will cause sins to take hold of him and corrupt him so that his tongue becomes a venomous snake ready with poison and harm, lies and fabrications, filled with malice and envy. The true Muslim is far removed from all of this and furthermore:

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Notes:

[1] Reported by Muslim (Eng. Trans. 4/1366/no.6248).