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Quran verses about oppression

For the one who has been wronged and is still waiting

God sees the person who has been wronged, and the Qur'an says so in plain words. It speaks to people who were driven from their homes, harmed and outnumbered, and it speaks about the ones who did it to them. For the fear that the powerful will never answer for anything, one verse gives a direct reply: "Do not think that God is unaware of what the wrongdoers do. He only delays them until a day when eyes will stare fixed in terror." The delay belongs to the account. It is time given, and it is counted.

The longest story of oppression in the Qur'an is the story of Musa and Pharaoh. After describing a ruler who split his people into factions and crushed one of them, the text turns to the people underneath: "But we willed to show favor to those who were oppressed in the land, to make them leaders and make them the inheritors". The sentence is about the ones who had no say in what happened to them. Their suffering was seen long before it ended.

The Qur'an also keeps their complaint. When Musa told his people to "Seek help in God and be patient," they answered with the truth of their lives: "We were harmed before you came to us, and after you came to us." Nobody rebukes them for saying it. Musa answers that their enemy may fall and they may inherit the land, and then he adds a warning: "then see how you act." Relief arrives with a question attached, so the people who were wronged are asked in advance to stay clear of wronging anyone once the power is theirs.

Patience in the Qur'an leaves room to answer back. Among the qualities of the believers in Surah Ash-Shura are those "who, when wronged, stand up for themselves," and a few verses later the blame is placed where it belongs: "The blame falls only on those who wrong people and overstep in the land without right". Naming an injustice is something the Qur'an praises. Surah Ash-Shu'ara ends in the same place, setting apart those who "defend themselves after they have been wronged" and closing with a sentence addressed to the other side: "Those who did wrong will come to know what a reversal they will be overturned by."

For the hours when nothing can be done, the Qur'an gives the wronged a prayer. Musa's people, with Pharaoh still over them, said: "In God we place our trust. Our Lord, do not make us a trial for the wrongdoing people". It asks for two things in order, trust first and protection after. It is short enough to say on a night when you have no other words.

The community that survived was later told to remember how it had been: "And remember when you were few, oppressed in the land, fearing that people would snatch you away", and then what followed, "then he sheltered you, strengthened you with his help". The memory was kept on purpose. If you are being wronged now, read these verses as the record of people who stood where you stand and were answered. The verses about justice set out the duty to be fair to others, and the page on forgiving someone who never apologized takes up what to carry once it is over.

  • 14:42 — Do not think that God is unaware of what the wrongdoers do. He only delays them until a day when eyes will stare fixed in terror.
  • 28:5 — But we willed to show favor to those who were oppressed in the land, to make them leaders and make them the inheritors,
  • 7:128 — Musa said to his people, "Seek help in God and be patient. The earth belongs to God; he gives it as inheritance to whomever he wills among his servants, and the final outcome belongs to those who are mindful of him."
  • 7:129 — They said, "We were harmed before you came to us, and after you came to us." He said, "It may be that your Lord will destroy your enemy and make you successors in the land, then see how you act."
  • 10:85 — They said, "In God we place our trust. Our Lord, do not make us a trial for the wrongdoing people,
  • 42:39 — and those who, when wronged, stand up for themselves.
  • 42:42 — The blame falls only on those who wrong people and overstep in the land without right — for them there is a painful punishment.
  • 26:227 — Except those who believe, do righteous deeds, remember God often, and defend themselves after they have been wronged. Those who did wrong will come to know what a reversal they will be overturned by.
  • 8:26 — And remember when you were few, oppressed in the land, fearing that people would snatch you away — then he sheltered you, strengthened you with his help, and provided for you from the good things, so that you might be grateful.

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