 In the name of Allah, the beneficent, the merciful, respected viewers, As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu. Hello and welcome to the 31st episode of the Treaties of Rights series with me, your host, Ali Jasim. Today we will discuss the right of him who wrongs you. Regarding this, Imam Sajjad Zayn al-Abideen has said, And the right of him who wrongs you is to put an end to the matter by word or deed. If he didn't intentionally, it is more appropriate for you to pardon him. This would eliminate bad feelings and it is the polite way to treat most such people. Indeed, God's panna wa ta'ala said, But indeed, if any do help and defend themselves after a wrong done to them, Against such there is no blame. The blame is only against those who oppress men with wrongdoing and disrespectfully transgress beyond bounds throughout the land, Defying right and justice for such there will be a serious penalty. But indeed, if any show patience and forgive, That would truly be an exercise of courageous will and resolution in the conduct of affairs. Chapter 42 verses 41 to 43. The Almighty Allah's panna wa ta'ala also says, And if ye do catch them out, catch them no worse than they catch you out. And if ye show patience, that is indeed the best course for those who are patient. Chapter 16 verse 126. This is so if it was done intentionally. But if he who wrongs you has done it unintentionally, Then you should not oppress him by intentionally insisting on retaliation, Lest you would be punishing him intentionally for what he has done unintentionally. You should be gentle with him and respond to him as kindly as you can, And there is no power but in God's panna wa ta'ala. To summarize, we can say that the Imam alaihi salam is saying That if someone wrongs you, he has either done so intentionally or unintentionally. You should pardon him if he has done so intentionally. Hopefully he will not take advantage of your pardoning him. If he has wronged you unintentionally, It is not proper to punish him intentionally. Rather, you should be kind to him and gentle. Human beings are extremely prone to making mistakes. We are constantly committing sins. With this, forgiveness is a critical aspect in Islam. Muslims believe that Allah SWT is merciful and forgiving. There are two kinds of forgiveness in Islam, Allah's forgiveness and human forgiveness. Human beings are in need of both since they make mistakes in their relations to Allah as well as their relations to each other. In Islam, all that is needed is to recognize the mistake or sin, rectify it and seek forgiveness. The first step is seeking forgiveness and recognizing that your actions are wrong. This is a very important and crucial step because the ego prevents individuals from even acknowledging that they have wronged. Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, his pure progeny said, O Allah, make me among those who when they commit an act of virtue, feel good. And when they commit a mistake, they seek forgiveness. And the Holy Qur'an says, God loves those who turn on to him in repentance and he loves those who keep themselves pure. It also says, O my servants who have transgressed against their souls, despair not of the mercy of Allah, for Allah forgives all sins, for he is off giving most merciful. Off giving most merciful is repeated many times throughout the Holy Qur'an. This is because it wants to emphasize on Allah's forgiveness. And regardless of one's sins, they should not turn away from Allah SWT because they believe that Allah won't forgive them. What was just mentioned is regarding the sins only towards Allah SWT. Now, if an individual hurts another human being, they should ask repentance from the person they have wronged before asking repentance from Allah SWT. The Prophet, peace be upon him, his pure progeny said, whoever has oppressed another person concerning his reputation or anything else, he should beg him to forgive him before the Day of Resurrection when there will be no money to compensate for wrong deeds. But if he has good deeds, those good deeds will be taken from him according to his oppression, which he has done. And if he has no good deeds, the sins of the oppressed person will be loaded on him. Islam also teaches human beings to be forgiven and if someone sincerely asks for forgiveness, the wrong person should forgive him. The Prophet, peace be upon him, also said, whoever suffers an injury and forgives the person responsible, God will raise his status to a higher degree and remove one of his sins. Allah tells his servants, O son of Adam, wear your sins to reach the clouds of the skies and were you then to ask forgiveness of me, I would forgive you. When an individual comes to Allah, seeking his repentance, he should have the intention of not repeating this sin and if he did repeat it, forgiveness should be asked for again for there is no limit to Allah's forgiveness. Very few people are able to totally avoid violating the rights of others, whether intentionally or unintentionally. If people are urged to take revenge whenever they can do so, then there will be an escalation of harsh social encounters. Attacks for taking revenge are of an unpredictable nature and no one can control their severity. Usually they will be harsh. Even if they are measurable and controllable, they never seem to be exactly equal to compensate for the wrong that was done from the views of both parties involved. Therefore, even if one side wants to be fair and exactly punish the other side in an equal amount to the original misdeed, the other party does not agree and will be urged to take the revenge himself. Thus the fighting will continue on and on. The only possible way to stop this chain of revenge taking is forgiving. Let's go for a quick short break. Stay tuned. If we think we will realize that there is no real benefit in taking revenge since it would only bring temporary relief for us, yet the satisfaction we can get from pardoning the other party is much more spiritually rewarding and long lasting. The issue has been delicately addressed in the Holy Quran and Islamic literature and pardoning has been declared an important duty for Muslims. First, let us consider the Quranic verses that Imam Sajjad referred to. Forgiving has always been a trait of the believers and messengers. Imam Sajjad cited the following verse. But indeed, if any show patience and forgive, that would truly be an exercise of courageous will and resolution in the conduct of affairs, the Holy Quran, the Holy Quran chapter 42 verse 43. He also cited the following verse. And if ye do catch them out, no worse than they catch you out. But if ye show patience, that is indeed the best course for those who are patient. The Holy Quran chapter 16 verse 126. In some traditions, it is stated that this verse was revealed in the Battle of Uhud. When the Prophet of God, Muhammad, peace be upon him, his pure progeny, saw the body of his noble uncle, the blessed Hamza, torn into pieces. He got upset and said, Oh God, praise is for you. I bring my complaint to you and seek your help regarding what I see. Then the above verse was revealed and the Prophet said, I will be patient, I will be patient. Now there is a difference between forgiving and forgiving and overlooking. We read the following verse in the Holy Quran regarding forgiving and overlooking. Let not those among you who are endowed with the grace and amplitude of means resolved by an oath against helping their kinsmen, those in want and those who have left their homes in God's cause, let them forgive and overlook. Do you not wish that God should forgive you? For God it's oft giving, most merciful. The Holy Quran in the North chapter 24 verse 22. The difference between simply forgiving and forgiving and overlooking is that one who forgives and overlooks will no longer blame and remind the other person of his mistake. A more important stage that is beyond forgiving and overlooking responding by good and return for evil. Undoubtedly, this is one of the more excellent manifestations of human spirit and requires moral training and spiritual refinement. It is also the best lesson one can teach those who engage in an evil deed. Therefore, this kind of response to an evil deed is considered the best way to end animosities. We read in the following verse, nor can goodness and evil be equal. Repel evil with what is better. Then will he between whom and thee was hatred become as it was thy friend and intimate and no one will be granted such goodness except those who exercise patience and self restraint, none but persons of the greatest good fortune. The Holy Quran chapter 41 verses 34 and 35. Therefore, we are reminded of the magic power of repelling evil with what is better. We learn that we can use this form of behavior as a means of converting our worst enemies into friends. We are also told that achieving this requires the exercise of patience and self restraint, which is only possible if we have faith, piety, moral and scientific nobility, patience and self restraints against negative human tendencies. Those who oppress always expect retaliation and revenge from the other side. They even consider themselves worthy of such retaliation due to their subconscious. This is the reason why responding with goodness and return for their evil deeds is like a shock to them. And it can turn them into friends instead of foes. Once unexpectedly, they are treated nicely and return for their evil behavior. Their conscience is awakened and they change their opinions regarding their enemies. A beautiful embodiment of this is the story of Prophet Joseph. This point has been clarified in the Holy Quran and the story of the blessed Joseph and his wrongdoing brothers. When they went to Egypt for the third time and they got to know their brother Joseph, they said, thou indeed Joseph, he said, I am Joseph and this is my brother. God has indeed been gracious to us all. Behold, he that is righteous and patient never will God suffer the reward to be lost of those who do right the Holy Quran and Yusuf, chapter 12, verse 90. Then Joseph reminded them of their wrongdoings and asked them what they deserved. They acknowledged the wrong deeds and accepted that they deserve to be punished but asked Joseph to forgive them. Joseph replied, Joseph replied, he said, this day, let no reproach be cast on you. God will forgive you and he is the most merciful of those who show mercy. The Holy Quran, chapter 12, verse 92. Here, Joseph is in the position of power and can punish them in any way he wishes to but he forgives them, a true case of forgiving. The Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, is pure progeny, conquered Mecca from the eighth year after his immigration to Medina. He entered the city and went to Masjid al-Haram, the Haram Mosque. He recited this verse and say, truth has now arrived and falsehood perished for falsehood is by its nature bound to perish. The Holy Quran, chapter 17, verse 81. Then he ordered the idols to be destroyed and said, there is no God but God, the one and only. Then he turned to the people of Mecca and said, what do you say and suspect? They said, we say good things and have good thoughts. A noble brother, the son of a noble brother has now become victorious. Then the Prophet said, now I will say unto you what my brother Joseph said. This day, let no reproach be cast on you. God will forgive you and he is the most merciful of those who show mercy. I free you all, you can go. We see that the Prophet, peace be upon him, is pure progeny who was in total power and could kill them all did not do so. He only punished a few who had committed major crimes and forgave all others. Ma'am Ali ibn Abi Talib, the commander of the Faith, peace be upon him, said, the nobility and true value of forgiving will be demonstrated when in total power. This emphasizes the fact that true forgiving is limited to cases where one has the power to take revenge. One who does not have any power has no chance but to forgive. He also said, the best form of forgiving is one rooted in power. With this, we conclude this episode. Stay tuned for another episode on the treaties of rights. Thank you all for watching and may Allah hasten the reappearance of our beloved Ma'am Mahdi, Ajallah Ta'ala, Fajr al-Sharif. Wassalamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh.