Corruption
Cont’d from page 1
The word zulm (tyranny and transgression) is very broad
in its significance. It is of three kinds:
a) between humans and God, the greatest of which is shirk
— idol worship and polytheism, and kufr or disbelief
and this would include all wrong beliefs with regard to the Creator;
b) between humans and humans which would include all kinds of transgressions
including a violation of the rights of others and
c) between humans and our own selves which would include all kinds
of guilty actions detrimental not to others but to our own self
by transgressing the limits imposed by God
[65:1] ….These are GOD’s laws. Anyone
who transgresses GOD’s laws commits an injustice against himself.
Adam and his spouse were the first human couple to be cautioned:
[2:35] We said, “O Adam, live with your wife
in Paradise, and eat therefrom generously, as you please, but do
not approach this tree, lest you sin.”
[21:87] And Zan-Noon (Jonah, “the one with
an ‘N’ in his name”), abandoned his mission in
protest, thinking that we could not control him. He ended up imploring
from the darkness (of the big fish’s belly): “There
is no god other than You. Be You glorified. I have committed a gross
sin.”
This is what Jonah cried out when realization dawned on him that
his personal calamity of such a rare kind was the result of divine
wrath invited by his own error of judgment as a human being despite
his elevated position as a |
prophet. We find the word zulm
and its derivatives here as also in 28:16 (Moses); 6:63; 7:9; 7:103;
11: 117 and 17:59.
Despotism of the most reprehensible nature, according to the Quran,
is that which is associated with the conduct of tyrants and ruthless
oppressors like Pharaoh, Hamaan and Qaaroon. Pharaoh’s elders
and courtiers were annoyed at the proselytizing crusade of Moses
and Aaron. They complained:
[7:127] The leaders among Pharaoh’s people
said, “Will you allow Moses and his people to corrupt the
earth, and forsake you and your gods?” He said, “We
will kill their sons, and spare their daughters. We are much more
powerful than they are.”
Pharaoh had a genocidal campaign to eradicate the very roots of
the Children of Israel who had found a foothold in Egypt since the
days of Jacob and Joseph. It began long before Aaron and Moses were
born and it intensified after their messengership during the reign
of Rameses II. This carried on until God intervened at His chosen
time and rescued them from the mass slaughter carried out by the
state authority of that day. God reminds the children of Israel:
[2:49] Recall that we saved you from Pharaoh’s
people who inflicted upon you the worst persecution, slaying your
sons and sparing your daughters. That was an exacting test from
your Lord.
[2:50] Recall that we parted the sea for you; we
saved you and drowned Pharaoh’s people before your eyes.
This state sponsored cruelty was so sickening and shocking that
even Pharaoh’s noble natured wife was disgusted and prayed
to God.
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[66:11] And GOD cites
as an example of those who believed the wife of Pharaoh. She said,
“My Lord, build a home for me at You in Paradise, and save
me from Pharaoh and his works; save me from the transgressing people.”
Next to state supported and state implemented totalitarianism and
suppression are extra judicial killings, which in common parlance
is called “police encounters.” The Quran warns:
[6:151] ….You shall not kill - GOD has made
life sacred - except in the course of justice. These are His commandments
to you, that you may understand.”
To emphasize that killing, except in the course of justice, is
extremely loathsome, the Quran mentions that God had prescribed
stern and exemplary punishments to the Children of Israel. According
to the Quran,
[17:33] You shall not kill any person - for GOD has
made life sacred - except in the course of justice. If one is killed
unjustly, then we give his heir authority to enforce justice. Thus,
he shall not exceed the limits in avenging the murder; he will be
helped.
Thus, although homicide is an offence of which cognizance is taken
by the government or the state, the option to the heirs of the victim
to claim compensation is there. This aspect of Quranic penal law
is generally overlooked which, in spite of providing capital punishment
for murder, leaves the door open for remission if the heir or heirs
of the murdered person so desire. (See 2:178)
Cont’d on page 4
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