The Impact of Injustice on the Individual - Ramadan 1436/2015

You see, the problem is, we human beings because of that selfishness that we have in our hearts, we always want to be privileged. I want the best of this world for myself only. I want to stand out. I want to get the best treatment. This is an intrinsic desire that we have, an-Nafs al-Ammara bi 's-Su'. It drives us to selfishness. We all want to be privileged. Let's ask ourselves and be honest, who doesn't like to be privileged?

When you are privileged, when you get outstanding treatment, when you are given that special status, you enjoy it. Deep down in your heart, you enjoy it and you want more of it. Now, the problem is, this feeling of selfishness usually blinds us and prevents us from establishing justice. Because I want all the rights to me. Forget about other people. Who cares about them. As long as I am treated well, as long as I am getting my rights and more than what I deserve, the world is fine, the universe is good, I am living the life. And then that is how the human being resorts to injustice. It is because of the selfishness that exists in our hearts.

Now, the problem and the irony here is when we human beings keep away from justice and we start to commit acts of injustice in our lives, you know who the first victim is? The first one to suffer from your acts of injustice is not your neighbour, It is not your family members, It is not your society. It is you, yourself.

The first victim to injustice is you yourself. Because every act of injustice is causing you harm. It is destroying you. It is bringing you down in addition to harming other people. That is why, according to the Holy Qur'an, every sin is an act of injustice against the Self. "Wa man yata'adhdha huhud Allah" (65:1), the one who transgresses against the limits of Allah, Subhana wa Ta'ala, who has he oppressed? "Faqad dhlama nafsan"(65:1), he has oppressed himself.

Every sin, brothers and sisters, is an act of injustice against the human Self. And we think we love ourselves, right? When you think of this universe and we have this egocentric view about the universe, that I am in the middle of the universe, and the stars, and the solar system and the Earth, everything revolves around me. But day and night, I am harming myself. I am destroying myself. I am causing injustice to my own Self.

How can we claim to love ourselves or think that we love ourselves when we are harming ourselves day and night?

Therefore, every act of injustice that is committed in society, the perpetrator of that act is actually harming himself. Every act of injustice that we commit. And this is truly a warning for us. If you care about yourself, have mercy on yourself, and preserve justice in society. At the individual level. It starts from the individual level, from staying away from sins, because every sin is an act of injustice.