Who is the oppressor, who is the oppressed?

If we don't do accounting, if we don't start with ourselves, even if our time, place, and circumstances change, the story of oppression that stands in the middle of our lives doesn't change. Whether we like it or not, at times we become either oppressors or oppressed. Whether as parents, children; as workers, employers; as spouses, friends, companions, our risk of committing injustice increases, as does our chance of experiencing injustice. When we fail to account for our experiences, the paths we walk become futile, and what we lose becomes wasteful.

So what should we do? I believe we should immediately and more than ever look in the mirror; we should start the accounting from the closest place to us, which is ourselves! Elmalılı Muhammed Hamdi Yazır, while interpreting the 114th verse of the Bakara surah, after pointing out that the word "zulm" means "placing something somewhere other than its place, using it elsewhere," continues as follows: "So, the farther something is moved away from its rightful place, the more injustice, the more oppression is done. The more noble and sacred that thing is, the more excessive the injustice becomes."

Yazır doesn't limit the concept of oppression to meanings such as "evil," "injustice," "torment," and "punishment" that come to mind immediately. He expands the meaning of both oppression and the oppressor. When your perspective changes, a concept from a verse you've read countless times before, one you've never taken personally, suddenly collapses on you; you find yourself beneath it. The world where you were wronged, where you paid unjust prices, and thus where you were oppressed, changes suddenly. You witness the same scene from a different perspective, this time through the window of oppression and the oppressor.

Despite the Night and the Darkness of the Sea This deep window, opened with a phrase from a verse, tightens your heart. Of course, your ego doesn't stay idle: "You've been wronged so much; you're a victim. Is it your turn to be the oppressor!" it whispers to itself. Much later, you remember the Prophet Jonah, who prayed, "I have been among the wrongdoers," while in the belly of the fish.

You remember that noble human being, who, not finding himself where he should be but where Allah destined him to be, offered that prayer. Then you start looking for the dictionary meanings of the word oppression in your own actions. In your inner world, where the possibility of being an oppressor, and almost making the role of the oppressed your identity, a disturbing self-examination begins. Your first sentence in this self-examination becomes, "Fate administers justice!" If a person unable to determine their coordinates on the straight path, Allah beautifully draws their route with the veil of causes. He doesn't lead you gently; He leads you to safety by making you face your fears, by making you confront things you never imagined, by forcing you into situations you didn't choose. If you don't position yourself correctly, if you oppress your soul, your Lord places you in the light you need to be in. Despite the darkness of the night, the sea, and the fish.

We Didn't Born as Oppressors... Thus, it emerges that even those who are not aware of their worth or who do not develop their abilities can be counted among the "those who wrong themselves," and likewise, those who do not value their loved ones, who do not treat their interlocutors as they deserve, in short; those who cannot be sure in the trusts given to them, including their own selves and bodies...

None of us were born as oppressors; however, it's quite difficult to foresee that we will submit our souls without falling into oppression. This great success doesn't seem to come easily to anyone other than the righteous servants. Because a person who strives not to harm others on the path to "goodness" and avoids selfishness, when it comes to himself, can fail. They can squander the blessings they have recklessly. When it comes to the ego, they may forget that there is no one else to ask for forgiveness, thinking, "Since I'm not encroaching on anyone's rights..." They may not realize that they will eventually face their essence and distribute the rights upon them. They confuse not being selfish with not giving their due position. They equate drawing their self-portrait, dissecting the anatomy of their soul, contemplating their essence with either preferring their ego over others or being infatuated with themselves.

Some people understand this truth when they move far away from the destination they need to reach, while others pass away without even realizing this distinction. In a world where our distinctive feature, "the ability to think," is attributed, at least mildly, to "melancholy" or "depression," imagining the opposite becomes naivety.

What About Then? Turning one's focus from "the oppression one suffers" to "the oppression one inflicts," whether it's on oneself or on one's brother, is not easy at all. It starts a disturbing self-examination in your inner world, filled with deep wounds, focusing on past accounts, unable to respond to the life struggles of your interlocutor with loyalty. In this self-examination, your first sentence becomes, "Fate administers justice!" If a person unable to determine their coordinates on the straight path, Allah beautifully draws their route with the veil of causes. He doesn't lead you gently; He leads you to safety by making you face your fears, by making you confront things you never imagined, by forcing you into situations you didn't choose. If you don't position yourself correctly, if you oppress your soul, your Lord places you in the light you need to be in. Despite the darkness of the night, the sea, and the fish.

We Didn't Born as Oppressors... Thus, it emerges that even those who are not aware of their worth or who do not develop their abilities can be counted among the "those who wrong themselves," and likewise, those who do not value their loved ones, who do not treat their interlocutors as they deserve, in short; those who cannot be sure in the trusts given to them, including their own selves and bodies...

None of us were born as oppressors; however, it's quite difficult to foresee that we will submit our souls without falling into oppression. This great success doesn't seem to come easily to anyone other than the righteous servants. Because a person who strives not to harm others on the path to "goodness" and avoids selfishness, when it comes to himself, can fail. They can squander the blessings they have recklessly. When it comes to the ego, they may forget that there is no one else to ask for forgiveness, thinking, "Since I'm not encroaching on anyone's rights..." They may not realize that they will eventually face their essence and distribute the rights upon them. They confuse not being selfish with not giving their due position. They equate drawing their self-portrait, dissecting the anatomy of their soul, contemplating their essence with either preferring their ego over others or being infatuated with themselves.

Some people understand this truth when they move far away from the destination they need to reach, while others pass away without even realizing this distinction. In a world where our distinctive feature, "the ability