As far as oppression is concerned, God has guaranteed His help to the oppressed. He who exposes himself to the wrath of God will be severely punished here and hereafter. The holy Quran says “God will help. him who is op. pressed by others” Let us take a serious notice of this threat of God. Let us not treat it lightly, If God does not fulfil it immediately we should not ignore His threat. In the case of human beings usually revengeful people try to wreak vengeance on their victims at the earliest opportunity. They do so because they are afraid of dying before they are able to satisfy their feelings of vengeance. No such considerations weigh with God. If He postpones His punishment and lets go the culprit scot-free for sometime, He will certainly punish him a little later here or in the next world whenever He likes. His punishment is much severe and of a permanent nature.
It is said that some one went to Imam Jafar Sadiq and said “O the grandson of the Prophet, will you explain to us the meaning of the following verse. “God destroys usuary and blesses the charities.” “In “In our every day life we find that usually money increases by usuary and decre- ases by the charities drawn out of it.” The Imam said in reply “Nothing is more patent than the decrease of the money acquired by usuary. If the one who receives this money, repents of his misconduct and gives it away, it is gone. If he does not repent here, hell-fire will overtake hım and will melt him along with the money.”
This is also a kind of oppression. Oppression is never tolerated by God in any form. If He in- flicts the punishment on the oppressor, he is doomed to destruction. The Quran says “When God help you (the oppressed) no one can over-power you’.” This is the promise which is held out to the oppressed. If He postpones His help to the oppressed and spares the culprits in this world, the punishment in the next world will be of the severest type. The one who is to be helped by God shall be helped by Him sooner or later because God has no time limit for fulfilling His promise. Besides, there is no fear of loss of opportunity with Him. Nothing can deter Him from His actions. God forbid us from our being oppressive. Oppression is the worst of sins. If it is directed against the Imams it calls for the sever- est punishment. For, he who oppresses the Imams oppresses God and His Prophet. Oppression is a sort of disobedience to God. He who obeys the Imams obeys God and His Prophet and he who disobeys them disobeys God and His Prophet.
To oppress the ‘momins’ and the friends of the Imams is as bad as to oppress the Imams. It is a horrible sin. It is forbidden by God in general. His threat is always hanging on the head of the oppressor. The Prophet says “If one mountain were to be oppressive to another, God would break the oppressor to pieces.” The Quran says “If one is oppressed, God is sure to come to his help’.” God has commanded us in His holy Book that we should wage a ‘jehad’ against the oppressors of the Imams and the ‘momins’. Hos- tility, fighting, slandering or harming are the different forms of oppression. Calumniating a person by spreading false news against him is also included in the category of oppression. Those who speak the truth and are fair minded, never fabricate scandalous things about others and in dulge in this kind of oppression
The worst form of oppression is to run down innocent people in the presence of the Imams and to scandalise them by charging them with things which they have never done and which they are least likely to do. This is a double sin. It is a combination of oppression to the innocent people and insolence to the Imams.
Jealousy is another vice which is condemned in general. ‘Momins’ are forbidden by God from being jealous of one another. To be jealous of the Imams is an unimaginable form of monstrosity. The holy Quran says “Are the people envious of what God has conferred upon them as a favour? We have favoured Ibrahim with our book and wisdom and we have given them a large Kingdom’.” Imam Jafar bin Mohammed say “We are the persons who are referred to in these verses as those who are envied by others. They envy us because of the Imamat which God has conferred on us. It is a great kingdom which is referred to in the above verse.” “Envy” says the Imam ” is the root of all sins. It was the first sin that was committed in heavens and on earth. It was the first sin that was committed by man and the ‘jinnee’.” Satan envied Adam and envy was the cause of his disbobedience. One of the sons of Adam whose sacrifice was not accepted by God became envious of his brother whose sacrifice was accepted and killed him out-right. The holy Quran says “People in hell fire will cry out God show us those two persons from amongst the ‘Jinnees’ and human beings who have misled us so that we may put them under our feet and make them the lowest inmates 2.” It is said that it was the devil and Qabeel who were the first to commit the sin of disobedience from amongst the ‘jinnees’ and human beings and they were the first to intro- duce this vice on earth.
Similarly, those who deny the Prophet-hood of the Prophets and the Imamat of the Imams and assume a hostile attitude towards them by attempting to encroach upon their rights, are prompted by nothing but envy. They like that they themselves should become the Prophets and the Imams. Man is envious by nature. If he finds some one in possession of something which he has not got he tries to deprive him of it. If one commits theft or an act of seduction or indulges in other sins of this type, the motive behind his acts is always envy. It is for these reasons that Imanı Jafar says “Envy is the root of all sins.” Much of the human sufferings is caused by envy. One of the Imams says “I have never seen an oppressor like an envious person feeling more depressed than the oppressed ones.”
Just as running down the innocent people before the Imams is the worst form of oppression because it is a combination of two sins one against the people and the other against the Imams, to be envious of those who are favoured by the Imams, is the worst form of envy. It is a double sin. It is envy against the people plus the denial of the right doings of the Imams. This sort of envy in- dicates that those who are favoured by the Imams are not the deserving persons. In other words it means that the Imams are not justified in their favouring these undeserving persons. It means a double hit, a hit against those persons and a hit against the Imams. It is the worst combination of two sins.
The vice of greed is equally detestable. It is one of the worst things which have been prohibited by God. To be greedy in general is condemnable, but to be greedy of the properties of the Imams is the worst sin that one can imagine. It is an act of treachery and an encroachment on the rights of the Imams. It is the most atrocious thing and the worst possible crime that one can commit
Putting a wrong construetion on the actions of people is a horrible thing and to misconstrue the acts of God is the worst form of this horror. The holy Quran says “with regard to those who misconstrue the acts of God, the evil of their micsconstruction is directed against them. He curces them and he has kept for them hell-fire in store. Their end is bad’.”
Since, the devotion to the Prophet and the Imams is linked with the devotion to God, to misconstrue the actions of the Imams is as mons- trous as to misjudge the acts of God. The mis- construction of the actions of the ‘momins’ who are the devotees of the Imams is equally horrible. Imam Jafar Sadiq says “God has made it un- lawful for a ‘momin’ to shed the blood of his brother ‘momin’, or to dishonour him or to mis- appropriate his property or to misconstrue to his actions.”
Ill-will is another vice of this kind which is equally condemned. A ‘momin’ is forbidden from showing it to another ‘momin’ but if he shows it to the Imams, not only he commits the most hineous sin but he ceases to be a ‘momin’. He becomes a hypocrite.