Advice from Habib Ali al-Jifri (may Allah protect him and benefit us by him).
In our interactions with others, there are two methods we can adopt:
- The first is to see yourself as interacting with Allah, so that you respond to both good and evil by doing good, seeking Allah’s pleasure and reward.
- The second is to see yourself as interacting with people, so that you respond to the actions of others with similar actions – you respond to evil with evil and good with good.
Allah says in reference to the second method:
The reward of evil is evil similar to it..
Then Allah completes the ayah by demonstrating the superiority of the first method:
But whoever forgives and makes reconciliation, his reward is with Allah..
Finally, Allah warns against transgressing the limits and choosing any other method, by saying:
He does not love the unjust (42:40)