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What is the meaning of the Almighty's saying: "Allah does not like the public mention of evil except by one who has been wronged," and is "evil" here referring to sin?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

The verse was revealed as a concession for the wronged person to openly complain about the oppressor. Its meaning is that Allah does not like the open utterance of evil speech, unless it comes from the wronged person. So, the wronged person is allowed to mention what injustice they suffered and to supplicate against the oppressor, or to insult or revile them in return for their oppression. However, forgiveness is better for them. This meaning has come in other verses, such as His (the Almighty’s) saying: "So whoever commits aggression against you, aggress against him in like measure as he aggressed against you," and His saying: "And the retribution for an evil act is an evil act the like thereof." "Evil" (su') refers to everything disliked and deemed ugly in speech and action. Here, it means what is deemed ugly in speech, such as insulting, reviling, and cursing, which are sins Allah dislikes unless they originate from the wronged person.

Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026

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