ظالم refers to being in darkness, shadows and putting something in the wrong place. It also refers to acting unjustly, wronging another and transgressing bounds. Deviating from the path or proper conduct is implied too. This takes me to the dua of Prophet Yunus as. { وَذَا ٱلنُّونِ إِذ ذَّهَبَ مُغَٰضِبٗا فَظَنَّ أَن لَّن نَّقۡدِرَ عَلَيۡهِ فَنَادَىٰ فِي ٱلظُّلُمَٰتِ أَن لَّآ إِلَٰهَ إِلَّآ أَنتَ سُبۡحَٰنَكَ إِنِّي كُنتُ مِنَ ٱلظَّٰلِمِينَ } [Surah Al-Anbiyāʾ: 87] And remember the man with the whale,when he went off angrily, thinking We could not restrict him, but then he cried out in the deep darkness ‘There is no God but You, glory be to You, I was wrong.’ Yunus as transgressed the bounds set by Allah swt. By giving up on his people, he deviated from his prophetic path. In doing so, he acted unjustly, but ultimately he wronged himself. We know that ظالم refers to darknesses and something being put in the wrong place. It has also been said that Yunus as found himself in not just one layer of darkness, but three: the darkness of the whale's belly, the darkness of the depths of the sea, and the darkness of the night, from which he called out to Allah swt for forgiveness. SubhanAllah. What this emphasises is that when we act unjustly towards others and deviate from our path, transgressing the bounds set by Allah swt, we ultimately wrong ourselves on multiple levels. And so Allah swt places us in depths of darkness, layers upon layers of darkness that we have to then acknowledge and recognise. And even then His door of forgiveness is always open, and only He can bring us out of it. What's beautiful is that not only will He forgive us, He will then grant us so much more.

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May we always recognize our own wrongs and turn back to Him before we are enveloped in darkness. JazakAllahu khayran for sharing such a thought-provoking reflection!

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