is just, for Allah says, “The requital of an evil deed is an evil one like it” (42:40). Yet He summons the wronged person to a course nobler than retaliation: “But whoever pardons and makes reconciliation—his reward lies with Allah” (42:40). He also says, “Indeed, whoever is patient and forgives—that, surely, is a matter of firm resolve” (42:43).

19 – Shaykh Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhāb, on the question of self-redress (masʾalat al-ẓafar), said:
• If the basis of one’s claim is obvious and needs no supporting proof—such as marriage, kinship, or a guest’s entitlement—it is permissible to take what is customary, just as the Prophet ﷺ allowed Hind, the wife of Abū Sufyān, to do (reported by al-Bukhārī).
• If, however, the basis of the claim is hidden and the claimant would be suspected of breach of trust, it is not permissible for him to take anything, lest he expose himself to the charge of treachery. This, it seems, is the weightiest view, for by it the evidences are reconciled.

Ibn al-Qayyim remarked, “This opinion is the soundest, most judicious, and most in keeping with the Sharīʿah; it harmonizes all the hadiths.”

The commentator on Bulūgh (al-Marām) offered another analysis, saying: “The opinions on self-redress are as follows:

1. A person who has a right may not take from the property of the one who owes him, even if he comes upon it, whether it is of the same type as the debt or of a different type. This is the view of al-Shāfiʿī, based on the Prophet’s ﷺ words: ‘Do not betray the one who has betrayed you.’
2. He may take if the item is of the same genus as what is owed, but not if it is of a different genus, in view of the verses, ‘So retaliate with the like of what you have been made to suffer’ (16:126) and ‘The requital of an evil deed is an evil one like it’ (42:40).
3. It is impermissible except by a judicial ruling, owing to the apparent prohibition.
4. He must take only the exact amount of his due, whether it is of the same kind or not; he may sell it and recoup his right, and if anything remains beyond what he is owed he must return it, because Allah says: