such a case means crossing the boundary separating the two parties. Yet once one party has transgressed, it becomes permissible to transgress against him. The first transgression is unjust, whereas the second is permissible. The term “just” is permissible.

Here, “transgression” is qualified by wording that makes clear that it is an act of retribution, unlike initiating aggression, which is unjust. When the term is not qualified as retribution, it is understood to mean initiating aggression, since the default assumption is that no corresponding act preceded it.

He said: “And what of His words, ‘The recompense of an evil is an evil like it,’ and His words, ‘Allah mocks them,’ and ‘They plot, and Allah plots’?”

The answer is: An evil is a name for something that precedes the person concerned. If it is inflicted upon him justly, as retribution, then he deserves the evil inflicted upon him. It is not meant that it precedes the doer, such that he should be forbidden to do it; rather, it precedes the person being requited with it. The terms “evil” and “good” can refer to disobedience and obedience, or to misfortune and blessing, as in His words:

“Whatever good befalls you is from Allah, and whatever evil befalls you is from yourself.”

And His words:

“If good touches you, it distresses them; but if evil befalls you, they rejoice at it.”

His words, “The recompense of an evil,” do not refer to everyone who commits a sin. Rather, they refer to requiting someone who has wrongfully harmed another. That harm is among the misfortunes suffered by the injured party, and its recompense is for the wrongdoer to suffer a similar misfortune. It is as though He said: The recompense of someone who harms you is that you harm him just as he harmed you. This is an evil in the literal sense.