so, it is liable to become apparent and widely known. Moreover, care must be taken that those whose actual circumstances differ from his do not imitate him. A person may think that his conduct will remain hidden, yet bring about many harms and also open the door to interpretive justifications.

His situation is then like that of a wronged person who can obtain redress only by committing injustice, such as someone who cannot exact retribution without transgressing: he is not permitted to exact it. This is because breach of trust is inherently forbidden, so one may not recover one’s due through it. Likewise, if someone forced him to drink wine, committed sodomy with him, or testified falsely against him, he would not be permitted to do the same in return, because such acts are inherently forbidden. Breach of trust belongs to the same category as lying.

If it is objected, “This is not a breach of trust; rather, it is the recovery of a right. The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, prohibited betraying someone who has betrayed one, meaning taking from his property an amount to whose equivalent one is entitled.”

The answer is that this argument is weak for several reasons.

First, the hadith includes the question, “Some people take every last thing of ours. May we take from their property an amount equal to what they take?” He replied, “No. Return what has been entrusted to you to the one who entrusted it to you, and do not betray the one who betrays you.”

Similarly, in the hadith about zakat, the question was, “May we conceal an amount of our wealth equal to what they take from us?” He replied, “No.”

Second, he said, “Do not betray the one who betrays you.” If by betrayal he had meant taking in retaliation, he would not have distinguished between someone who had betrayed him and someone who had not; and the prohibition of such