DHÂLİM - ظالم

Literally: Unjust, barbarous, cruel, or oppressive; a tyrant. One who does not place a thing in its rightful place.

Etymology: Derived from the Arabic root dh-l-m (ظ - ل – م), dhâlim etymologically signifies "placing a thing in other than its rightful place" or violating rights. Sharing a deep semantic link with dhulmah (darkness), it denotes veiling the haqq, overstepping Allah’s boundaries, and plunging into ma’nawî darkness by deviation from as-sirât al-mustaqîm.

As an Islamic Term: The one who perpetrates dhulm by transgressing the Sharî’ah, which defines the sacred limits ordained by Allah, denying the rights of the Creator and His creation, and knowingly deviating from as-sirât al-mustaqîm.

Selected excerpts from the Risale-i Nur on the subject:

Through the decree of 1 وَلاَ تَرْكَنُوا اِلَى الَّذِينَ ظَلَمُوا فَتَمَسَّكُمُ النَّارُ, the noble âyah severely and sternly threatens not only those who support dhulm and act as its instruments, but even those who have the slightest inclination toward it. For, just as consenting to kufr is kufr, so too, consenting to dhulm is dhulm.

Thus, a person of perfection brilliantly expressed one of the many jewels of this âyah as follows:

The helpers of the dhâlim in this world are men of sheer despicableness,

It is a dog that takes delight in serving the merciless hunter.

The Twenty-Eighth Letter - The Fourth Matter which is the Fourth Risale

Third Question: Why does this calamity, arising from the wrongdoings of certain individuals, take the form of a general calamity in the country?

The Answer: General calamities arise from the wrongdoings of the majority. People constitute that majority by participating in effect in that wrong — by supporting the actions of those dhâlim individuals either by their actions, through iltizâm, or through joining them — and thus cause the general calamity.

The Addendum to The Fourteenth Word-Third Question