Q. Some people suffer torture at the hands of their oppressors, and they often curse those oppressors and pray God to avenge them against such people. In some mosques supplication is voiced against Sharon and other foreign leaders. Is this acceptable from the Islamic point of view?
A. Hussain
A. Torture is forbidden in Islam and in practically all civil laws. Nevertheless, torture is practiced by most countries. Press reports suggest that it is practiced against detainees even in some of the most liberal countries, which pride themselves on their culture of tolerance, such as the US. It is certainly practiced in Israeli jails against Palestinians, even though Israel tries to project itself as the only “democracy” in the Middle East. It may be democratic with its Jewish population, but it has an apartheid society that reduces its Arab population to a tenth-class status. Torture is often practiced to extract confessions, and it is often the case that confession extracted under torture is unsound because the tortured person often gives his torturers what they want him to confess so that they will stop their torture. This is indeed one of the worst aspects of our modern life.
It is true that the victim, and indeed those who sympathize with him, find themselves powerless, except for praying for God’s help. Sometimes, their prayer requests God to curse the oppressor. This is perfectly normal. The Prophet says: “Beware of a supplication by an oppressed person, because such supplication goes directly to God, with nothing to stop it.”
