There is a moment in every struggle when the weight of injustice becomes unbearable, when the oppressed, long silenced and subjugated, rise with whatever strength they can muster. It is a moment both sacred and perilous; sacred because it marks the reawakening of dignity, and perilous because the tools of resistance are often forged in the same fires of oppression that sought to destroy them. When the weak rise, their actions may be clumsy, their strategies imperfect, and their methods fraught with risk. Yet, to criticize them in their vulnerability is to align, however unintentionally, with the very forces that sought to crush them. The Quran reminds us: 

وَمَا لَكُمْ لَا تُقَـٰتِلُونَ فِى سَبِيلِ ٱللَّهِ وَٱلْمُسْتَضْعَفِينَ مِنَ ٱلرِّجَالِ وَٱلنِّسَآءِ وَٱلْوِلْدَٰنِ ٱلَّذِينَ يَقُولُونَ رَبَّنَآ أَخْرِجْنَا مِنْ هَـٰذِهِ ٱلْقَرْيَةِ ٱلظَّالِمِ أَهْلُهَا وَٱجْعَل لَّنَا مِن لَّدُنكَ وَلِيًّۭا وَٱجْعَل لَّنَا مِن لَّدُنكَ نَصِيرًا

“And why should you not fight in the cause of Allah and for the oppressed among men, women, and children who cry out, ‘Our Lord, rescue us from this city of oppressors, and appoint for us from Yourself a protector, and appoint for us from Yourself a helper?'” (An-Nisa 4:75). The divine command is clear: our focus must remain unwaveringly on the oppressor, not on the oppressed who stumble in their fight for freedom.

The oppressor thrives on division, on turning the oppressed against one another, on magnifying their flaws until their resistance seems illegitimate. They will point to the chaos, the missteps, the unintended consequences of rebellion, and say, “See? This is why they deserved their chains.” But this is a lie, a sleight of hand designed to distract from the root of the problem. The Prophet ﷺ taught us that the mu’min (believer) is like a mirror to another mu’min: they reflect back the truth, but they also shield one another from harm. When the oppressed rise, our role is not to scrutinize their every move but to shield them from the arrows of criticism that would undermine their struggle. To do otherwise is to echo the voice of Pharaoh, who dismissed the cries of the Children of Israel as mere ingratitude.

Consider the metaphor of a wounded animal cornered by its hunter. It may lash out blindly, its movements erratic, its instincts driven by pain rather than strategy. To blame the animal for its desperation is to ignore the hunter who placed it in that position. So too with the oppressed: their actions, however imperfect, are a response to the conditions imposed upon them. The Quran speaks to this reality with profound clarity: وَٱلْفِتْنَةُ أَشَدُّ مِنَ ٱلْقَتْلِ ۚ “Oppression is worse than slaughter” (Al-Baqarah 191). The greater crime is not the chaos born of resistance but the systemic violence that made resistance necessary in the first place.

Yet, even in the heat of conflict, honor must be preserved. The oppressed must not become mirrors of their oppressors, replicating the same cruelty they seek to dismantle. The Prophet ﷺ, even in the midst of battle, upheld principles of justice and mercy, forbidding the killing of non-combatants, the destruction of crops, and the desecration of sacred spaces. This is the balance that must be struck: fierce resistance tempered by unwavering principles. To lose sight of this balance is to risk becoming what we despise. As the Quran warns, 

وَلَا يَجْرِمَنَّكُمْ شَنَـَٔانُ قَوْمٍ عَلَىٰٓ أَلَّا تَعْدِلُوا۟ ۚ ٱعْدِلُوا۟ هُوَ أَقْرَبُ لِلتَّقْوَىٰ”

“And let not the hatred of a people prevent you from being just. Be just; that is nearer to righteousness” (Al-Ma’idah 5:8).

The oppressor will always seek to weaponize the mistakes of the oppressed, to paint their resistance as inherently dishonorable. But honor is not the absence of error; it is the commitment to rise again, to fight with integrity even when the path is unclear. The oppressed must be judged not by the perfection of their actions but by the purity of their intent and the justice of their cause. To focus on their flaws is to play into the hands of those who would rather see them silenced forever.

In the end, the struggle against oppression is not merely a physical battle but a moral one. It is a test of our ability to see beyond the immediate chaos to the deeper truth: that the oppressed are not the authors of their suffering but its victims. Our duty is to stand with them, to amplify their voices, and to direct our criticism where it truly belongs at the feet of those who wield power without conscience. For as long as we focus on the oppressor, the oppressed will find the strength to rise, and in their rising, they will reclaim not only their freedom but their honor.