Do you remember the story in Surah al-Kahf, where the rich owner of the two gardens boasted his success to his friend, saying: “I am greater than you in wealth and superior in manpower”? Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala recorded the friend’s response in the following aayat:
🌺 ❛Perhaps my Rabb will grant me [something] better than your garden, and send down upon your garden a thunderbolt from the sky, turning it into a barren waste. Or its water may sink [into the earth], and then you will never be able to seek it out.❜ 【Surah al-Kahf 18:40-41】
Some scholars said that the poor friend was so hurt by the arrogance of his rich friend, that he handed his grief and sorrow to Allah in du'a, and said the words in the aayat above. What happened next?
🌺 ❛And so all his (i.e. the owner of the two gardens) produce was [totally] ruined, so he started to wring his hands for all he had spent on it, while it had collapsed on its trellises…❜ 【Surah al-Kahf 18:42】
So be afraid of the du’a of the people whom we’ve wronged, because Allah will answer their supplications either sooner or later. One of the frightening things about Allah’s punishment is that sometimes Allah punishes the wrongdoer without him realizing it. A person may have wronged someone many years ago, but the effects of his sins were only felt 20, 30 years later, and he would attribute the hardship that he suffered as something natural, not realizing that it was because of his past oppression. Allah allows a person to experience istidraj, until one day he finds himself in ruins.
So do not intentionally wrong people, and take ownership of your transgression. If the oppressed raises his hands in du’a to Allah against us, we will be ruined. And even if Allah does not give his retribution in this dunya, the consequences in the akhirah are much more severe. Allah says:
🌺 ❛And never think that Allah is unaware of what the wrongdoers do. He only delays them for a Day when eyes will stare (in horror).❜ 【Surah Ibrahim 14:42】
May Allah protect us from wronging others, and being wronged by others.