Amina Wadud: … while seeking forgiveness is tantamount to receiving forgiveness from a Forgiving and Loving Creator and Sustainer, this cannot happen if the wrong has been against another person. In the Islamic construction of forgiveness, a wrong against another person must first be corrected, that is, stopped from occurring, then the perpetrator must seek forgiveness from the one harmed, and then upon release from the victim s/he may seek forgiveness from Allah…
… if there is an offense against someone, or if a collective of persons has been visited by intentional harm and dishonor—as in the case of Apartheid, Racism, Slavery, the Holocaust, Zionism, Sexism, [Colonialism, Occupation] etc, it is not the duty of the one so harmed or oppressed to just “forgive.” That makes it seem like the onus is again on the victim who must then be the better person…
…[Dr. Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela] writes about the perpetrator as losing his or her humanity with the acts of violence, oppression or dishonor. The victim has been violated. However, when the perpetrator commits these acts, s/he is outside of human-ism and more in a barbaric state of being. Unless the perpetrator FULLY acknowledges his or her act and the violation of it, and then ACTIVELY seeks to return to his or her humanity, THEN asks for forgiveness and seeks reparation, the enactment of the forgiveness paradigm is not possible. More here.