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Is it correct to describe "a servant's wrongdoing towards his Lord" (ظلم العبد لربه)?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

The phrase "man is inherently unjust" (الإنسان ظالم بطبعه) is not found in the revealed texts (Qur'an and Sunnah) or in the sayings of the early Muslims (Salaf). However, the Holy Qur'an mentions man's injustice to himself by violating Allah's law, whether through polytheism (shirk) or disobedience, as in the Almighty's saying: "And We wronged them not, but they wronged themselves" (وما ظلمناهم ولكن ظلموا أنفسهم). This phrase has been used by some later scholars, intending it to mean self-injustice. Nevertheless, it is more appropriate to avoid it and replace it with "the servant's injustice to himself regarding Allah's right or the rights of His servants."

Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026

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