‹And Allah Would Not Wrong Them›: Divine and Cosmic Laws and the Believer's Resilient Psyche

Occasion: Transcription of a Fajr khatira delivered on 16 May 2026 Source: A transcription of a video khatira by Dr. Ahmed Abouseif — Watch the original video on YouTube

At the start of the khatira, Dr. Ahmed asked his Lord to set right for us our religion, our worldly life, and our Hereafter, to prepare for us right guidance in our affair, to bless us in what He has provided us, to protect us from the punishment of the Fire and to turn away from us the causes of punishment in this world and the Hereafter. Then he said:

A Phrase Repeated in the Qur'an

﴿فَمَا كَانَ اللَّهُ لِيَظْلِمَهُمْ وَلَٰكِنْ كَانُوا أَنْفُسَهُمْ يَظْلِمُونَ﴾ (So Allah would not have wronged them, but they were wronging themselves)^[1]. A phrase repeated often in the Noble Qur'an in various forms with a few differing letters, and the meaning is one: that Allah, Mighty and Majestic, wrongs no one, but people wrong themselves. So how do we understand that, when many of the creation are exposed to harsh and severe conditions in the spheres of their lives?

Divine Laws and Cosmic Laws

The answer is that Allah, Blessed and Exalted, placed in the universe divine laws and cosmic laws. And the difference between them is that the divine law is a law connected with the relationship between Allah and people. An example is the saying of the Prophet ﷺ: «أشدّ الناس بلاءً الأنبياء» (The people most severely tried are the prophets). So you ask: the prophets attained of God-consciousness, guidance, and success what no one else attained, so how can they be the most severely tried of people? This is a divine law.

As for the cosmic law, Allah, Blessed and Exalted, informed us that the body is made up of components, and that when these components are exposed to such-and-such, such-and-such happens to them. Then a person says: Allah, Glory be to Him, the Exalted, made me ill! When he had entered a hot bath with very hot water and then suddenly went out into the air, and a chill struck his body, so he fell ill and dropped into his bed for a time, and then he ascribes the matter to Allah, Blessed and Exalted.

And when our Lord, Glory be to Him, says that He wrongs no one, this is a remedy for what Satan wants to instill in people's souls, that there are wronged people on the earth. No; whatever our condition, and at the highest stations of this world, that is a trial and a test, and our Lord wrongs no one; and at the lowest levels of life, that is the test of the Lord of the worlds, Glory be to Him, the Exalted. And the summary of the divine laws is that they are obligation (taklīf): Allah, Mighty and Majestic, charged people with kinds of obligations, and it was necessary for them to deal with them, and if they did not deal with them, punishments befell them.

And as for the cosmic laws, as we gave as an example: a man crosses the road and a car hits him, and it is said to him: My son, why did you not look right and left? He says: I put my trust in Allah. And this is not tawakkul; rather tawakkul is that you look right and left, and follow the means, and quicken your steps, and measure the distance between the oncoming car and your steps with which you will cross, and the width of the road, and so on. There are very many calculations turning in the mind when you want to do something.

Allah's Generosity Rewards for What Was Not Done

Then Allah, Glory be to Him, the Exalted, having informed us that He wrongs no one, His generosity is so great and all-encompassing that He sometimes rewards people for what they did not do. And it came to my mind, before we listened to the recitation, the ḥadīth of the Prophet ﷺ when he was returning once from a campaign he had fought, with his Companions, when he suddenly told them, in what is narrated from him ﷺ, that in Madinah there are people for whom, whenever the fighters traveled a journey or crossed a valley, Allah recorded for them a reward like what He recorded for them^[2]; that is, those people did not move with them, and the fighters did not move a step nor spend any expense nor strive any striving nor exert any effort hoping for reward from Allah, except that Allah recorded for those people the like of it. They said: How, O Messenger of Allah? For by the logic of life: are those who work and those who sit back equal? Are he who worked and he who did not work equal? So he ﷺ said: «حبسهم العذر» (An excuse held them back).

And imagine the scene of those about whom the recitation came to us: they turned away with their eyes overflowing with tears out of grief that they could not find anything to spend. Had they found something to spend, where would their station be? With those who strive. And had they found what they could accomplish with, they would have been among the foremost.

Therefore you see, of Allah's generosity and bounty, what is narrated from the Prophet ﷺ that one dirham preceded a thousand dirhams^[3]. And the thousand here is used to indicate multiplicity, not counting; so many a dirham preceded a million dirhams, and many a dirham preceded a billion dirhams. How is that? In the ḥadīth there is what indicates that one of the people spent a thousand out of a total of a million, so what he spent is a small proportion of all his wealth. As for another, he spent one dirham while he owned two dirhams, so he spent half of what he owned. So the consideration, or the Lord of the worlds', Glory be to Him, the Exalted, consideration of what issues from people, is not by its abundance or its quantity, but by the solidity of the soul that produces this deed. So it is for us to acquire psyches that speak directly with Allah: I want to act, and nothing holds me back from the deed except an excuse.

And we always cite this ḥadīth when we speak with those who were unable to go to Makkah for Ḥajj, so we give them the glad tidings that Allah, Blessed and Exalted, recorded for them the like of the reward recorded for those in their striving, their circumambulation, their steps, their going and returning, their slaughter and their sacrificial offering, because hardship held them back so they were not able to do that, and the excuses are many, as you know. And we ask Allah for blessing for those who sit back and for those who set out by His permission, Blessed and Exalted.

The Solid Psyche of the Believer

But the point of the statement is the psyche of the believer, which is the matter I always take care to repeat: the solid psyche of the believer that stands firm before calamities, which are calamities for people but gifts for us; that is strong enough for more work and striving and does not tire or grow lazy; that burdens itself with more accomplishment, so that whenever it accomplishes something it senses more vitality and momentum toward more deeds. So let our aspirations not make us sit idle, for Paradise is the goal, and whoever's goal is Paradise, his striving is in proportion to what he wants to attain. And people are measured by their ambitions, and whoever's ambition is what is with Allah, his determination must reach the heavens.

I ask Allah to empower you, and that you be strong, and let none of us feel weakness, for weakness is among the means of Satan to extinguish the movement of the body. May Allah keep hearts safe, preserve well-being, grant security to souls, sweeten the thoughts, and may Allah accept the deeds.

--- ^[1]: Editor's documentation: The speaker uttered the phrase in its general meaning and did not specify a sūrah or a location; it recurs in several places (among them Al-Tawbah: 70, Al-ʿAnkabūt: 40, and Al-Rūm: 9), and no particular location is asserted here. ^[2]: Editor's documentation: The ḥadīth is conveyed by meaning on the speaker's tongue without attribution, and its origin is in the two Ṣaḥīḥs from the ḥadīth of Anas and Jābir, may Allah be pleased with them both, in similar wordings (among them «حبسهم العذر» and «حبسهم المرض»); so the speaker's wording is not to be attributed to it literally. ^[3]: Editor's documentation: The speaker conveyed it by meaning without attribution (many a dirham preceded a thousand dirhams); and what is known in the ḥadīth (in al-Nasāʾī and Aḥmad from the ḥadīth of Abū Hurayrah) is the wording «سبق درهمٌ مائةَ ألف درهم», so the wording conveyed in the body is not to be established as the text of the ḥadīth, and it should be reviewed before publication.