2. Those in which a person wrongs only himself, such as drinking wine or committing fornication, provided their harm does not spill over to others.

3. Those that combine both types of wrongdoing. An example is a governor who seizes people’s wealth and then uses it to commit adultery or drink wine, or one who commits adultery with someone and—because of that liaison—elevates the person above others to their detriment. The same occurs with those who are infatuated with certain women or boys.

Allah the Exalted has said:

Say, “My Lord has forbidden only indecencies—open or hidden—sin, wrongful aggression without right, associating with Allah that for which He has sent down no authority, and saying about Allah what you do not know.” (al-A‘rāf 7:33)

Human affairs in this world hold together under justice—even when people share in various sins—far better than they do under injustice regarding rights, even if no other sin is involved. Hence it is said, “Allah sustains a just state even if it is unbelieving, but He will not sustain an unjust state even if it is Muslim,” and, “The world endures with justice and disbelief; it will not endure with injustice and Islam.”

The Prophet ﷺ said, “No sin brings swifter retribution than tyranny and severing family ties.” Thus, the tyrant is felled in this life, even though he may yet be forgiven and shown mercy in the Hereafter. Justice is the order that holds everything together: when the affairs of this world are established upon justice they stand firm, even if their owner has no share in the Hereafter; but when they are not established upon justice, they will not stand, even if their owner possesses such faith as will be rewarded in the Hereafter. Within the soul there is an impulse to wrong others—by seeking dominance over them, envying them, and encroaching upon their rights—and an impulse to wrong itself by indulging