, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and they said, ‘Which of us has not wronged himself?’ The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, replied, ‘It refers only to associating partners with Allah. Have you not heard the words of the righteous servant: “Indeed, associating partners with Allah is a tremendous wrong”?’”
Those who found this difficult thought that the wrongdoing mentioned in the condition meant a servant’s wronging himself, and that security and guidance were only for those who had not wronged themselves. This weighed heavily on them, so the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, explained to them what showed that associating partners with Allah is wrongdoing in the Book of Allah, exalted is He. Accordingly, security and guidance are attained only by those who do not taint their faith with this wrongdoing. Whoever does not taint his faith with it is among those granted security and guidance, just as he is among those chosen in His words:
“Then We gave the Book as an inheritance to those We chose from among Our servants,”
through to His words:
“Gardens of perpetual residence, which they will enter.”
This does not rule out any of them being held accountable for wronging himself if he does not repent, as Allah, exalted is He, says:
“So whoever does an atom’s weight of good will see it, and whoever does an atom’s weight of evil will see it.”
And He, exalted is He, says:
“Whoever does evil will be recompensed for it.”
Abū Bakr asked the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, about this, saying, “O Messenger of Allah, which of us has not done evil?” He replied, “O Abū Bakr, do you not grow weary? Do you not grieve? Does hardship not befall you? It is through these that you are recompensed.”
He thus explained that a believer, who will enter Paradise if he repents, may be recompensed for his evil deeds in this world through the calamities that befall him. Thus, in the two Sahīh collections, he, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said: “The believer is like a tender shoot that the winds sway, setting it upright at one time and bending it at another. The hypocrite is like a cedar tree that remains standing firm