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Since the evil deeds a person commits may be part of the recompense for earlier sins—and are themselves harmful—it is valid to say that they are among the evils that have befallen him because of earlier sins. In any case, the sins he commits are from his own self, even though they have been decreed for him. For if the recompense resulting from those sins is from his own self, then his deed, which itself constitutes that recompense, is all the more from his own self.

The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, used to say in his sermons:

“We seek refuge in Allah from the evil of our own selves and from the evil of our deeds.”

Abū Bakr, may Allah be pleased with him, said to him, “Teach me a supplication.” He replied:

“Say: ‘O Allah, Originator of the heavens and the earth, Knower of the unseen and the seen, Lord and Sovereign of all things! I bear witness that none has the right to be worshipped but You. I seek refuge in You from the evil of my own self, from the evil of Satan and his polytheism, and from committing evil against myself or bringing it upon a Muslim.’ Say this in the morning, in the evening, and when you go to bed.”