as well?” If he means the former, then his restricting the definition of a wrongdoer to someone in whom injustice subsists is like those others restricting it to the commission of injustice. What people, ordinary and learned alike, recognize is that a wrongdoer commits injustice and that his injustice is an act subsisting in him. Each group has denied part of the truth.

As for their saying that a wrongdoer is “someone who does something forbidden to him, or something he has been prohibited from doing,” and similar formulations, this description is valid.

However, it should be said: The Quran and Sunnah establish that Allah Most High has prescribed mercy for Himself, that helping the believers is a duty He has undertaken, that rewarding the obedient is a duty He has undertaken, and that He has forbidden injustice to Himself. It is He, glorified be He, who has Himself forbidden injustice to Himself, just as He has Himself prescribed mercy for Himself. No one else can forbid anything to Him or impose any obligation upon Him, much less can such a prohibition or obligation be known through reason or otherwise. Accordingly, the injustice He has forbidden to Himself is undoubtedly injustice. It is something possible and within His power, yet He, glorified be He, refrains from it by His will and choice, despite His ability to do it, because He is just and does no wrong—just as He refrains from punishing the prophets and believers, and from making the innocent bear the sins of transgressors.

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His words:

“I have made it forbidden among you, so do not wrong one another.”

It should be understood that this hadith is of lofty standing and immense importance. For this reason, Imam Ahmad used to