Five words in Arabic, and they hold a world: la darar wa la dirar. There should be no harm, and no answering harm with harm. The Prophet ﷺ gave the believer a standing rule for how to move through other people's lives: leave them unharmed by you, and do not let their harm turn you into a harmer in return.
It is one of the most far-reaching sentences he ever spoke, the kind that touches almost every relationship a person has.
Where this hadith comes from
It is narrated from Abu Sa'id al-Khudri (ra) that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said, 'There should be neither harming nor reciprocating harm.' It is recorded by Ibn Majah and ad-Daraqutni and others with a connected chain, and by Imam Malik in al-Muwatta in mursal form (with a gap in the chain), and its several routes strengthen one another, so the scholars graded it hasan (sound enough to act upon).
The hadith carries no single occasion that is reliably fixed to it, so we will not assign it one. What the tradition is sure of is its weight: scholars treated these few words as one of the foundational maxims of the religion, a sentence the whole community returns to again and again.
The key words
What it means, line by line
'No darar': do not be the one who starts the harm, who reaches into another life and damages it. 'And no dirar': do not answer harm that reaches you by harming in return. The first half closes the door on aggression; the second closes the door on private revenge. Read together, they ask the believer to be a person in whose presence others are safe.
This is the heart's instinct, not a law book. Working out how competing harms are weighed in actual cases is the scholars' discipline, and we leave it to them. The Qur'an points the believer up the same higher road: refuse to add to the damage in the world, and stay among those whose conduct keeps Allah's mercy near.
Two refusals in one rule
The Prophet ﷺ joins two things. First: no harm. Do not be the one who initiates damage to another, in their body, wealth, reputation, or peace. Second: no harming back. Do not respond to the harm done to you by harming in return. The first closes the door on aggression; the second closes the door on revenge.
Together they ask the believer to be a safe person, someone in whose presence others' lives, dignity, and belongings are secure. The Prophet ﷺ described the true Muslim elsewhere as the one from whose tongue and hand other people are safe. This hadith is that description turned into a rule.
Stopping the chain
The second half is the harder and the more transforming. Harm has a way of multiplying: someone wrongs us, and we feel entitled to wrong them back, and they retaliate, and a small spark becomes a long fire. 'No harming back' is the believer stepping out of that cycle, refusing to pass the harm along.
This does not erase the right to justice through proper means; it forbids the personal, escalating tit-for-tat that poisons families, friendships, and whole communities. The Qur'an points to the same higher road, repelling harm with what is better rather than matching it:
A principle, not a casebook
Scholars have built a great deal of law upon this hadith; it is one of the foundational maxims they return to again and again. But that juristic work, weighing competing harms, deciding cases, is their discipline, and we leave it to them. The hadith's gift to the ordinary heart is simpler and prior to all of that.
It is an instinct: do no harm, and refuse to deal harm even when harm is dealt to you. Carry that instinct into your speech, your driving, your dealings, your arguments, your screens, and you become what the Prophet ﷺ wanted every believer to be, a source of safety in a world full of small cruelties.
Carry this with you
Be a safe person: harm no one, and refuse to pass harm along.
No harm.
Do not initiate damage to anyone's body, wealth, reputation, or peace. Be safe to be near.
No harming back.
Do not answer harm with harm. Step out of the cycle of revenge before it becomes a fire.
Stop the chain at you.
Harm multiplies when passed along. The believer refuses to be the next link.
An instinct, not a casebook.
The legal maxims belong to scholars; the heart's task is simply: do no harm, deal none back.
A du'a to carry
رَبَّنَا ٱغْفِرْ لَنَا وَلِإِخْوَٰنِنَا ٱلَّذِينَ سَبَقُونَا بِٱلْإِيمَٰنِ وَلَا تَجْعَلْ فِى قُلُوبِنَا غِلًّا لِّلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ رَبَّنَآ إِنَّكَ رَءُوفٌ رَّحِيمٌ
Our Lord, forgive us and our brothers who preceded us in faith, and put not in our hearts [any] resentment toward those who have believed. Our Lord, indeed You are Kind and Merciful. (Al-Hashr 59:10)
A du'a to be a source of safety
In five short words the Prophet ﷺ drew the edges of how a believer touches other lives: harm no one, and when harm comes to you, do not become a harmer in return. Be the place where damage stops, not where it spreads.
Imagine a person whose presence costs others nothing, who neither wounds nor avenges, in whose company tongues, hands, and hearts are safe. That is what this hadith makes of you, if you let it.
O Allah, make us a source of safety and not of harm. Keep our hands and tongues from wounding others, and our hearts from revenge, and free us of all resentment toward the believers, for You are Kind and Merciful. Ameen.
The hadith is from sunnah.com: 'There should be no harming and no reciprocating harm,' narrated by Abu Sa'id al-Khudri (ra), Ibn Majah 2341 and ad-Daraqutni, graded hasan. Qur'an citations (7:56, in part, and 59:10) are in Uthmani script verified via quran.ai (ar-uthmani-minimal) with the Saheeh International translation. Per the editorial policy this is framed as the universal ethical principle (do no harm, return no harm) and deliberately does NOT walk through the fiqh maxims derived from it, which belong to qualified scholars. FOR SCHOLAR REVIEW before publication.