This is a hadith qudsi, where the Prophet ﷺ conveys the words of Allah Himself, and it is among the most tender passages in all of Islam. Allah addresses us directly, again and again: 'O My servants.' He tells us He has forbidden injustice upon Himself, that all of us are hungry except whom He feeds, lost except whom He guides, and that even if every one of us reached the highest piety, it would add nothing to His kingdom.
It humbles and lifts at once: we are utterly dependent, and we are addressed, personally, by the Lord of all the worlds.
Where this hadith comes from
This is the twenty-fourth of Imam an-Nawawi's forty, narrated by Abu Dharr al-Ghifari (ra) and collected by Muslim (no. 2577). It is a hadith qudsi: the Prophet (peace be upon him) reports words from his Lord that are not part of the Qur'an, so its meaning is from Allah and its wording is conveyed through the Prophet. Scholars have long treated it as one of the most comprehensive passages in the Sunnah, gathering tawhid, Allah's perfect justice, and the believer's total dependence into a single address.
It carries no special occasion of revelation, and we should not invent one. What gives it its weight is simply the form of the address itself: Allah, the Lord of all the worlds, turning to His servants and calling them, again and again, 'O My servants.'
The key words
What it means, line by line
The opening line sets the key for everything after it: Allah has forbidden injustice upon Himself, and then forbidden it among us, 'so do not oppress one another.' The same word, zulm, binds the two halves: the Lord who will never wrong His servants is the One commanding His servants never to wrong each other. Our safety is anchored not in our ability to demand fairness but in His own promise.
The lines that follow name our condition without flattery: astray except whom He guides, hungry except whom He feeds, unclothed except whom He clothes, sinning by night and day while He forgives all. Each one ends with an invitation, 'so seek it from Me,' turning need into a door to Him. Then the great humbling: all the piety of every human and jinn would not add an atom to His kingdom, and all their sin would not diminish it, for He is in need of nothing. It closes in perfect balance: 'it is but your deeds that I account for you, and then recompense you for', so whoever finds good praises Allah, and whoever finds otherwise blames only himself.
The matn's first claim, that Allah forbade injustice upon Himself, is stated plainly in the Qur'an, where He closes the door on any wrong from His side:
He forbade injustice upon Himself
The hadith opens with a staggering statement: Allah says He has made injustice forbidden upon Himself. The One who answers to no one, who could do as He wills, declares that He will never wrong His servants. Our security does not rest on our power to demand fairness; it rests on His own promise never to be unjust.
He says it plainly elsewhere too, that not the smallest wrong will ever come from Him:
Utterly dependent on Him
Then come the lines that dissolve our pride. All of you are hungry except those I feed, so seek food from Me. All of you are unclothed except those I clothe, so seek clothing from Me. You sin by night and by day, and I forgive all sins, so seek My forgiveness. Every blessing we imagine we secured for ourselves is named here as His gift, on loan.
And then the great humbling of the ego: if the first of you and the last of you, all humans and all jinn, were as pious as the most pious heart among you, it would not increase His kingdom by anything; and if all were as wicked as the most wicked, it would not decrease it. He does not need our worship. He invites it for our sake, not His.
Only your own deeds return to you
The hadith closes with perfect justice and perfect mercy together: these are only your deeds, which I record for you, and then I will repay you for them in full. So whoever finds good, let him praise Allah; and whoever finds otherwise, let him blame only himself.
Nothing is lost, nothing is unfair. Every atom of good is kept and returned magnified; every harm we meet at the end traces back to our own hands, never to His injustice. To stand before such a Lord, generous, just, in need of nothing from us yet endlessly giving, is to learn both humility and hope in a single breath.
Carry this with you
A hadith to make you small before Allah and safe in His mercy at once.
Allah will never wrong you.
He forbade injustice upon Himself. Your security rests on His own promise, not on your power to demand it.
You depend on Him for everything.
Fed, clothed, guided, forgiven, all of it from Him. So seek every need from Him directly.
He needs nothing from us.
All our piety adds nothing to His kingdom; all our sin takes nothing from it. He invites worship for our sake.
Your deeds return to you.
Find good, praise Allah; find otherwise, blame only yourself. Perfect justice, perfect mercy.
A du'a to carry
رَبَّنَا ظَلَمْنَآ أَنفُسَنَا وَإِن لَّمْ تَغْفِرْ لَنَا وَتَرْحَمْنَا لَنَكُونَنَّ مِنَ ٱلْخَٰسِرِينَ
Rabbana zalamna anfusana wa in lam taghfir lana wa tarhamna lanakunanna mina-l-khasirin
Our Lord, we have wronged ourselves, and if You do not forgive us and have mercy upon us, we will surely be among the losers. (Al-A'raf 7:23)
A du'a of the dependent
Allah Himself leaned close in this hadith and called us, over and over, 'O My servants', to tell us He will never wrong us, that every blessing flows from Him, and that He stands in need of nothing we could ever bring.
What do you do before a Lord like that? You stop boasting and start begging. You seek your food, your guidance, your forgiveness from the only One who has them, and you trust that what returns to you from His hand is nothing but justice and mercy.
O Allah, we have wronged ourselves, and if You do not forgive us and show us mercy, we are lost. Feed us, guide us, clothe us, and forgive us, for everything we have is from You. Ameen.
The hadith is from sunnah.com: the hadith qudsi 'O My servants, I have forbidden injustice upon Myself...' narrated by Abu Dharr (ra), Sahih Muslim 2577, graded sahih. Qur'an citations (50:29 and 7:23) are in Uthmani script verified via quran.ai (ar-uthmani-minimal) with the Saheeh International translation. Per the editorial policy this stays with the creed and spirit of the hadith (Allah's justice, our dependence, His mercy). FOR SCHOLAR REVIEW before publication.