The no-harm maxim

قاعدة لا ضرر ولا ضرار

The maxim 'no harm and no reciprocating harm' is among the great foundations of jurisprudence, taken from Abu Sa'id al-Khudri's hadith — the thirty-second of the Forty — which al-Darawardi's route in al-Daraqutni, al-Hakim and al-Bayhaqi extends as 'whoever harms, God harms him, and whoever makes things difficult, God makes things difficult for him'; Malik transmitted it mursal in the Muwatta' with no divergence reported by Ibn Abd al-Barr, who found no sound full chain for it, Khalid ibn Sa'd al-Andalusi declaring it never established with one, while al-Hakim graded its reported chain sahih on Muslim's condition and al-Nawawi notes it has routes that strengthen one another; its meaning negates harm both initiatory and retaliatory — one may not harm oneself or another, nor answer harm with harm save through lawful retribution — and the maxim serves to lift hardship from legal impositions and to ward off corruption (Jami' al-Ulum wal-Hikam pp. 667–668).

Overview

The maxim "no harm and no reciprocal harm" is one of the great principles of jurisprudence. It is drawn from the hadith of Abu Sa'id al-Khudri, the thirty-second in Ibn Rajab's commentary. ¹

The hadith and its routes

In a wording transmitted through al-Darawardi and reported by al-Daraqutni, al-Hakim, and al-Bayhaqi: "Whoever harms, God will harm him, and whoever makes hardship, God will make hardship for him." Malik related it in the Muwatta' as a mursal (without a Companion). ¹

Its grade in the view of those Ibn Rajab cites

Ibn Rajab relates from Ibn Abd al-Barr that it is not transmitted through a sound route, and from Khalid ibn Sa'd al-Andalusi that it is not established as a musnad (with a connected chain). He relates that al-Hakim authenticated the chain of the route transmitted on the condition of Muslim, and that al-Nawawi said it has routes that strengthen one another. ¹

Meaning

Its meaning is the negation of harm at the outset and as recompense. A person may not harm himself or others at the outset, and he may not be repaid for harm with the like of it, except by legal retaliation. It is used to lift hardship from obligations and to ward off corruptions. ¹

See injustice.

Injustice (zulm)

Injustice (zulm) for many scholars is placing things outside their place; others defined it as disposing of another's property without permission — a sense transmitted from Iyas ibn Mu'awiya — which makes it impossible for God since all He does is disposal within His own dominion, in the manner of Abu al-Aswad al-Du'ali's answer to Imran ibn al-Husayn on the divine decree; commenting on 'I have forbidden injustice to Myself' in the sacred hadith, Ibn Rajab explains it as His restraining injustice from His servants, noting that on the first definition the hadith shows God is able to commit injustice but does not, out of grace, bounty, generosity and beneficence, and that His creating His servants' deeds — injustice among them — does not attribute injustice to Him, since He is described only by His own acts; he transmits a report halted at Ubayy ibn Ka'b and similarly from Ibn Masud and Zayd ibn Thabit — 'were God to punish the people of His heavens and His earth He would do so without injustice to them' — while flagging its chain; the injustice forbidden between servants is of two kinds: injustice to one's own soul, whose greatest form is association — 'association is indeed a tremendous injustice' (Luqman 13) — then sins great and small, and injustice to others, the subject of 'I have made it forbidden among you', witnessed by the Farewell Pilgrimage sermon declaring blood, property and honour sacred, by Ibn Umar's 'injustice will be darknesses on the Day of Resurrection' and by Abu Musa's 'God grants respite to the wrongdoer until, when He seizes him, He does not let him escape'.

The no-harm maxim

At a glance

Overview

The hadith and its routes

Its grade in the view of those Ibn Rajab cites

Meaning

Connections

People and things also explored

Sources

Ideas

Injustice (zulm)