وَما ظَلَمناهُم وَلٰكِن كانوا هُمُ الظّالِمينَ

We did not wrong them, but they themselves were wrongdoers.

EXEGESIS

The pronoun hum (themselves) is considered a pronoun of separation (ḍamīr al-faṣl) which in addition to the definite article al in al-ẓālimīn (wrongdoers) serves to rhetorically restrict the predicate to the subject, i.e. it is they and only they themselves who are the wrongdoers.

EXPOSITION

This verse responds to a question and astonishment that may arise in the mind concerning the severity of punishment – that it is disproportionate to the crime, and that it is an injustice against them, for every crime has a fitting punishment. For instance, if a law sentences a thief to death, it would be considered an injustice and an excessive penalty. So, how about this eternal punishment – this despair, perpetual abiding, and unceasing torment for even a moment?

Firstly, God emphasises that His punishment is in no way oppressive. Being bound to hellfire eternally is a direct consequence of their own wrongdoings.^{‎[1]Rahnama, 17/103.} Secondly, the punishment in the hereafter is the natural consequence of the action itself, not merely a retribution imposed upon the doer for discipline or as a lesson for others, as is the case with penalties and fines in man-made laws. Whoever faces the punishment of the hereafter is facing the natural outcome of their own deeds in this world. It is they who have wronged themselves. If the veil were lifted from their eyes in this life, they would see what they are doing to themselves. Often, the natural consequences of an action may seem disproportionate from the perspective of social convention, yet they are inescapable. A person might make a small mistake while driving a car, for example, but it could lead to their own destruction and the destruction of those with them.^{‎[2]Hadi, 3/264-265.}

Whilst the previous verses referred to them as criminals (mujrimīn), this verse refers to them as oppressors (ẓālimīn), which suggests that man’s stepping into the valley of disbelief, polytheism, and sin is, in reality, man oppressing himself.^{‎[3]Rahnama, 17/103.} From a Quranic perspective, although evil befalls people, it results from their own actions, since they wrong their own selves (see 3:117, 3:135, 10:44, 16:118, 35:32, and 37:113).^{‎[4]Nasr, p. 2185.}

[1] Rahnama, 17/103.
[2] Hadi, 3/264-265.
[3] Rahnama, 17/103.
[4] Nasr, p. 2185.