What is the meaning of the statement "It is true that retaliation and reckoning will take place between enemies through taking the good deeds of each other on the Day of Judgment"?

"It is true that retaliation and reckoning will take place between enemies through taking the good deeds of each other on the Day of Judgment. If there are no good deeds, bad deeds will be removed." What does this statement mean?

Dear Brother / Sister,

The decree mentioned in the question was taken from hadiths.

According to a narration from Abu Hurayra, the Prophet (pbuh) said,

“Whoever has oppressed another person concerning his reputation or anything else, he should beg him to forgive him before the Day of Resurrection when there will be no money (to compensate for wrong deeds), but if he has good deeds, those good deeds will be taken from him according to his oppression which he has done, and if he has no good deeds, the sins of the oppressed person will be loaded on him.” (Bukhari, Mazalim 10, Riqaq 48)

It is necessary for a Muslim to keep away from all kinds of oppression and injustice. A person who has oppressed others knowingly or unknowingly should ask forgiveness from the people he has oppressed. The reckoning on the Day of Judgment will be in the form of taking the thawabs and loading the sins onto the oppressor. This will take place like on the Day of Judgment as a necessity of divine justice.

As a matter of fact, the Prophet (pbuh) describes a person who comes to the presence of Allah with the rights of others as bankrupt and states the following:

"The bankrupt is a person who comes to the presence of Allah on the Day of Resurrection with the thawabs of his deeds of worship. He did many good deeds and worshipped in the world but he also oppressed others, beat some people, broke the hearts of some people, harassed others with his hand and tongue, etc.  Those people who were wronged by him will gather around him and demand their rights. They will sue him by saying, 'O Lord! He did this and that to me in the world. Take my right from him.' Allah will distribute the thawabs of his charities and good deeds but they will fall short to clear the account. Finally, the sins of those people will be loaded onto him and he will be sent to Hell. That person is a bankrupt." (Muslim, Birr, 60; Tirmidhi, Qiyama, 2)

A Muslim is a person who has surrendered to Allah. One of the names of Allah is al-Haqq. Haqq also means to ensure the truth, honesty and justice, in other words, to place everything in their proper place and to do everything properly. The opposite of it is groundlessness and oppression. A person who surrenders to God turns toward honesty and justice as He shows; he stands against the wrong and oppression. Therefore, a Muslim can be defined as "a person who does not harm other Muslims with his hand and tongue" (Bukhari, Iman, 4,5) as the Prophet (pbuh) says, that is, a person who does not wrong anyone in any way.

Oppression can be related to all fields and stages of human life. This field may be material or spiritual. Supreme feelings such as honor, self-esteem, dignity and freedom constitute the basis of life. Violation of them is considered as one of the biggest of oppressions.

On the other hand, issues like property, life, right to live, earning income and freedom of enterprise are the basic elements of material life; injustice related to them is regarded as a more common and known form of oppression.

Those who oppress others related to spiritual or material life have an opportunity before the Day of Judgment. That is, they should ask forgiveness from those whom they have oppressed and then repent to Allah.

This forgiveness is possible through paying the debt if he has violated financial rights of others, serving the penalty in the world, asking forgiveness from those whose rights he has violated and finally repenting to Allah. For, the Day of Judgement is a day of reckoning when there will be no gold and silver. On that day, everybody will be rewarded and punished for their good and bad deeds.

The reckoning there will be balanced by taking the thawabs or loading the sins. In other words, if a cruel or sinful person has good deeds, his good deeds will be given to the people whom he oppressed and whose rights he violated. If those thawabs are not enough to balance his unjust deeds, their sins will be loaded onto him; thus, everybody will get even. This is the requirement of divine justice.

Accordingly:

- It is necessary to keep away from all kinds of cruelty and injustice whether material or spiritual.

- Violation of a person’s honor, self-esteem and dignity is regarded as oppression just like violation of his wealth, property and life.

- Anyone who has committed oppression and injustice, knowingly or unknowingly, must ask forgiveness from those whom he has oppressed and wronged.

- There will be a reckoning on the Day of Judgement; everybody who has a right will be given his right fully.  

- Oppression and injustice harm good deeds and eliminate their thawabs.

Questions on Islam