Will you explain the hadith about the poor entering Paradise before the rich?

It is stated in a hadith that a rich person will enter Paradise five hundred years after a poor person. Is it valid for a rich person who thanks Allah? Does it depend on the state of the richness?

Dear Brother / Sister,

"The poor Muhajirs will enter Paradise five hundred years before the rich Muhajirs.” (1)

In another narration, it is stated that the poor will enter Paradise forty years earlier than the rich. (2) Various interpretations were made regarding the different numbers in the two hadiths. For instance, it is stated that the difference of numbers does not aim to make limitations but to express a long time; thus, the two hadiths are combined. (3) That is, these numbers are not exact numbers but indicate a long time. There are also different views in the interpretations of the content.  

We see that the poor who show patience and the honest rich people who thank Allah are put before the others. Accordingly, we cannot reach a general decree that every poor person will enter Paradise before every rich person. There will be so many poor people who will enter Paradise the last and rich people who will enter Paradise first. For, it is necessary not to forget the hadith of the Prophet (pbuh) stating that the honest and reliable merchants will be resurrected together with prophets, veracious people and martyrs (4) and similar ones. Therefore, it should not be understood that poverty is praised. (5)

Ibn Hazm (d. 456/1064) attributes the poor Muhajirs’ entering Paradise before the rich to doing a lot of righteous deeds, not to being poor. (6) There are some scholars who make the interpretation that the poor who do not have any property and wealth will enter Paradise before the rich because they have nothing for which they will be called to account. 

Ibn Taymiyya (d. 728/1328) explains the reason why the poor enter Paradise before the rich as follows:

"The poor will enter Paradise before the rich because they have no property and wealth for which they will be called to account. The rich will be called to account for their property and wealth; they will be late because they will be asked how they obtained and how they spent their property. However, after entering Paradise, their degrees will be higher than the poor if they did more righteous deeds. As a matter of fact, the rich prophets, veracious people and the others will be superior to the poor because of doing more righteous deeds."(7)

Therefore, Ibn Taymiyya states that the reason why the poor enter Paradise before the rich is not only because of poverty but also having a very short reckoning and that the reason why the rich enter Paradise late is not only because of richness but also having a very long reckoning due to their property and wealth.(8)

Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya (d. 751/1350) makes a similar interpretation:

Although the hadith indicates that the poor will enter Paradise before the rich, it does not show that the poor will be superior to the rich in terms of degree and rank. A rich person who thanks Allah and a king who acts justly may go to Paradise late but when they enter Paradise, their degree and rank will be higher. (9) However, when they enter Paradise, their ranks may be higher than the poor entering Paradise before them. That Abdurrahman b. Awf (d. 32/652) is delayed because of the abundance of his property when he is called to account and joins the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) and his Companions later does not mean that his degree is lower; it does not prevent his being one of the first Muslims and being one of the ten people who were given the glad tiding of Paradise." (10)

References:

1- Tirmidhi, Zuhd, B. 37. See also, Abu Dawud, Ilm, B.13; Ibn Majah, Zuhd, B. 6; Ahmad b. Hanbal, Musnad, II, 296,343.
2- Muslim, Zuhd, H. No: 37; Tirmidhi, Zuhd, B. 37; Darimi, Riqaq, B. 118.
3- Canan İbrahim, Kütüb-i Sitte Muhtasarı Tercüme ve Şerhi,VII, 445, Akçağ Publications, Ank., 1988. According to the verse, the period of 500 years is in accordance with the time in the world; in the hereafter, it is half a day. “Verily a Day in the sight of thy Lord is like a thousand years of your reckoning.” It shows that 500 years of the world equals to half a day in the hereafter. See Tirmidhi, Zuhd, B. 37. For the verse, see al-Hajj, 22/47.
4- Tirmidhi, Buyu, B. 4. See also, Ibn Majah, Tijarat, B. 1.
5- Nawawi, Riyadus-Salihin, III, p 237, translation and explanation, M. Yaşar Kandemir-İ. Lütfi Çakan-R. Küçük, Erkam Publications, İst., 1997.
6- See Ibn Taymiyya, Majmu’u Fatawayi Ibn Taymiyya, XI, 21, 69, 127-128, arranged by Abdurrahman Muhammad b. Qasim, Maktabatul-Maarif, Ribad, Maghrib, nd.
7- Ibn Taymiyya, ibid, XI, 121.
8- Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya, Uddatu’s-Sabirin wa Zahiratush-Shakirin), p., 182, 189, translated by, Zeynelabidin Tatlıoğlu, İnsan Publications, İst., 1989.
9- Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya, ibid, p., 189.

(See Saffet Sancaklı, Fakirlik ve Zenginlikle İlgili Hadisler Üzerine Bir Deneme, C.Ü.İ.F.D., issue: 5/1, Sivas, 2001.)

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