Could you explain the hadith about who is bankrupt in the hereafter? What is meant by this hadith?: “Verily, the real bankrupt of my ummah (nation) are those who come on the Day of Resurrection with prayers..."

The Details of the Question

Could you explain the hadith about who is bankrupt in the hereafter? Could you make it clear what is meant by this hadith?: “Verily, the real bankrupt of my ummah (nation) are those who come on the Day of Resurrection with prayers, fasting, and charity, but also with insults, slander, consuming wealth, shedding blood, and beating others. The oppressed will each be given from his good deeds. If his good deeds run out before justice is fulfilled, then their sins will be cast upon him and he will be thrown into the Hellfire.”

The Answer

Dear Brother / Sister,

Abu Hurairah (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates: “The Prophet said that:

"Whoever wronged his brother with regard to his honor or any other matter, should seek his forgiveness today, before there are no longer any dinars, or dirhams; and if he has any righteous deeds, they will be taken from him, in accordance with the wrong he did; and if he has no hasanaat, some of the sayyi`aat of his counterpart will be taken and added to his burden.” [Bukhari: Mazalim,10, Riqaq 48; Tirmidhi, Qiyamah 2, (2421)

The hadith encourages Muslims not to be unfair to their Muslim fellows. And it encourages them to seek forgiveness if they have treated them unfairly. The unfairness may be against the spiritual being expressed by the word 'honor'. What is meant by the phrase "any other matter" are the following: giving harm to any kind of his property, injuring him, and even slapping him. In fact, the phrase "any kind of honor and property" is used in Tirmidhi's narration.

This meaning is expressed in a different manner in Muslim’s narration:

Verily, the bankrupt of my nation are those who come on the Day of Resurrection with prayers, fasting, and charity, but also with insults, slander, consuming wealth, shedding blood, and beating others. The oppressed will each be given from his good deeds. If his good deeds run out before justice is fulfilled, then their sins will be cast upon him and he will be thrown into the Hellfire.

This hadith does not contradict the following verse of the Quran No bearer of burdens can bear the burden of another.”(al-Anaam, 6/164) For, this person has been punished because of what he himself did. This is because his good deeds are deducted, in accordance with the justice of Allah towards His slaves, in proportion of his own misdeeds.

Humaydi wrote the following in Kitabu'l-Muwazana: “People are divided into three categories.”

· Those whose good deeds surpass their misdeeds.

· Those whose misdeeds surpass their good deeds.

· Those whose good deeds are equal to their misdeeds.

The first group will achieve salvation, as stated by the Quran explicitly.

Owing to their misdeeds surpassing their good deeds, the second group will suffer anguish in proportion to the amount of their misdeeds from the time when Israfil blows the Trumpet to the time when the last person leaves Hell.

And the last group is those in Purgatory (somewhere between Heaven and Hell). They will go to Heaven through Allah's mercy.

Abu Hurairah (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates: “The Prophet (pbuh) said,

"On the Resurrection Day, the rights will be paid to those to whom they are due so much so that a hornless sheep will be retaliated for by punishing the horned sheep which broke its horns." [Muslim, Birr 6, (2582); Tirmidhi, Qiyamah 2, (2422)]

In order to explain this hadith, Nawawi says: “This hadith is a statement regarding the fact that animals will be also resurrected, and they will be returned just like the people that are obliged to worship (because they are mature enough and healthy mentally), children, insane people and the people who did not receive any notifications about religion. There is evidence regarding the issue in the Quran and in the sunnah of the Prophet. Allah stated the following in the Quran:

When the wild beasts are herded together (in human habitations); (At-Takwir, 81/5)

If there is no logical or religious drawback to understanding a word in a verse or hadith in its apparent meaning, it is necessary to understand it as it seems. Islamic scholars say, “On the Day of Judgment, punishment, and rewards are not a requirement for resurrection and gathering. The fact that a hornless sheep will be retaliated for punishing the horned sheep is not retaliation because of being responsible but because of justice.

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