Is it necessary to ask for forgiveness from one another when Ramadan begins so that our fasting will be accepted?

- There are posts on social media stating that the Companions asked for forgiveness from one another before entering Ramadan so that their fasting would be accepted and that fasting would not be accepted unless we do so.
- For example, there are messages saying, “Let us enter Ramadan by asking for forgiveness from one another.
- Is it true?

Dear Brother / Sister,

We have not been able to find any hadith narration stating that our Prophet (pbuh) and the Companions or the Companions themselves asked forgiveness from one another before the month of Ramadan.

Besides, we have not come across any hadith narration stating that fasting will not be accepted unless believers ask forgiveness from one another before the month of Ramadan.

However, if those who have violated rights of others die before they ask forgiveness and are forgiven, the rightful owners will receive their rights during the interrogation to be held in the Resurrection Place in the hereafter. Those rights will be compensated by with the thawabs of worship, and if one has no thawabs, the sins of the person whose rights have been violated will be given to the violator.

The Prophet described a person who violated people’s rights as “bankrupt” with the following explanation:

“This person comes to the presence of Allah in the hereafter having fulfilled his religious duties such as prayer, fasting and zakah. However, he comes with such sins that he has cursed some people, shed the blood of some people, grabbed the property of some people, and slandered others. In this situation, the thawabs he earned from his worship are taken and distributed to the rightful owners. If their worship and good deeds are not enough to compensate those rights, they are taken from the sins of the rightful owners and added to the sins of the violator. Thus, this person, whose good deeds have been lost and whose sins have increased even more, hence becoming bankrupt, will be thrown into Hell.” (Muslim, Birr, 59; see also Bukhari, Mazalim, 10)

So, the worship of those who have violated rights of others has been accepted and they have received their thawabs.

However, if they do not ask forgiveness in this world and are not forgiven, their thawabs will be given to the people whose rights have been violated in the hereafter. If they have no thawab or if the thawabs are not enough to compensate the rights of others, the sins of the violated people will be given to them.

Therefore, those who have violated other people’s rights should fulfill their worship and try to ask forgiveness from the people whose rights they have violated as soon as possible. They must not make the mistake of abandoning worship just because they have violated other people’s rights.

However, those who commit haram or those who have violated other people’s rights might not receive full thawabs from the worship they perform, and they might not receive the great thawabs declared for that worship because sins reduce the thawabs of those deeds of worship.

To sum up, we must stay away from all kinds of sins, be very sensitive about people’s rights and avoid violating people’s rights. If we commit a sin knowingly or unknowingly and violate the rights of others, we must repent and ask for forgiveness from those people. Thus, we will fully receive the thawabs of our deeds of worship such as prayer, fasting, and zakah, and we will be saved from going bankrupt in the hereafter inshallah.

Questions on Islam