Will a person be in sweat up to his neck on the Day of Judgment?

- Is there a hadith of our Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) stating that the sun will be brought closer at the time of the Day of Judgment and people will be in sweat up to their necks?

Dear Brother / Sister,

« تُدْني الشَّمْسُ يَومَ القِيَامَةِ مِنَ الخَلْقِ حتَّى تَكُونَ مِنْهُمْ كَمِقْدَارِ مِيل »

قَالَ سُلَيمُ بْنُ عَامرٍ الرَّاوي عنْ المِقْدَاد : فَوَاللَّهِ مَا أَدْرِي ما يَعْني بِالميلِ ، أَمَسَافَةَ الأَرضِ أَمِ المِيل الَّذي تُكْتَحَلُ بِهِ العيْنُ

« فَيَكُونُ النَّاسُ عَلَى قَدْرِ أَعْمالِهمْ في العَرَقِ ، فَمِنْهُمْ مَنْ يَكُونُ إِلى كعْبَيْهِ ، وَمِنْهُمْ مَنْ يَكُونُ إِلى رُكْبَتَيْهِ ، ومِنْهُمْ منْ يَكون إِلى حِقْوَيْهِ ومِنْهُمْ مَنْ يُلْجِمُهُ العَرَقُ إِلجاماً »

وَأَشَارَ رسول اللَّه صَلّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وسَلَّم بِيدِهِ إِلى فِيه

“On the Day of Judgement, the sun will be drawn near the servants until it has come a mile or two (away). The sun will melt them, until they will be in sweat according to their deeds. Among them, one will be covered up to his ankles, one will be covered up to his knees, one will be covered up to his waist, and one will be bridled with it.’” (Meanwhile, the Messenger of Allah pointed to his mouth.)” (Tirmidhi, Qiyamah 2)

“On the Day of Judgement, the sun will be drawn near the servants until it has come a mile.”

Sulaym Ibn Amir, who reported the hadith from Miqdad said, “I swear by Allah that I do not know if the Messenger of Allah referred to distance on the land or kohl applied on the eyes with the word “mile”.” The Messenger of Allah said,

“People will be covered by sweat based according to the sins they committed. Some of them will be covered up to their ankles, some up to their knees and some up to their waists; and some of them will be bridled with it.” Meanwhile, he pointed to his mouth. (Muslim, Jannah 62; see Tirmidhi, Qiyamah 6)

As it is clearly stated in the hadith, the sun will be drawn close to people on the Day of Judgement and people be covered in sweat with the difficulty of the reckoning and due to this closeness. Every one of them will be covered in sweat based on the bad deeds they committed in the world.

The sweat on the Day of Judgement is a sign of the suffering and pain people experience because they will be called to account for what they did in the world altogether; the reckoning will be done in a moment; the troubles will follow one another; the regret at that time will not be of any use.

In addition, when the heat of the sun and hellfire are added to it, the sweat will rise up to people’s mouths and ears. Those sufferings will be too severe to compare to the ones in the world.

In that case, people will stand in the places according to their deeds. If everybody stayed in the same line, they would be covered in sweat up to the same level. The earth is not at the same height everywhere; similarly, the area where people will be reckoned will not be at the same height.

The penalty mentioned in the hadiths above are related to unbelievers, rebels and sinners. Such a penalty is not in question for the people of Paradise who have perfect belief; they will lead an easy life in the shade of Allah’s throne. There are many verses and hadiths indicating it. 

The way of salvation on such a horrifying day is to obey Allah’s orders, to keep away from His prohibitions and to accept the sunnah of the Prophet (pbuh) as a guide in the world.

Accordingly,

- The penalty on the Day of Reckoning is based on the deeds of the people in the world and includes several kinds and degrees.

-  The sun will be very close to people on the Day of Judgment and those who are punished will be affected from the heat of the sun. 

- Those who do good deeds and keep away from bad deeds in the world will be protected from the severity of the penalty in the hereafter.

- Sweat is one of the means of penalty on the Day of Judgment.

-  The degree of sweating of people will be proportionate to their deeds in the world. (see Riyazü’s-Sâlihîn Tercüme ve Şerhi, Peygamberimizden Hayat Ölçüleri, Erkam Yay., Hadis No: 403, 404)

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