عَنْ أَبِي هُرَيْرَةَ رضي الله عنه، قَالَ: قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ ﷺ: «مَنْ كَانَتْ لَهُ مَظْلِمَةٌ لِأَخِيهِ مِنْ عِرْضِهِ أَوْ شَيْءٍ، فَلْيَتَحَلَّلْهُ مِنْهُ اليَوْمَ، قَبْلَ أَنْ لاَ يَكُونَ دِينَارٌ وَلاَ دِرْهَمٌ، إِنْ كَانَ لَهُ عَمَلٌ صَالِحٌ، أُخِذَ مِنْهُ بِقَدْرِ مَظْلِمَتِهِ، وَإِنْ لَمْ تَكُنْ لَهُ حَسَنَاتٌ، أُخِذَ مِنْ سَيِّئَاتِ صَاحِبِهِ، فَحُمِلَ عَلَيْهِ».
Abu Hurayrah narrated that God’s Messenger (peace be upon him) said:
1. Whoever has done something wrong to his brother, touching his honour or something else, should set things right with him today, before a time will come when there will be neither gold nor silver currency.
2. [What will happen then is that] if he has good deeds in his record, something equal to his wrong will be taken away. If he has no good deeds, some of the bad deeds of the other person will be transferred to him.
1. The Prophet (peace be upon him) urges every Muslim to repent of all wrongdoing, and to repair any wrong done to others. If he has something he has unfairly taken from another person, he should return it. This applies to all deeds, whether touching someone’s honour, such as reviling or backbiting a person or alleging a falsehood against him, or touching his property, such as forcibly taking something belonging to him, or doing him some physical wrong. In any such case, a Muslim should set things right now, during this life, before he has to do it on the Day of Judgement, when financial transactions no longer apply. Setting things right means returning what was unfairly taken, seeking people’s pardon, and ensuring that they are satisfied.
2. If a person does not make such reparations during his lifetime, then justice will be established on the Day of Judgement by an exchange of good and bad deeds. If the one who has done wrong has some good deeds in his record, some of these will be taken away and given to the person who suffered injustice. If he has no good deeds, then some of the sins of the one who suffered injustice will be loaded onto the wrongdoer. This is stated by the Prophet in the following hadith.
God’s Messenger (peace be upon him) said:
‘Do you know who is bankrupt?’ People answered: ‘A bankrupt person is one who has neither money nor goods. He said: ‘In my community, a bankrupt person is one who on the Day of Judgement will show that he has attended to prayers, fasted, and paid zakat, but he has also reviled this person, levelled accusations on that person, taken money unlawfully from a third, injured or killed someone, and physically attacked another. Every one of them will be given some of his good deeds [in compensation]. If all of his good deeds are taken away but he still owes them compensation, then some of their bad deeds will be added to his, and he will be thrown into Hell. [1]
1. Every Muslim should beware of touching people’s property or causing them physical or mental injury. God will be quick with His punishment for wrongdoing.
The Prophet (peace be upon him) said:
‘No sin deserves that God be quick to punish its offender in this present life, in addition to what He has in store for him in the life to come, more than oppression and severance of ties of kinship’. [2]
2. God Almighty, the Master and Owner of the universe, has forbidden himself injustice.
He says in a qudsī hadith:
‘My servants, I have forbidden injustice for Myself and have made it forbidden among you. So, do not be unjust to one another’.[3]
Injustice is forbidden in all human dealings and situations, regardless of who may be the perpetrator.
3. Everyone should hasten to repair any wrongdoing. Otherwise, they will come to regret failing to do so.
4. One condition for the acceptance of repentance is the restitution of people’s rights and seeking their pardon. Every repentant sinner should be keen to ensure that his repentance is accepted.
5. A person suffering injustice may have no recourse other than supplication to God to help him. Such prayer is always answered, and the gates of Heaven are wide open to receive it.
‘Guard yourself against a prayer by a
The Prophet (peace be upon him) said:victim of injustice, because nothing stops such a prayer from going straight to God’. [4]
6. Every Muslim must beware against acting unjustly.
The Prophet (peace be upon him) said:
‘Beware of injustice, because injustice will be layers of darkness on the Day of Judgement’. [5]
7. It is very important to keep one’s good deeds, as they do not come easy. They are the result of good effort and sacrifice for God’s sake. Therefore, one should guard them lest someone suffering injustice or verbal injury should take some of them away.
8. No one likes to be bankrupt in this life. Bankruptcy in the life to come is much worse.
9. Let us imagine ourselves shouldering the burden of sins we have not committed. They have been loaded on us for a wrong word we might have said against someone else.
10. It is sound advice to give reparations for wrongs we might have done, so that we do not face the prospect of paying for them with our good deeds.
