Bankruptcy - Free Deeds

Bankruptcy is a reality that many of us fear and try to avoid. No one wants to live a life of poverty and not be able to afford the basics, such as food and shelter. This is why everyone strives to live a comfortable and stable life.  

The Prophet ﷺ wanted to teach the companions about the true concept of bankruptcy. He ﷺ said, “Do you know who is the one who is bankrupt?” They said, “Among us, the one who is bankrupt is the one who has no Dirhams and no goods” He said, “Rather the one who is bankrupt amongst my Ummah is the one who will come on the Day of Resurrection with prayer, fasting and Zakah, but he will come having; insulted someone, slandered someone, consumed the wealth of people (stolen things), shed the blood of people and beaten people (bullying, fights), all of whom will be given some of his Hasanaat (good deeds). And if his Hasanaat run out before the scores have been settled, some of their sins will be taken and thrown onto him, then he will be thrown into the hellfire”. [Muslim] 

This hadith teaches us many things. One of the most important messages is that if you do anything bad, you will have to pay that person back on the Day of Judgement. How? By giving your hard-earned good deeds to them. The currency in the Hereafter is good deeds, Hasanaat. Imagine all the hardship you went through to attend Jumu’ah, you did wudu and got some good deeds, you walked to the place of Jumua’h and you got some good deeds, you sat down on the floor and got some good deeds, you listened to the khutbah and you got good deeds, you prayed two raka’ah and you earned good deeds. You sacrificed your lunch and therefore got a lot of good deeds. Imagine losing all that reward just by slandering or backbiting someone. Imagine losing a lot of these good deeds just because you physically or verbally intimidated someone. Honestly speaking, no one wants to give their hard-earned good deeds to others for free. It will be an utter loss. Looking carefully at the Hadith, we learn that the person in the Hadith would have come with many good deeds and so many acts of worship. Where he fell short was not these acts of worship, but with regards to interacting with other people. The Hadith specifically talks against insulting others, slandering, stealing and physical violence such as beating and hitting someone.  

You might ask the question, would Allah not forgive our sins, including the ones where we wronged others. The answer to that question is that Allah forgives sins that are between you and Allah. But, when you wrong other people, only they can forgive you. So my dear brothers and sisters, let us not trap ourselves by doing bad to others. At the end of the day, we will have to pay them back and what a sad scene it would be to see your own good deeds decrease right in front of your eyes on the Day of Judgement, a day in which even a single good deed will make a difference. If you have done something wrong, you can ask them to forgive you, return what you have stolen from them, and make sincere Dua for them. If you spoke bad about people on social media, then make good comments about them to override the bad.  

People will be shown the good and bad deeds on the Day of Judgement. Allah says,  
(8) وَمَن يَعْمَلْ مِثْقَالَ ذَرَّةٍ شَرًّا يَرَهُ (7) فَمَن يَعْمَلْ مِثْقَالَ ذَرَّةٍ خَيْرًا يَرَهُ 
“So whoever does an atom's weight of good will see it (7). And whoever does an atom's weight of evil will see it (8)”. [99:7-8] 

We are living in a world whereby we do mistakes on a daily basis. No doubt that we should constantly ask Allah to forgive us. Just like we want Allah to forgive us, we should also forgive others, especially those who have wronged us by insulting, slandering, stealing or physically hitting us. Forgiving others is so rewarding that it can actually be a means for you to enter paradise.  

One day the Prophet ﷺ was sitting with his companions and suddenly he said, “A man will come through this door and he will be a person of paradise.” A man from the Ansar came through the door. The next day the Prophet ﷺ repeated the same words, and the same man came in. The third day the Prophet ﷺ repeated the same again, and the same man came in. A young sahabah called Abdullah Ibn Amr followed the man and stayed with him for three days. Abdullah did not find anything extraordinary about this man. So, Abdullah asked the man, “why did the Prophet speak highly of you?” The man said, “I am as you have seen (meaning I am a normal person doing normal deeds).” When Abdullah was about to leave, the man said, “I forgive everyone before I go to sleep”. [Musnad Ahmed]  

So here is a man that does normal deeds, but he is guaranteed Paradise, because he forgives people on a daily basis. I am sure that this man had people insult him, physically abuse him, steal from him and harm him in other ways, but he still had the courage to forgive everyone.   

To conclude, we must be careful with our individual acts of worship and we should be careful with how we deal with others. Moreover, we should forgive those who wrong us in order to attain more of the forgiveness of Allah. Lastly, continuously and genuinely forgiving others is one of the ways to enter Paradise.  

I ask Allah to give us the tawfeeq to stay away from bankruptcy in this dunya and in the akhirah.