A Bankrupt

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
In the Name of Allah, Most Merciful, Most Compassionate
Assalaamu alaykum

Dear Friends

I pray that you are well.

The Prophet, Allah bless him and grant him peace, once asked his Companions: "Do you know who is the Bankrupt?" The Companions said: a bankrupt man among us is the one who has neither dirham with him nor wealth.

The Prophet, Allah bless him and grant him peace, said: The bankrupt of my Ummah is he who would come on the Day of Judgment with prayers, and fasting and Zakat; but who had offended one person, slandered another, unlawfully consumed the wealth of another person, shed the blood of this person and beat that person. Each one of these people would be given some of the wrongdoer’s good deeds. If his good deeds are exhausted before paying off what he owes, he takes from their sins which are cast on him, then he is cast into the Hell Fire." Muslim

It is extremely important to get your prayers, fasting and zakat in place. If you don't nothing else is going to work for you. But once you get them in place, don't think that you have a one way ticket to Paradise without a detour to a place where no one care to go--the Fire.

People have rights on us and society have rights on us. We have to be acutely aware of this. If we don't we will suffer tremendously.

As scholars mentioned, Allah is free of need and He does not need our anything and He can forgive us. But people are extremely needy. If we have done something wrong to them, they will be less inclined to forgive us because on the Day of Judgment they will be able to benefit from our wronging them in this life by taking good deeds away from us.

So we should be doubly concerned about the rights of people because people are greedy and needy creatures. On the Day of Judgment, we will be put face to face with those we have wronged.

Bankruptcy in this life is unpleasant, but you can recover from this hardship and someone might be able to help you to stand back on your feet again. Bankruptcy on the Day of Judgment is completely different. Accounts have to be settled. Wealth, power, intelligence or knowledge will not be helpful unless they were used properly during one’s life time. No one can buy good deeds or rewards on the Day of Judgment because none is for sale, and no one, even your own mother, will lend or give you even a single good deed on the Day of Judgmeny. On that day each person is concerned with his/her own affairs and salvation.

"On that Day man shall run from his own brother, and from his mother and father, and from his wife and his children. Each one of them, on that Day, will have enough concern of his own to make him indifferent to the others." Qur'an 80:34

The only thing that might help on that Day is your own good deeds. But if you have violated the rights of others or wronged people, your good deeds cannot help you. So it is extremely important to know what are people's rights on you to make sure you avoid bankrupting yourself on the Day of Judgment.

This person didn't know the rights of people on his tongue--He insulted them. He didn't know the right of people's property--he unlawfully ate their property. He didn't know the right of life--he spilled their blood. He didn't know people's rights to be treated with good conduct--he beat them. If he knew about them, he didn't care about them. So he suffered tremendously. His prayers, his fasting and his zakah did not help him whatsoever and he was flung into the Hell Fire.

"There was a man called Kirkara who used to look after the family and goods of the Prophet, Allah bless him and grant him peace. He died and the Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, "He is in the Fire." They went to look and found a cloak that he had stolen." (Bukhari)

We should be far away from wronging people. An advice of one living scholar, it is better to be wronged than to be a wrong-doer. This means that if you ever at a point in your life where if you do something you might be wronging someone and if you don't do something, they might be wronging you, then let them wrong you. You don't want the burden of bankruptcy in the Day of Judgment.

May Allah save us from the Fire. Ameen. Please don't forget us in your night prayers. JazakAllahu khairan.

And Allah knows best.
Wassalaam