Bearing Burdens On
The Day Of Judgement
﴿ يَوْمَ لَا تَمْلِكُ نَفْسٌ لِّنَفْسٍ شَيْـئًا ۖ وَّالْأَمْرُ يَوْمَئِذٍ لِّلَّه ﴾
The Day a soul will not have the power to benefit another soul at all,
and the Command that Day will be with Allah. [82:19]
This is similar to what Allah f mentions in another verse:
﴿ وَلَا تَزِرُ وَازِرَةٌ وِّزْرَ أُخْرَىٰ ۚ ﴾
And the bearer of burdens will not
bear burden of another… [35:18]
Every person will be for themselves on the Day of Judgement. We will be held accountable for everything we have said and done in this world: no one, according to this verse, will be able to help us. Regarding the disbelievers, Allah f says that they said to the believers:
﴿ وَقَالَ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُواْ لِلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُواْ اتَّبِعُواْ سَبِيلَنَا وَلْنَحْمِلْ خَطَـٰيَـٰكُمْ ج وَمَا هُمْ
بِحَـٰمِلِينَ مِنْ خَطَـٰيَـٰهُم مِّن شَىْءٍ ۖ إِنَّهُمْ لَكَـٰذِبُونَ وَلَيَحْمِلُنَّ أَثْقَالَهُمْ
وَأَثْقَالًا مَّعَ أَثْقَالِهِمْ ج وَلَيُسْـَٔلُنَّ يَوْمَ الْقِيَـٰمَةِ عَمَّا كَانُواْ يَفْتَرُونَ ﴾
And those who disbelieve said to those who believe,
‘Follow our way, and we will carry your sins.’ But they are not going
to carry anything of their sins. Indeed, they are surely liars.
Rather, they will certainly carry their own burdens, and the burdens of others
with their burdens, and surely they will be questioned on the Day of
Resurrection about what they used to invent. [29:12-13]
We also learn from the following Ḥadīth:
عَنْ أَبِي هُرَيْرَةَ، أَنَّ رَسُولَ الله ﷺ قَالَ : « أَتَدْرُونَ مَا المُفْلِسُ ؟ » قَالُوا : المُفْلِسُ فِينَا مَنْ لاَ دِرْهَمَ لَهُ
وَلاَ مَتَاعَ . فَقَالَ : « إِنَّ المُفْلِسَ مِنْ أُمَّتِي يَأْتِي يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ بِصَلاَةٍ وَصِيَامٍ وَزَكَاةٍ ، وَيَأْتِي قَدْ شَتَمَ هَذَا وَقَذَفَ هَذَا وَأَكَلَ مَالَ هَذَا وَسَفَكَ دَمَ هَذَا وَضَرَبَ هَذَا ، فَيُعْطَى هَذَا مِنْ حَسَنَاتِهِ وَهَذَا مِنْ حَسَنَاتِهِ ، فَإِنْ فَنِيَتْ حَسَنَاتُهُ قَبْلَ أَنْ يُقْضَى مَا عَلَيْهِ أُخِذَ مِنْ خَطَايَاهُمْ فَطُرِحَتْ عَلَيْهِ ، ثُمَّ طُرِحَ فِي النَّارِ » .
Abu Hurairah h reported Allah’s Messenger g as saying:
“Do you know who is poor?” They (the Companions of the Holy Prophet g) said:
“A poor man amongst us is one who has neither a Dirham with him nor any possession.” He (the Holy Prophet g) said:
“The poor man of my Ummah is he who comes on the Day of Resurrection with prayers and fasts and Zakāt, but he finds himself bankrupt on that day since he hurled abuses upon others, brought calumny against others, unlawfully consumed the wealth of others, shed the blood of others and beat others, so his virtues will be credited to the account of those (who suffered at his hand). And if his good deeds fall short to clear the account, then his sins will be entered in (his account) and he will be thrown in the Hell-Fire.” [1]
Nothing and no one will come to our aid on the Day of Qiyāmah. Instead of people carrying our burden, they will burden us with their evil deeds if we wrong them. We must do all we can to ensure that we do not wrong others. We must seek forgiveness from those we have wronged.
THE FIVE QUESTIONS OF THE DAY OF JUDGEMENT
The Prophet g mentions in a Ḥadīth that the two feet of the son of Ādam will not move on the Day of Qiyāmah until he has been asked five questions:
عَنِ ابْنِ مَسْعُودٍ، عَنِ النَّبِيِّ ﷺ ، قَالَ :
« لاَ تَزُولُ قَدَمَا ابْنِ آدَمَ يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ مِنْ عِنْدِ رَبِّهِ حَتَّى يُسْأَلَ عَنْ خَمْسٍ :
عَنْ عُمْرِهِ فِيمَا أَفْنَاهُ ، وَعَنْ شَبَابِهِ فِيمَا أَبْلاَهُ ، وَمَالِهِ مِنْ أَيْنَ اكْتَسَبَهُ ،
وَفِيمَ أَنْفَقَهُ ، وَمَاذَا عَمِلَ فِيمَا عَلِمَ »
Ibn Mas‘ūd h narrated that the Messenger of Allah g said:
“The feet of the son of Ādam shall not move from before his Lord on the Day of Judgement, until he is asked about five things:
- About his life and what he did with it,
- About his youth and what he spent it doing,
- About his wealth and how he earned it,
- And what he spent it upon,
- What he did with what he knew.” [2]
May the Lord Almighty us enable to answer the above questions with ease and in accordance with His pleasure. Āmīn.
This concludes the summary of the Qur’ān, based on my lectures after Tarāwīḥ Ṣalāh during Ramaḍān 2022.
Once again, I pray to the Lord Almighty to make this work beneficial and to accept it from me and forgive me for any shortcomings contained herein. Āmīn.
Ramaḍān 2023
Madani Masjid, Leicester
[1] Muslim, 6579.
[2] Tirmidhī, 2583.
“
“The best among you (Muslims) are those who learn the Qur’an and teach it.”
The Prophet (peace be upon him)
