the prayer

The Accounts (7)

the first thing that the slave will be held accountable for:

As for the first thing that the slave will be held accountable for from the right of Allah Almighty upon him is: prayer

Proof to that: the Hadith of Abu Hurayrah (peace be upon him) who said: I heard the Prophet (peace be upon him) saying: “The first thing for which a person will be brought to account on the Day of Resurrection will be his Salah. If it is found to be complete then it will be recorded as complete, and if anything is lacking He will say: 'Look and see if you can find any voluntary prayers with which to complete what he neglected of his obligatory prayers.' Then the rest of his deeds will be reckoned in like manner”[1]

The first issue to be dealt with from the rights of people is: blood-shedding

Proof to that: the Hadith of Ibn Masood (peace be upon him) that the Prophet (peace be upon him) said: “The cases which will be decided first (on the Day of Resurrection) will be the cases of blood-shedding”[2]

That is because prayer is the pillar of the religion and the best of physical acts of worship. Blood-shedding is the greatest assault on the rights of people. This is in the first Hadiths of reckoning, except that it is made clear to people the reckoning of others. The main capital for the slave is his virtues. This capital could reduce and it could rise depending on what was between him and the people in the world. Maybe somebody might come with virtues like mountains but on the Day of Resurrection, he is penniless. Allah knows best.

In Sahih Muslim, there is the Hadith of Abu Hurayrah (peace be upon him) that the Prophet (peace be upon him) said: “Do you know who is poor? They (the Companions of the Holy Prophet) said: A poor man amongst us is one who has neither dirham with him nor wealth. He (the Holy Prophet) said: The poor of my Umma would be he who would come on the Day of Resurrecton with prayers and fasts and Zakat but (he would find himself bankrupt on that day as he would have exhausted his funds of virtues) since he hurled abuses upon others, brought calumny against others and unlawfully consumed the wealth of others and shed the blood of others and beat others, and his virtues would be credited to the account of one (who suffered at his hand). And if his good deeds fall short to clear the account, then his sins would be entered in (his account) and he would be thrown in the Hell-Fire.”[3]

In Sahih Bukhari there is the Hadith of Abu Hurayrah (peace be upon him) who said: the Prophet (peace be upon him) said: “Whoever has oppressed another person concerning his reputation or anything else, he should beg him to forgive him before the Day of Resurrection when there will be no money (to compensate for wrong deeds), but if he has good deeds, those good deeds will be taken from him according to his oppression which he has done, and if he has no good deeds, the sins of the oppressed person will be loaded on him”[4]

What a loss it is for whoever is poor on that day. People take from his virtues because of his understatement of the reluctance of people, their wealth and their rights so they oppress them so on the Day of Resurrection there will be darknesses. In the two Sahih there is the Hadith of Abdullah ibn Omar PBUT that the Prophet (peace be upon him) said: “Oppression will be a darkness on the Day of Resurrection.”[5]

With Muslim, there is the Hadith of Jabir (peace be upon him) that the Prophet (peace be upon him) said: “Be on your guard against committing oppression, for oppression is a darkness on the Day of Resurrection”[6]

So be careful oh blessed one and ponder. If you are among those who took from the rights of other people today then go to them and dissolve it before it is measured with virtues, not with Dinar or Dirham. We seek Allah’s refuge from oppression and bad deeds.

the rules that slaves will be accounted for in their basic form[7]

There are rules that came with proof regarding explaining the reckoning of the people on the Day of Resurrection. Allah Almighty wrote what is in our hands. In it there is an explanation of what is a salvation for us in the life and in the Hereafter if we hold onto it and follow what it has come with. It is the light from which guidance flourishes. Among those that came with it, there are rules that people will be accounted for on the Day of Resurrection. This is from His Highness’ clear proofs.