SPIRITUAL BANKRUPTCY

 

By

Ibn Abdillah As-sudaisiy Al-Iloori

There are some things we do take for granted, while they are serious in sight of Allāh. You are packing out of someone's house owing rent of some months. Some people would even owe more than a year's rent and they will pack out quietly without even informing the landlord or his agent. They think they are smart, not knowing they are only hurting themselves. Even if you use one day extra after your rent had expired, courtesy still demands that you ask and obtain the owner's express concession. 

Let us not belittle any form of debt. As for those that you had taken what belongs to them unjustly in the past, you still have time to apologise to them and return what belongs to them. Anyone who reminds you of your debt or obligation is not your enemy. He is one of those who loves you most. Death can come anytime. If you do not pay what you owe in this world, you will pay in the hereafter, except the person forfeits it willingly. Allāh says in Suratul Māidah:

يأيها الذين آمنوا أوفوا بالعقود

O you who have believed, fulfill your obligations (Q5:1)

On the Day of Resurrection, money will be useless. You will not even buried with a penny. Even if you are buried with money, some people would go and steal it in your grave. We are in a dangerous world. The rights of others you took unjustly would be paid from your good deeds. And if someone is so wicked to the extent that those he had wronged are too many people and they have exausted his good deeds, the evil deeds of other people waiting on his neck would be added to his own evil deeds till he becomes bankrupt and left with nothing but evils. Allāh's aid is sought.

It must be noted that debt is of different kinds. The kind of debt we mostly talk about is that which relates to money or property. But the definition of debt is beyond that. The one who victimises another person or takes the life of another person unjustly is indebted to his victim. The one who backbites another person unjustly is indebted to the one who is backbitted unjustly. 

From the worst of human beings on earth are those who delibrately take people's life unjustly. Then, brigands who terrorise innocent people without any justification. Then, leaders who are experts in stealing of public funds when citizens wallow in hunger and abject poverty. Then, those who snatch other people's properties unjustly. Some people would even hijack what does not belong to them and no one can confront them because of their harmful tendencies. Fitnah is worse than murder. In all these crimes, their victims would hang on their necks on the Day of Judgment. 

In the popular Hadith of Abu Hurayrah رضي الله عنه on "Al-Muflis" (the bankrupt), the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم said:

إِنَّ الْمُفْلِسَ منْ أُمَّتِي يَأْتِي يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ بِصَلَاةٍ 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

“Verily, the bankrupt of my nation are those who come on the Day of Resurrection with prayers, fasting, and charity, but also with insults, slander, consuming wealth, shedding blood, and beating others. The oppressed will each be given from his good deeds. If his good deeds run out before justice is fulfilled, then their sins will be cast upon him and he will be thrown into the Hellfire.” [Source: Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 2581]

May Allāh guard us against bankruptcy in this world and the hereafter.