On the Sense of Accountability that Taqwa Generates

Stressing the importance of monetary affairs, this hadith shows us how everyone will have to render a full account of his conduct in that field on the Day of Judgement, as to how he earned or acquired wealth in his life and in what manner did lie spend it.

It emphasizes that charity given from ill gotten wealth is not acceptable to God, and there is no real propitiousness in impure earnings. In the same way, should a person leave behind wealth obtained in an illegitimate way, it will recoil on him on the Day of Final Reckoning. He will be guilty both of making money dishonestly and leaving it to his heirs and successors to eat of the impure while to leave behind wealth acquired cleanly and honestly is a kind of charity, and will fetch a reward in the Hereafter.

The concluding part of the narrative explains why charity from unclean wealth will not find acceptance with the Lord and prove harmful for the giver on the Day of Last Judgement. Charity serves as an atonement for sins and acts as a means to forgiveness provided that it is given out of goods acquired through lawful means, but if it is given from wealth earned by corrupt and fraudulent practices, there will be no such property in it in the same way as dirty water can not be expected to make dirty clothes clean.

The substance of the above Tradition is that God is pure and accepts only offerings that are pure, i.e., from goods acquired through legitimate means. It, further, denotes that the commandment to eat of the good and lawful things was given to all the Prophets, in the same way as to all the Believers. A true Believer should, therefore, realize the significance of the Divine commandment and observe it scrupulously. The holy Prophet has, also, emphasised in it that ill-gotten wealth is so hateful to God that even if a man went to a sacred place, like a miserable beggar, to supplicate to the Almighty, but his food and clothes were of the impure, his prayers would not be accepted.

Apparently, it shows that a person whose sustenance is of the impure will go to Hell. But the commentators have expressed the view, in the light of other Traditions as well as verses of the Qur’an, that such a man will not be able to enter Heaven without undergoing punishment for living on unclean income. He may, however, be forgiven without punishment if he has repented sincerely before death or some high-souled bondsman has prayed for forgiveness, on his behalf, and the prayer has been granted, or the Gracious One, the All-merciful, Himself, decides to absolve him of the consequences of his sin.

The time, indicated in it, has come, to be sure. How many are there, today, even among those supposed to be religious-minded, who care to think or enquire about goods coming in their possession whether they are lawful or not. Maybe, even worse days are ahead. In another version of the same report, quoted in Musnad-i-Razeen, it is added that prayers will not be accepted at such a time. Inability to distinguish between the pure and the impure, and the lawful and the unlawful is, in fact, the spiritual death of a Muslim.

We will be giving below two incidents to illustrate what a profound effect the teachings of the holy Prophet had produced in the lives of the Companions. It is related, in Sahih Bukhari, about Hazrat Abu Bakr that, once, an attendant placed something to eat before him of which he partook a little. After it, the attendant told him that, before the advent of Islam, he had, once, posed as a sorcerer and read out the future for someone as sorcerers did. That man had met him, by chance, on that day, and given him the food, on that account, which he had offered to Hazrat Abu Bakr. As the latter heard of it, he made himself vomit by thrusting his fingers into the throat, and, thus, threw up the contents of his stomach.

Similarly, Imam Baihaqi has mentioned the following incident regarding Hazrat Omar. It is stated that, once, a person offered some milk to him which he drank. Afterwards, he asked the man how he had got it, and he replied that he was passing by such and such a Ghat (i.e., a landing place; a bathing place on a river-side) where some animals, including goats and she-camels that had been given away in Zakat were grazing and people were drawing milk from such of them as could be used for that purpose. They had given some of the milk to him as well which he had offered to Hazrat Omar. On hearing it, Hazrat Omar, too, vomited the milk, like Hazrat Abu Bakr.

Piety demands shunning, also, of what is doubtful

It is one of the Traditions that are regarded by the authorities as most important and expressing a fundamental ethical principle of Islam. First of all, it tells that the position of what is lawful or forbidden in the Shariat is clear and free from doubt, but there are many other things or acts whose legitimacy or other- wise is uncertain, that is, they can be held lawful on the basis of one principle of the Shariat and unlawful on the basis of another principle. What becomes a faithful Believer in respect of doubtful things is that he avoided them out of piety and prudence. In it, lies the safety of his faith and honour.

Proceeding from it, the above Tradition emphasizes that anyone who is not careful enough to abstain from doubtful things runs the risk of being led into committing the forbidden acts as well like the shepherd who asks for trouble by grazing his cattle in the vicinity of a reserved ground. Hence, as it is advisable for the herdsman to keep his cattle well away from a reserved forest or grazing ground, so, also, should a true Believer avoid doubtful things, in the interests of his faith and good name.

Lastly, it shows that the goodness or badness of a person depends on the state of his heart. If the heart of a man is sound and the light of Faith and Divine fear are present in it, his whole existence will be of piety and good-doing, and, conversely, if it is governed by sinful and carnal desires, his entire conduct will bear the imprint.

Some commentators have concluded from the arrangement of this Tradition that for the purification of the heart, it is essential for a man to abstain from doubtful things, along with the forbidden ones, in rood and drink.

There are many things which though lawful in themselves, are capable of exposing a man to sin. Prudence, therefore, demands that one kept away from them as well.