The Four Questions: Your Life's Reckoning on Judgment Day

The Four Questions of the Day of Judgment

In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful. Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds, and the end of all those who fear Him, and there is no aggression except against the wrongdoers. I bear witness that there is no god but Allah, alone, and there is no partner for Him, Lord of the worlds. And I bear witness that our master, and our supporter, and our prophet, and our beloved, and our intercessor is Muhammad, His servant and His messenger, the one sent as a mercy to the worlds — may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him, and upon his family and his companions, the good, the pure, and those who follow them with goodness, and call for his support until the Day of Recompense.

My dear respected brothers and sisters in Islam, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has sent us all into this world for a test and a trial, and Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will judge between His creation on the Day of Judgment. All of us are here for a test and a trial.

Every day, the good conditions that we go through and enjoy, and the bad conditions that we are going through — the challenges — they are all a test from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. On the Day of Judgment, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala — He is known as the Yawm al-Dīn, the Day of Judgment — and He is the Mālik Yawm al-Dīn, the Master of that Day of Judgment. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will ask us several questions.

Rasulullah ﷺ, in one hadith, mentioned the first questions that will be asked. He said:

(Sunan al-Tirmidhī, Hadith 2417)

Nobody will be permitted to move from his position on the Day of Judgment. His feet will be in a locked position — qadamā 'abd, the two feet of every slave of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will be locked, will not be allowed to move. He will be frozen, ḥattā yus'ala 'an arba' — until they answer four questions:

• 'An 'umrihi fīmā afnāh — How did you spend your life?
• 'An shabābihi fīmā ablāh — Specifically your youth, when you were young and all of your physical, emotional, and mental faculties were at their peak — how did you spend that portion of your life?
• 'An mālihi min ayna iktasabahu wa fīma anfaqah — Regarding your wealth: how did you acquire it? How did you earn it? And how did you spend it? There are two parts to this third question.
• 'An 'ilmihi mādhā 'amila bihi — How much knowledge of the deen did you acquire? And how much of that knowledge that you acquired did you practice upon? This also has two parts to it.

Our Indifference to the Sharī'ah in Worldly Dealings

SubhānAllāh — when it comes to question number three and number four: one is regarding wealth, our financial matters, our worldly occupations, earning and livelihood and expenditure — both the income side and the outgoing side, both how we are earning and where we are spending — Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will be asking us about it. And likewise number four: how much knowledge of the deen did we acquire, and how much of that knowledge we acquired did we practice upon?

There is a general lack of awareness and lack of concern when it comes to earning and when it comes to spending — the attitude that what does the deen have anything to do with this? Yes, if we are performing ṣalāh, we understand that I want my ṣalāh to be valid. I want to ensure I will ask a scholar or read or try to find out: do I need to make up a ṣalāh or not? Is my ṣalāh valid or not? This is a mistake I made.

Or how do I calculate my zakāh? Or I had to take an injection — will that break my fast? Or if I am going for Ḥajj, I want to make sure my Ḥajj is performed correctly — is this a violation of iḥrām or not? So we are going to try to learn, hopefully attend some fiqh of Ḥajj workshops before we go, or read up on it. We are investing so much in this journey of a lifetime; we do not want our Ḥajj to be wasted away and not count in the court of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.

But when it comes to earning and when it comes to spending, then we also do research — but the research we do is limited to the dunyā. What is the best investment? Where can I make the best return on my investment? And the fact that there may be something that Allah has to say about it — not something quite of concern. The deen has input on this important part of our life, but that is something we are not really interested to learn.

The Nation of Nabi Shu'ayb — A Qur'ānic Warning

This was the attitude specifically mentioned in the Qur'ān of Nabī Shu'ayb عليه السلام and his nation. They mocked him and said, in a very mean and sarcastic manner: "You are praying so much ṣalāh, and because you are continually praying, this has made you go crazy. And you have gone so crazy that you are saying such nonsensical things that completely have no bearing with reality."

"Because you are praying so much, now you have begun to believe that we should give up worshipping the idols of our forefathers. What nonsense. And what's even more amazing and strange is that you think you have the right to tell us how we should earn and how we should spend our money — even though it is our money — and you are telling us how to earn it and how to spend it."

They called him al-Ḥalīm al-Rashīd — rarely, in a very rude and sarcastic manner, mocking Shu'ayb عليه السلام. We hope we do not say such things with our tongues. But with our actions — if we look at how we are earning and how we are spending — many times those who may be observant of the Sharī'ah in their injunctions of the deen when it comes to ibādāt, when it comes to worship, when it comes to 'itiqādāt, when it comes to beliefs — when they look at the mu'āmalāt and dealings, there are a lot of violations of the order of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.

Mu'āmalāt when it comes to earning, mu'āmalāt in spending, mu'āmalāt also when it comes to our interpersonal relations — when it comes to marriage, when it comes to — na'ūdhu billāh — separation after marriage, when it comes to alimony, when it comes to child support — na'ūdhu billāh — all of these very sad and tragic things that are happening in Muslim families and in our communities. Then those Muslims who are otherwise very punctual with their Tahajjud, very punctual with their fasting and nawāfil fasting — but in these circumstances, the entire Sharī'ah, all the akhlāq is just literally thrown out the window, and then we end up seeing a very, very ugly side. Whatever the lawyers are pushing us and showing us — different evil tricks and ploys to bring the other person down, make them pay heavily, make them suffer — and we take their bait and we go ahead with all of this, which is absolutely ḥarām from the Sharī'ah perspective.

May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala guide us.

Three-Fourths of Fiqh is Mu'āmalāt

When it comes to fiqh, this is a known fact that the mu'āmalāt and the dealings is three-fourths of our fiqh. From Ṭahāra, Ṣalāt, Zakāt, Ṣawm, and Ḥajj — all of the ibādāt in totality is one-fourth of fiqh. And mu'āmalāt are three-fourths of fiqh.

This is such a basic division that we can see from one of the greatest books in fiqh ever written in any madhhab — and definitely in the Ḥanafī fiqh — which is Al-Hidāyah of Al-Marghīnānī, which is taught throughout the world. It is a very deep book — so much depth in the text, because it is a summary. The author had written a longer work. He had first written a very short work, in fact a primer: Bidāyat al-Mubtadī — introduction for the beginner. Bidāyat al-Mubtadī: introduction for the one doing ibtidā'.

And then people said that's all you have written — it's so little. Can you share with us more knowledge? We would love to learn more from you than what you have mentioned in this short booklet. So then he wrote the Kifāyat al-Muntahī. From Bidāyat al-Mubtadī to Kifāyat al-Muntahī — Kifāyat: that which is sufficient and sufficient for the Muntahī, the one who wants to reach the limits and the intihā' of knowledge. So that was in 80 volumes.

It was not an encyclopedia written by a whole team of scholars or a whole panel with collaboration from different departments and universities globally, as typically is done when it comes to encyclopedias — written not by one person or even a team, but multiple teams of scholars and researchers, and under them their fellows and PhD students, who all write different entries and it becomes an encyclopedia. But subhānAllāh, this was the depth and the breadth of the scholars of the past — that he wrote all 80 volumes himself. And then the students came back and said, "SubhānAllāh, you need a lifetime of Nūḥ عليه السلام — 950 years — to get through this. This is too much. Allah ta'āla allowed you to write it, but for us to even read it is going to take forever. Can you summarize it?" So then he summarized it in the book known as Al-Hidāyah, which is taught here at Dār as-Salām and taught in seminaries throughout the world.

In this Al-Hidāyah, the first volume is from Ṭahāra, Ṣalāt, Zakāt, Ṣawm, and Ḥajj — all the ibādāt. And then from volumes 2, 3, and 4: from Nikāḥ and Ṭalāq and all the personal family life fiqh, and then dealings in the marketplace — buying and selling, renting and leasing, employment law, criminal law, and government law — all of these mu'āmalāt and dealings of our worldly life are outlined in three out of the four volumes. SubhānAllāh. So it's a very simple fraction: three-fourths of our fiqh is mu'āmalāt, and only one-fourth of the fiqh is ibādāt.

Whereas those who are not practicing the deen are not practicing any of the four parts — but those who are practicing to some extent are focusing just on the one-fourth, the first fourth, and forgetting about the remainder.

Imām Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥasan al-Shaybānī on True Zuhd

Somebody asked Imām Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥasan al-Shaybānī rahmatullāhi 'alayhi — a great student of Imām Abū Ḥanīfa rahmatullāhi 'alayhi and Imām Abū Yūsuf — that your contemporary, Imām 'Abdullāh ibn Mubārak raḥimahullāh, has written a celebrated work that we still study today, known as Kitāb al-Zuhd — the book of asceticism and zuhd, turning away from worldly pleasures and worldly enjoyments, focusing on Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Can you also pen something on this topic?

So he said, "I have written the Kitāb al-Buyū'" — the book of transactional law. The questioner was very shocked and said, "That's about the marketplace and buying and selling and worldly engagements — how is that? That's a great contribution in that field, but I was requesting something on zuhd." So he said, "That is the reality — that whoever is going to implement the Sharī'ah when it comes to buying and selling, and when it comes to earning and spending, he is a true zāhid. Because he is now abstaining from that which is ḥarām and engaging in that which is ḥalāl with the intention to please Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala."

What does a zāhid mean? Does a zāhid mean a person who does not buy anything, does not sell anything, does not engage in any worldly enterprise? That's not a zāhid, that's not zuhd — that's rahbāniyya. And rahbāniyya is to take a vow of celibacy, not to get married, not to engage in any worldly things, and to go out into the monasteries and convents and become monks and nuns. This was the way of the Christians of the past, and Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala speaks about this in the Qur'ān, in Sūrat al-Ḥadīd, and says:

This extreme form of asceticism was an innovation and a bid'ah of the Christians. Not to get married, and to become a nun, and to become a priest and a monk, to divorce oneself from complete worldly life and go and live in the mountaintops. Allah had only obligated them to seek His pleasure and to follow the way He had revealed in the Tawrāh and Injīl. They did not fulfill that responsibility and they came up with their own religion.

Sayyidunā 'Umar and the Monks of Bilād al-Shām

When Sayyidunā 'Umar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb, Amīr al-Mu'minīn raḍiyallāhu ta'āla 'anhu, traveled to Bilād al-Shām — greater Syria and Jordan, all the way up to Bayt al-Maqdis — he had, throughout his ten and a half year Khilāfah, continually wanted to go to the front lines. But he was held back by Sayyidunā 'Uthmān, Sayyidunā 'Alī, 'Abd al-Raḥmān ibn 'Awf, and Ṭalḥa and al-Zubayr raḍiyallāhu ta'āla 'anhum — the 'Asharā Mubashshara and the Shūrā. They said, "You are such a great asset for the Ummah, we cannot afford to risk your life — you need to stay here safe in the capital. Going out on the front line is a danger to your life, and the longer you live, you are a door holding back so many fitnas," as was prophesized by Rasulullāh ﷺ.

However, when the Archbishop of Jerusalem said that he would hand over the city without any bloodshed, with the condition that the Amīr al-Mu'minīn himself comes to accept the keys to the city — in the famous incident when his slave was riding and he was walking as they were taking turns — when they arrived, it was the slave's turn. Naturally, the slave said, "We are coming to the city. Let me walk and you continue riding." He said, "No, this is not fair. It is your turn to ride, so you ride and I'll walk." And that is how they entered the city.

That was the exact reason they had invited the Amīr al-Mu'minīn to come — because they had seen this prophecy in their scriptures, that the follower of the final prophet will come with his slave riding and himself walking. This is a very famous incident from history.

So this was the one time, because of this particular request, that he put this to the mashwarah — and then the ṣaḥābah, who were not happy that he would go — but when he pressed his case and said, "This will avoid a lot of bloodshed, and all I have to do is go and accept the keys and come back," they finally said, "Fine, you can go."

In that trip, he passed by the monasteries of the monks and the nuns. And when he saw their condition, he said:

"These are those people who have lost out on the worldly pleasures, and they have lost out on the hereafter as well. These are the people in open loss." SubhānAllāh.

And these are the people concerning whom Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says in the Qur'ān:

"Shall I not inform you who are those who are in the greatest loss when it comes to their deeds? They are those who are doing extreme sacrifices in their worldly life." It's not only the Christian monks and priests and nuns — there are also in the Eastern traditions some of the Hindu sadhus and also the Buddhist priests who are doing unspeakable levels of mujāhadah and sacrifice: standing on one leg, fasting for days and nights on end, extreme cold, extreme heat, extreme hunger — extreme levels of mujāhadah. Ḍalla sa'yuhum fī al-ḥayāt al-dunyā — all of their worldly sacrifices, their mujāhadah, and their deeds are going to be utterly wasted. Gone. Wasted. Wa hum yaḥsabūna annahum yuḥsinūna ṣun'ā — whereas they were under the impression and the belief that they are doing very good deeds, they are going to get a reward — but there will be no reward for them whatsoever. So these are the akhsarīna a'mālan — those who are in the greatest loss.

The Ship and the Ocean — Engaging the World Correctly

So Kitāb al-Zuhd means that a person has to engage in worldly enterprises but has to do it in the correct manner — he is the true zāhid, this is the true 'ābid. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala wants us to live in this world.

One beautiful tashbīh — similitude and example — given by Jalāluddīn Rūmī rahmatullāhi 'alayhi in his Mathnawī is the famous example — you must have heard it many times — of the ship. The ship is built on the docks, on the land, but for it to be useful in carrying passengers, in carrying cargo to the destination, it has to enter the ocean. The ship has to enter the sea. And that is how it will go from one port to another, cross the Atlantic Ocean, the Pacific Ocean, all the oceans of the world. If the ship is going to remain on the land, it is not going to fulfill its purpose. So the ship must enter the ocean to get to its destination. However, that ocean — that water — should not enter the ship. If the water starts entering the ship, that ship is going to sink very soon.

Likewise, we have to live in this world, we have to be engaged in worldly enterprises — but the love of this world should not enter our heart. And that is not something easy. That is why it is called a test. And that is why this is an ibtilā' — a test from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And how are we going to ensure that we are engaging with the world around us in the correct manner? We have to learn the deen. And that brings us to question number four that we began with:

How much knowledge of the deen did we acquire? And how much of the knowledge we acquired did we practice upon?

Farḍ 'Ayn and Farḍ Kifāyah in Acquiring Knowledge

So there are two levels of ilm. One is known as farḍ 'ayn and one is known as farḍ kifāyah. Farḍ 'ayn is an obligation upon every single individual — like the five daily ṣalawāt. And farḍ kifāyah is an obligation on certain individuals in every community — not upon every single individual — like ṣalāt al-janāzah. If nobody performs ṣalāt al-janāzah, everyone is sinful for abandoning a farḍ action. If some individuals perform the ṣalāt al-janāzah, the obligation is uplifted from everyone.

So ṣalāt al-janāzah is not sunnah. Ṣalāt al-janāzah is not wājib or nāfil. Ṣalāt al-janāzah is farḍ — but it's farḍ kifāyah. So if there is a Jumu'ah ṣalāh and after the Jumu'ah there is a janāzah — if somebody has to run to work and he leaves, and you ask him, "Why are you leaving?" he may say, "I did my farḍ and now it's a nāfil or sunnah prayer — I don't have to go to janāzah." So he's right that he doesn't have to go to the janāzah, but he's wrong that he thinks it's sunnah. It's not sunnah. It's actually farḍ. The only reason it's permissible for him to go is because, alḥamdulillāh, people are performing the ṣalāt al-janāzah. If there were nobody performing the janāzah, no matter what his job or whatever it is, he would have to stay — because it would have become farḍ for him. So it's not sunnah. It is farḍ. But it's not farḍ 'ayn. It's farḍ kifāyah.

Just like, for example, i'tikāf. Ten days of i'tikāf is a sunnah mu'akkadah 'alal kifāyah — a strongly emphasized sunnah of Rasulullāh ﷺ, and missing it continuously is a sin. Bar'al kifāyah — meaning somebody should do it in the masjid. If nobody is doing i'tikāf for ten days, then the entire community will be sinful for abandoning this sunnah practice.

So some people ask: "We want to come do i'tikāf at Dār as-Salām and we live in such and such city." The first thing I ask them is: Is there a ten-day i'tikāf happening in your city, in your masjid? Even though, of course, we would love them to come and benefit from the programs here — but we have to be loyal to the deen first. And why would we ask them to stay there as well? For the deen. So if they say there is nobody at all — if I don't do i'tikāf here, nobody will be doing i'tikāf — I will say: you must do i'tikāf in your masjid so that the obligation is fulfilled for your community. And if there are individuals already performing it there, then you can come.

So subhānAllāh, when it comes to the knowledge of the deen, there are two levels. One is: whatever 'amal we are doing in our own life — all our ibādāt, and whatever mu'āmalāt we are involved in — to learn the fiqh of that, to learn the rulings regarding that, is farḍ 'ayn on every individual. And to learn the fiqh of that which does not even apply to you — but the totality of what the Qur'ān says, the totality of the ḥadīth, the totality of the depths of discussions regarding fiqh and uṣūl and principles — that is also farḍ. But what level of farḍ? Farḍ kifāyah. In every community there must be some individuals fulfilling this.

The Qur'ānic Basis: Sūrat al-Tawbah

And how did we come up with this? We didn't come up with this on our own — it's actually mentioned in the Qur'ān. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala mentions in Sūrat al-Tawbah. The context was the Battle of Tabūk — what happened in the Battle of Tabūk is a long story, but one part of this long story is the fact that it was a farḍ obligation for everyone to go, because the campaign was against the Roman Empire — a difficult and far-off journey, and a great enemy and superpower of the time. So the command came:

"You must go out, whether you are heavy or light, whether you are ready or not." Some individuals stayed back, and Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala gave them a punishment, and then Allah accepted their Tawbah — Ka'b ibn Mālik, Hilāl ibn Umayyah, and Murārah ibn Rabī'. They were socially boycotted for 40 days. Nobody was allowed to speak to them. Then Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala accepted their Tawbah.

And in this context, subhānAllāh, when the āyāt came about going out in the path of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, there was a fear — because of the punishment that came for these three individuals — that every single individual would always go out in different campaigns and no one would stay back to acquire knowledge. So Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala revealed this āyah:

One group should remain behind, dedicated to seeking knowledge — so they can gain faqāhah, deep knowledge of the deen. So one is ilm and one is faqāhah. Faqāhah is deep knowledge. And their job is not only to acquire the deen, but to teach others — so they can teach the rest of the people when they come back from their campaigns, so that those people can also learn to fear Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.

So Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala mentioned these two groups. Like Allah ta'āla says:

Those who want to practice — if you don't know, ask those who do know. Allah ta'āla didn't say that everybody must know the answer to everything. So there's one category who knows, one category who wants to practice. Those who want to practice can ask those who know. Those who know have to continue practicing naturally as well. But we see two categories here.

Likewise Allah ta'āla says: if you have a question regarding the deen:

The answer will be given by those whom Allah ta'āla has gifted with the ability to make istinbāṭ — to derive the rulings from the primary texts of Qur'ān and Sunnah. To study them and extract the ruling is called istinbāṭ. So again we see two groups within the Qur'ān.

SubhānAllāh — that is the farḍ kifāyah level. There have to be some scholars in every community. If there is a community where no one is studying the deen, none of the next generation is becoming an 'ālim — the entire community will be sinful. It's like nobody is performing ṣalāt al-janāzah. And if at bare minimum some individuals are fulfilling this responsibility, then the obligation is uplifted from the community.

So to become a full 'ālim of the deen is not sunnah — as I gave the example of the janāzah. Even though you are walking away, you have to walk away with the understanding that you are not leaving because it's sunnah — you are leaving because despite it being farḍ kifāyah, alḥamdulillāh, there are some individuals doing it. So becoming an 'ālim of the deen is farḍ. A full 'ālim of the deen is farḍ. But it's farḍ kifāyah. If some people are doing it, then the obligation is uplifted. But that which is our own business — our buying and selling, whatever trade we are engaged in, our marriage, our divorce, our children, our inheritance, when we die our will, and of course all of our ibādāt — our ṣalāh, our ṣawm, our zakāh, our ḥajj, our ṭahāra — learning the fiqh regarding that is not farḍ kifāyah, it's not nāfil, it's not sunnah. It's farḍ.

(Sunan Ibn Mājah, Hadith 224)

Rasulallāh ﷺ said: "Seeking knowledge is farḍ on every Muslim." So this is farḍ. This is the fourth question that will be asked on the Day of Judgment — how much knowledge of the deen did we acquire? And how much of that knowledge we acquired, did we practice upon? May Allah give us all tawfīq to make a'māl.

Announcements

A few important announcements, inshāAllāh. Please pass the donation boxes from the left side to the right side. Ṣadaqah given on the Day of Jumu'ah is more rewarding than any other day, as mentioned in the ḥadīth of Rasulallāh ﷺ.

We have some weekly programs. Every Monday night we have a new program with Musia Azimuddin — a podcast-style conversation with a co-host: experiences, travels, and perspectives on current events, an opportunity to ask questions, and interactive discussion. Every Tuesday night we have Tafsīr: Reflect and Connect. Thursday nights we have Shamā'il Muḥammadiyyah. Saturday we have the Lives of the Ṣaḥābah after Fajr. And many sisters' programs as well.

We have some du'ā requests. For Anwar Ibrahim, our volunteer who had heart surgery. Shah Jahan Begum is sick. Du'ā for shifā' for sister Razia Fathan, wife of Dr. Amanullah Fathan — his sister has been diagnosed with a serious heart condition. And another request for brother Sajid Hassan's mother, who is having open heart surgery today.

We have been announcing for a few weeks — finally it's coming upon us. Our annual benefit dinner is Saturday, October 18th. If you have not purchased your tickets, please do so. We have Imam Dawood Wali, the Executive Director of CARE Michigan, as our guest speaker, inshāAllāh. We have a very beautiful program lined up — a lot of updates to the community about what's going on at Dār as-Salām: what are the future plans — alḥamdulillāh, when it comes to infrastructure, development, as well as programs.

This will be a great opportunity. We don't have time otherwise besides this annual event to share with the community what has happened. Particularly this year is going to be recapping the past 25 years and the plan for the next 25 years. This is a presentation we don't want to miss — so that we are aware of what's going on and inshāAllāh we can be a part of it in whatever capacity: through our contributions, physically participating, making du'ās for our children to benefit, inshāAllāh.

What we were just talking about — ilm being farḍ 'ayn and farḍ kifāyah — where do we get that knowledge? The place where we have the education of the deen at both the farḍ 'ayn level and the farḍ kifāyah level is the madrasah. And this is necessary for our najāt — our salvation. There is no other place.

There is malḥam — where you get the laḥm, the meat, the butchery. There is makhbaz — where you get the khubz, the bread, the bakery. There is masjid — a place of sajdah. And madrasah is a place of dars. So even linguistically, this is the ism ẓarf form of the word. Madrasah is a place of dars. And masjid is a place of sajdah. This is a place of 'ibādah, and that is a place of learning. Right next to one another — at Dār as-Salām we have the masjid and the madrasah. And sajdah and 'ibādah being farḍ 'ayn, and the ilm also — either farḍ 'ayn or farḍ kifāyah — it is not less than that. At the lowest level it could be is farḍ kifāyah.

May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala allow us to be a part of it, to support it, and to join in the effort. Please purchase your tickets if you haven't done so for Saturday, October 18th.