The Last Day (with British Sign Language) - Shaykh Zakaullah Saleem

The Last Day

إِنَّ الْحَمْدَ لِلَّهِ نَحْمَدُهُ وَنَسْتَعِينُهُ وَنَسْتَغْفِرُهُ، وَنَعُوذُ بِاللَّهِ مِنْ شُرُورِ أَنْفُسِنَا وَمِنْ سَيِّئَاتِ أَعْمَالِنَا، مَنْ يَهْدِهِ اللَّهُ فَلَا مُضِلَّ لَهُ، وَمَنْ يُضْلِلْ فَلَا هَادِيَ لَهُ، أَشْهَدُ أَنْ لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ وَحْدَهُ لَا شَرِيكَ لَهُ، وَأَشْهَدُ أَنَّ مُحَمَّدًا عَبْدُهُ وَرَسُولُهُ.

أَمَّا بَعْد. My dear respected brothers and sisters in Islam, one of the six articles of belief and iman is to believe in the Last Day. Allah has repeatedly made mention of that day in the Quran so that we are aware of that day, and we fully believe in the occurrence of that day and all the events that will take place on that day.

Yawm al-Faza' al-Akbar — The Day of Great Fright

All the events that would take place on the Last Day — which is known as the Day of Judgment, the Day of Resurrection — all those events will be really frightening. That is why Allah has named this day as يَوْمُ الْفَزَعِ الْأَكْبَر — Yawm al-Faza' al-Akbar — the Day of Great Fright. There will be many events that will take place on that day, and one of the most frightening events of that day would be when the scales would be established and the deeds of the people will be weighed.

Good deeds as well as bad deeds. Allah says in the Quran:

We will place the scales on that day in order to establish justice. No soul will be wronged in any form or shape. And if it is something as small as the size of an atom, Allah says He will bring it. And if it is the size of a mustard seed, Allah says He will bring it and it will be weighed, whether it is good or bad.

Allah also says in Surah Al-A'raf:

The weighing of the deeds on that day is true — it is definite. Those people who will have their scales become heavy, such people will be successful. And those who will have their scales become light and they would not have enough good deeds — such people would be those who will be amongst the losers. Because these people used to wrong Our verses and they used to deny Our verses.

Allah also says in Surah Al-Zalzalah:

Whoever does any good deed, even equal to the size of an atom, Allah says he will see it. And whoever does an evil equal to the size of an atom, he will see it as well. Nothing will be hidden. Nothing will be hidden. Everything will be placed in the scale.

And there will be two sides of the scale. On one side, the good deeds will be placed. On the other side, the evil deeds, the evil actions and the sins will be placed. And then they will be weighed.

The Three Occasions When No One Will Remember Anyone

Aisha, may Allah be pleased with her, says — as collected by Imam al-Tirmidhi — that once she was sitting with the Prophet, peace be upon him, and she thought of the fire of hell and she started crying. The Prophet asked her, "What made you cry, O Aisha?" She said, "I thought of the fire of hell and I started crying." And then she said to the Prophet, "O Messenger of Allah, please tell me — would you remember your family on the Day of Judgment?"

The Prophet said there will be three points, three occasions, three events when no one would be able to remember anyone. And when the Prophet said that, it indicates that he included himself. What are those three places or three events?

The Prophet said: One of them would be when the deeds will be weighed. No one would remember anyone. No father would remember his children. No mother would remember her children. No one would remember their parents. No siblings, no spouses, no relatives, no closest friends. No one would remember. No one at all. When the deeds will be weighed.

And the second event when no one would remember anyone would be when the records will be given out to people — the records of their life, whatever they did. When the books will be given out and it will be called out: "Read, read your records. Study and see what have you done in the world." At that point no one would remember anyone, until the person knows whether the record is given into his right hand or left hand.

And the third occasion when no one would remember anyone would be when people will be passing over the bridge that will be placed across Jahannam.

This hadith shows that the weighing of the deeds is one of the most frightening events of the Day of Judgment.

The Weighing of People Themselves

And it is not only the deeds that will be weighed on the Day of Judgment. In fact, the people — individuals themselves — will also be weighed. Righteous and pious servants of Allah, their bodies, they themselves will be weighed. As well as those who committed sin and those who disobeyed Allah — they would also be weighed in those scales.

You must have heard the famous hadith of Abdullah ibn Mas'ud. He once climbed a tree, and the companions looked at his thin legs — because he was very skinny — and when they looked at his legs, they laughed at him. The Prophet said, "Are you people laughing because of the thinness of his legs? By Allah, these two thin legs of Abdullah ibn Mas'ud would be heavier than the mountain Uhud on the Day of Judgment."

(Musnad Ahmad, Hadith 3991; also referenced in related narrations in Sahih al-Bukhari)

On the other hand, the Prophet said there would be a heavy, fat, bulky person who would come and he would be placed in the scale and he would be weighed, and his weight will not be even equal to the wing of a mosquito.

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 4729; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 2785)

So the good people, the righteous people — they will be weighed and their scale would become heavy, along with their good deeds. Whereas the sinners will also be weighed, and there will be no weight — although they will have a huge and big body, there will be no weight for them.

Allah says about those who performed even righteous deeds but they did so not for the sake of Allah, or not following the Sunnah of the Prophet:

We will not even consider weighing their deeds — their deeds will have no value, no weight at all.

So this is one of the most frightening events on the Day of Judgment — when the deeds will be weighed. Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters in Islam, whatever we do and whatever we utter, we must be careful. Every single word will be weighed. Every single action will be weighed. Whether it is good or bad, nothing will remain hidden.

The Heaviest Word in the Scale — Lā ilāha illallāh

The most heavy and the heaviest of the words and the statements — as part of the good deeds on the Day of Judgment — would be لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا اللَّه. There is nothing heavier than Lā ilāha illallāh. The Kalimatu al-Tawhid — the statement of the oneness of Allah. The Prophet said in a hadith collected by Imam al-Tirmidhi:

(Jami' al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 2639 — graded Hasan Sahih by Imam al-Tirmidhi)

A person from my Ummah will be brought to Allah on the Day of Judgment. Allah will order the angels to spread out the records of his deeds, and there will be 99 scrolls that will be spread out — 99 — each one of them as long and as wide as the eye can see. Then Allah will ask this person, "Do you deny any of these deeds that are written and recorded in these scrolls?" He would say, "No, O my Lord." Allah will ask him, "Do you think that the angels who were appointed to record your deeds — have they wronged you?" He would say, "No, O my Lord." Allah will ask him, "Do you have any excuse?" He would say, "No, O my Lord." Then Allah will ask him, "Do you have any good deed?" He will say, "No, O my Lord, I don't have any good deed."

Allah will say, "Why not? We do have your one good deed." And then a short, small slip will be brought forth, and on that slip it will be written:

Then the angel will be ordered to weigh those 99 scrolls of his deeds as well as that one slip. The person will say, "O my Lord, what is this small slip going to do as opposed to these 99 scrolls?" And Allah will say, "There is no oppression today. You will not be wronged." And then the Rasulullah says that the 99 scrolls will be placed on one side of the scale and that small slip will be placed on the other side of the scale — and that side of the scale will become heavier, and the 99-scroll side will become light.

Nothing is heavier than لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا اللَّه. May Allah allow us to live according to لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا اللَّه, and may Allah allow us to die according to لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا اللَّه, and may Allah enable us to utter لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا اللَّه when we take the final breath in this dunya.

The Weight of Good Character — Husn al-Akhlaq

The Prophet said: after the heaviest of the good deeds being لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا اللَّه, there is nothing heavier in the deeds or in the scale of the believer on the Day of Judgment than good akhlaq. Good akhlaq is heavier. When the deeds would be weighed on the Day of Judgment, this hadith of the Prophet indicates that good akhlaq — after Lā ilāha illallāh, obviously — good akhlaq would be heavier than your prayer, your zakah, your sadaqah, your reading of the Quran, the remembrance of Allah, and any other good deed.

(Jami' al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 2002 — graded Sahih by Imam al-Tirmidhi)

The Prophet was sent by Allah to teach humanity the best akhlaq. The Prophet used to ask Allah: "O Allah, guide me to the best akhlaq — because no one can guide me towards the best akhlaq except You. O Allah, keep me away from bad akhlaq — because no one can keep me away from bad akhlaq except You."

Two Words Heavy in the Scale — Subhanallah wa Bihamdihi

Finally, my dear brothers and sisters in Islam, something that can add a lot of weight in your scale of good deeds on the Day of Judgment is what the Prophet said in a hadith collected by Imam al-Bukhari and many other muhaddithin. In fact, this is the final hadith of the book of Sahih al-Bukhari. The Prophet said:

There are two words that are very beloved to Allah. They are beloved to Allah and they are very light on your tongue, but they are very heavy in the scale of good deeds on the Day of Judgment. Take it as your habit to repeat — while sitting down, while walking, while driving — and have the habit of remembering Allah with these words:

May Allah give us tawfiq and ability to act upon whatever we hear and whatever we say.