checking our intentions

Assalamu Alaikum. I apologize for the delay in posting the reminder. This is a hadith all of us know and is important for those of us seeking knowledge to check our intentions:

On the authority of Omar bin Al-Khattab, who said : I heared the messenger of Allah salla Allah u alihi wa sallam say :

"Actions are but by intention and every man shall have but that which he intended. Thus he whose migration was for Allah and His messenger, his migration was for Allah and His messenger, and he whose migration was to achieve some worldly benefit or to take some woman in marriage, his migration was for that for which he migrated."

related by Bukhari and Muslim

-Shamim

The Seriousness of Debt

Assalaamu alaykum wa rahmatullaahi wa barakaatuh, my dear brothers,

InshaAllah I hope everyone is doing well, and is the best of health and eman. On my end, everything is going well, walhamdulillah. Over the July 4 weekend, my family and I went to the NYC/NJ area, and then to the ICNA conference in Hartford, where, mashaAllah, I was able to meet up with Usman and Nabil. The rest of you brothers were greatly missed... may Allah reunite us in this life and the next (in Jannah). Aameen.

No other real updates... my family is with my mother-in-law in Jersey for a few weeks, so I am living the bachelor's life again... I need to learn how to cook again! :) As for little Maryam bint Ahmad, she is progressing smoothly, mashaAllah... almost standing up all by herself inshaAllah.

For the reminder, I wanted to share a few ahadeeth on the seriousness and severity of being in debt... primarily as a reminder to myself, as I probably need it the most, and also to share with my brothers. May Allah help us all out of debt. Ameen.

The first hadeeth is found in Sunan an-Nasaa'i:

Al-Nasaa’i (4605) narrated that Muhammad ibn Jahsh (may Allaah be pleased with him) said:

We were sitting with the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) when he raised his head towards the sky, then he put his palm on his forehead and said: "Subhaan Allaah! What a strict issue has been revealed to me!” We remained silent and were afraid. The following morning I asked him, “O Messenger of Allaah, what is this strict issue that has been revealed?” He said, “By the One in Whose hand is my soul, if a man were killed in battle for the sake of Allaah, then brought back to life, then killed and brought back to life again, then killed, and he owed a debt, he would not enter Paradise until his debt was paid off.” Classed as hasan by al-Albaani in Saheeh al-Nasaa’i, 4367.

The second narration is not a Prophet hadeeth, but rather a saying from a companion, which is found in Musannaf ‘Abd al-Razzaaq (3/57), where it says:

Ibn ‘Umar (may Allaah be pleased with him) said:

O Humraan, fear Allaah and do not die in debt, lest it be taken from your good deeds when there will be no dinars and no dirhams.

The scholars of Islam warn us that if we die with a debt, and we did not settle it in this life, then on the Day of Judgment, our good deeds will be given to the debtor in order to pay for this debt, and if we have no good deeds left, then the bad deeds of the debtor will be unloaded unto us, until the debt is settled. May Allah protect us from such a situation. This doesn't just apply to monetary debts, but, as I understand, it could also occur if we did or said something against someone. Allah knows best.

I found both of these hadeeth in the following article on IslamQA.com, which discusses in even greater depth the seriousness of debt:
IslamQA - The Seriousness of Debt

I pray that Allah allows all of us to benefit from this and free us from all debt. May Allah enter us into Jannah without Hisaab. Aameen!

Wassalaam,
Ahmad