One of the scariest moments in our entire lives will be the day that we will be standing in front of Allah jla and we will have to answer for every single thing no matter how big or small in our lives. In this standing if you wanted to look to the right, all you would see are the deeds that you have prepared for this day. You are startled by what you see so you look to your left, only to find the same thing on this side. Imagine all of your deeds just surrounding you, all of your prayers, your sadaqah, your fasting, your hajj, your good words, your bad words, your greed, your hunger for the wealth of this life and every other deed that you might have done. Seeing all of this might lead you to drop your head because of what you see from the deeds that you have prepared for the hereafter. Do you know what you will see when you look down? Nothing but the fire of Jahanam. May Allah jla protect us.
How do I know that this will happen on that day? This is what our beloved messenger sla informed us about in a hadith that is found the in the two most authentic books after the Words of Allah ﷻ. On the authority of Adi Ibn Abi Hatim who said that our messenger ﷺ said
ما منكم من أحد إلا سيكلمه ربه ليس بينه وبينه ترجمان، فينظر أيمن منه، فلا يرى إلا ماقدم، وينظر أشأم منه، فلا يرى إلا ما قدم، وينظر بين يديه، فلا يرى إلا النار تلقاء وجهه، فاتقوا النار ولو بشق تمرة
Everyone of you will speak to his Rubb without an interpreter between them. He will look to his right side and will see only the deeds he had previously done; he will look to his left and will see only the deeds he had previously done, and he will look in front of him and will see nothing but Fire (of Hell) before his face. So protect yourselves from Fire (of Hell), even by giving half a date- fruit (in charity).
This is a Hadith of the utmost authenticity since it is found in the two sahihayn of Imam Bukhari and Imam Muslim. Let us look at this Hadith and ponder on the powerful message that is being conveyed to us.
Our messenger ﷺ is describing this intense moment that every single person will have experience. We know that if an advice is given to us after such a description, taking heed of the advice and implementing it would mean that it would reduce some of the difficulty of that moment. The advice that we are being given in order to reduce the severity of the moment is to give charity, even if it is just half of a date.
This is an amount that almost everybody can give, but that is enough to reduce the severity of the situation that we will be in, imagine if we gave more than half a date? Without a shred of doubt it would help us greatly in reducing our worries in that moment. Charity is not something that will help you in that difficult moment but also will help you at all other difficult moments that we might experience in our lives.
One of the most difficult moments that a person will experience will be standing of 50,000 years on the day of judgment, the sun will be a mile over our heads. Imagine being that close to the sun? We have days in the summer here in the Bay Area where the heat from the sun is unbearable and it is over 93 million miles away from us. Now imagine that same sun only a mile away. How will we be able to bear the heat? One of the best ways to protect one’s self on that day from this heat is through your charity. Our messenger ﷺ states “
كُلُّ امْرِئٍ فِي ظِلِّ صَدَقَتِهِ حَتَّى يُحْكَمَ بَيْنَ النَّاسِ
Everyone will be in the shade of their charity until judgment is carried out between the people.
Imagine on that day regretting the type of shade that you were unable to get due to not giving enough charity. Think of the charity that you give from today as an investment that you are making for the hereafter. For every dollar that you spend in charity the bigger your shade will be on the day of Judgement. May Allah grant us shade.