On the Day of Judgment No Soul Would Give Any Good Deed to Another
Fatwa No: 427702

Question

On the day of judgement Can a Muslim give a little good deeds to family or a non Muslim ? Can a person give good deeds to sinners For eg a friend who is a disbeliever ?

Answer

All perfect praise be to Allah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah, and that Muhammad is His slave and Messenger.

There is no text in the Quran or the Sunnah – as far as we know – indicating that people will give any of their good deeds to their friends or relatives on the Day of Judgment. It is rather mentioned that they will flee from one another for fear of claiming their rights over each other. It is also stated that the believers who shall be saved from Hellfire will intercede with Allah, The Exalted, in favor of other believers who have entered Hellfire or deserved to enter it.

We have previously discussed the intercession on the Day of Judgment as well as its evidence and conditions in several Fataawa. Moreover, the texts of the Quran indicate that people will not help one another on the Day of Resurrection, and none will bear the sins of others. An example is the verse where Allah, The Exalted, Says (what means): {And no bearer of burdens will bear the burden of another. And if a heavily laden soul calls [another] to [carry some of] its load, nothing of it will be carried, even if he should be a close relative…} [Quran 35:18]

In his commentary on the verse, As-Sa‘di said: “His Saying {And if a heavily laden soul calls [another] to [carry some of] its load,} means that a soul overburdened with sins and misdeeds will cry out for help, asking for someone to bear some of its sins. His Saying: {nothing of it will be carried, even if he should be a close relative} means that no one will bear the sins of others, even his own relatives. The situation in the Hereafter will be totally different from the worldly life, where one may help his beloved ones and close friends. Conversely, on the Day of Judgment, a person will wish that he would have unfulfilled rights over others, even his own parents and relatives (to claim them and be saved from Hellfire thereby).” [End of quote]

In his commentary on this verse, Ibn Katheer narrated from ‘Ikrimah, the student of Ibn ‘Abbaas that he said: “On the Day of Judgment, a father will cling to his son and say, ‘O son! What kind of father was I to you?’ The son will praise his father. Then the father will say, ‘O son, today, I need an atom’s weight of your good deeds so that I would be saved from what you see!’ The son will say, ‘O father, what you have asked for is not much, but I too fear what you fear! I cannot give you anything.’ Then, he will cling to his wife and say, ‘O so-and-so! What kind of husband was I to you?’ She will praise him, and then he will say to her, ‘I ask you to give me one good deed of yours so that I would be saved from what you see!’ The wife will say, ‘What you have asked for is not much, but I cannot give you anything. I too fear what you fear!’ Allah, The Exalted, Says (what means): {And if a heavily laden soul calls [another] to [carry some of] its load, nothing of it will be carried, even if he should be a close relative…} [Quran 35:18] He also Says (what means): {…a Day when no father will avail his son, nor will a son avail his father at all.} [Quran 31:33] And He Says (what means): {On the Day a man will flee from his brother * And his mother and his father * And his wife and his children, * For every man, that Day, will be a matter adequate for him.} [Quran 80:34-37]” [End of quote]

For more benefit on intercession, please refer to Fataawa 6571, 49599, 22872, 25084, 48242, and 88578.

Allah Knows best.

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