ACCOUNT YOURSELVES
BEFORE
YOU ARE TAKEN TO ACCOUNT!

Hadhrat Abdullah Ibne Mubaarak has quoted Hadhrat Umar ibn al-Khattaab in his book Az-Zuhd as saying, “Account yourselves before you are taken to account!”

“On that day every person will be confronted with all the good he has done, and all the evil he has done, he will wish that there were a great distance between him and his evil deeds. And Allah warns you against Himself (His Punishment) and Allah is full of Kindness to the (His) slaves”. (Soorah Aale-’Imraan 3:30) 

Ibne Katheer explain the aforementioned Aayah:
“On the Day of Judgment all his good and evil deeds will confront him, as Allah (Subhaanahu wa Ta’aalaa) says, ‘On that Day man will be informed of what he sent forward (of his evil or good deeds), and what he left behind (of his good or evil traditions)’ “. (Tafseer Ibne Katheer, 1/338)

One may feel that after doing an action he will never see it again. Especially, if it is an internal or hidden deed, like ar-riyaa, jealousy, hatred for the believers, desiring the evil, etc.

“Knows he not that when the contents of the graves are brought out and poured forth. And that which is in the breast shall be made known”. (Soorah Al-’Aadiyaat 100:9,10)

“That which was hidden in themselves will be made apparent”. (Tafseer Ibne Katheer, 4/545)

It will be done in such a way that, “whosoever does good equal to the weight of an atom, shall see it. And whosoever does evil equal to the weight of an atom, shall see it”. (Soorah Az-Zilzaal 99:7,8)

A person’s day is filled with actions. Actions are done and forgotten about. Forget them we may, but it is them we will have to answer about on that Day. Allah (Subhaanahu wa Ta’aalaa) says:

“That He may ask the truthful about their truth”. (Soorah Al-Ahzaab 33:8)

If Allah (Subhaanahu wa Ta’aalaa) will question and account the truthful then how can the rest of mankind be exempted?

Righteous actions are extremely valuable, for whosoever’s good deeds are more than his evil deeds and tips the scale by an atom’s weight will enter into Jannah (Paradise) by Allah (Subhaanahu wa Ta’aalaa)’s Mercy.

Therefore, a believer must focus on his actions, and focusing of ones actions entails the following:

PREPARATION
The slave of Allah (Subhaanahu wa Ta’aalaa) needs to prepare and make his soul ready for the day ahead. After Salaatul-Fajr he should make himself realize that the day has many hours. He should hope to fill every hour with that which will benefit his soul. He should try to grasp on to the treasures of righteousness that the day holds for him.

He should hope to keep every hour free from that which will harm his soul. He should try to avoid the evil that the day has in store for him.

So, he should advise his soul to be a soul that strives to obey Allah (Subhaanahu wa Ta’aalaa), keeps away from laziness, does not waste time, and takes a maximum benefit of the day. After advising his soul he should focus on:

SELF-EXAMINATION
The examination of the soul occurs at three instances: before the action, during the action, and after the action.

BEFORE THE ACTION
The slave of Allah (Subhaanahu wa Ta’aalaa) must check his intentions before the action; is it only for Allah (Subhaanahu wa Ta’aalaa) or is it for something or someone else? If it is for other than Allah (Subhaanahu wa Ta’aalaa) then he must know that it is something evil. It then necessitates that he busy himself in purifying his intention and making it only for Allah, Al-Waahid.

He must also make sure that the act of worship will be done in the manner performed by Allah (Subhaanahu wa Ta’aalaa)’s Messenger (SallAllaho Alaihe wa Sallam) as understood and implemented by the Sahaabah (his companions).

DURING THE ACTION
The slave of Allah (Subhaanahu wa Ta’aalaa) must be aware of Shaytaan (Satan) and his whispering during the action. He must check to make sure that his intentions are continuously wholly for Allah (Subhaanahu wa Ta’aalaa). He must strive to perfect his actions as much as possible.

AFTER THE ACTION
“O you who believe! Fear Allah. And let every person look to what he has sent forth for the tomorrow, And fear Allaah. Verily, Allaah is All-Aware of what you do”. (Soorah Al-Hashr 59:18)

“And let every person look to what he has sent forth for the tomorrow”, Ibne Katheer said it means, “You take yourselves into account before you are taken into account” (Tafseer Ibne Katheer 4/342)

Therefore, we are to “see what we have sent forth from the deeds for the Day of Judgment” (Nafhatul-‘Abeer min Zubadatut-Tafseer p.1349)

As after Salaatul-Fajr the slaver of Allah (Subhaanahu wa Ta’aalaa) prepares himself for the day, then similarly the slave must take himself into account at the end of the day. Like a business man who accounts at the end of the day and checks whether it was profitable day or not. The slave of Allah (Subhaanahu wa Ta’aalaa) must question his soul and ask. Did I fulfill my obligations? Did I make sure I had Ikhlaas (sincere and pure intentions only for Allah, Subhaa-nahu wa Ta’aalaa) in all my actions or did I do actions for the show of people? Did I benefit from this day or not? And if he evaluates that he is in loss, then he should undergo:

DISCIPLINE
After taking oneself into account and realizing that one is in loss, one should discipline oneself by doing good deeds hoping that the good deeds will wipe out the evil deeds.

This was the practice of the Sahaabah, as is narrated about Hadhrat ‘Umar ibn Al-Khattab that he left his orchard to pray Salaatul-’Asr. Upon reaching there, he found that the people had already prayed, thus missing the Jamaa’ah (Congregation). As a result, he returned to his orchard and gave it away as charity to the needy. (Mukhtasar Minhaaj-Al-Qaasideen p.379)

The ones who will benefit are those who take themselves into account before they are taken into account. For being taken into account in the Hereafter is not a light matter, Allah (Subhaanahu wa Ta’aalaa)’s Messenger (SallAllaho alaihe wa sallam) said:

“Anybody whose account is questioned will be punished”. (Saheeh Al-Bukharee 8/543)

So let every soul take itself into account and exert itself to improve its deficiencies and shortcomings for the matter is as Hadhrat Ali ibne Abi Taalib said:

“for today there is action but no accounts, and tomorrow there will be accounts, but no deeds to be done”. (Saheeh Al-Bukharee 8/4)

Hadhrat Hasan Al-Basree (a student of Hadhrat Abdullah Ibn Meas’ood) said:

“O Son of Adam! Surely, you will not acquire the reality of Imaan until you do not pick out the defects in people of which you have in yourself, and until you start to cure that defect from yourself, so you correct it. So when you have done that, you will not have corrected a defect except that you will find another defect that you did not correct. When you do that you will be specifically busy with yourself. And the most loved of the slaves of Allah (Subhaanahu wa Ta’aalaa) is the one who is like that. (Sifaatus-Safwah 3/234)

Imam Ahmad bin Hanbal reported that Allah (Subhaanahu wa Ta’aalaa)’s Messenger (SallAllaho alaihe wa sallam) said:

“If a slave remains in prostration from the day he is born till his death and remains obedient to Allah (Subhaanahu wa Ta’aalaa), still he will consider his worship insignificant on the Day of Judgment and will long to return to the world to do more righteous deeds.” (Tafseer Ibne Katheer)