and to read what is on its outer face. He turns it over, and Allah substitutes whatever sins had lain hidden inside, transforming them into good deeds. He then reads those good deeds until he reaches the very last of them. Allah will say, “These are your good deeds; I have accepted them from you.” At that point he will declare to the assembled throngs:

“Here—read my record! (19)
I was sure that I would meet my reckoning.” (20) ⦗al-Ḥāqqah 19-20⦘

He continued: As for the one who is given his record behind his back, he will grasp it with his left hand. It will then be said to him, “Read your book.” He will read it: the inside bears his good deeds while the outer side displays his sins—sins that all who stand on the Plain of Gathering will read. They will say, “This man is ruined!” When he comes to the end of his good deeds it will be said, “These were your good deeds, and I have returned them to you.” He will then be ordered to flip the scroll over, whereupon he will read his sins, line after line, until he reaches the last of them. Only then will he say to the gathered multitude:

“Would that I had not been given my book, (25)
Nor ever known what my account would be! (26)
Would that it had been the final end! (27)
My wealth has been of no avail to me; (28)
My power has vanished from me.” (29) ⦗al-Ḥāqqah 25-29⦘

Ibn Abī al-Dunyā also narrated: ‘Alī ibn al-Jaʿd told us; al-Mubārak ibn Faḍālah told us, from al-Ḥasan, who said that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:

“The son of Adam will be brought on the Day of Resurrection looking like a bathaj—and a bathaj is a newborn lamb. His Lord will ask him, ‘Where is what I endowed you with? Where is what I placed under your control? Where is what I gave you?’ He will reply, ‘My Lord, I amassed it, cultivated it, and left it larger than ever.’ Allah will ask, ‘And what did you send ahead from it?’ He will discover that he sent ahead nothing at all, and he will plead with Allah to return him to the world—but he will never return to it again.”

Ḥamzah ibn al-ʿAbbās related to me; ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿUthmān reported to us; Ibn al-Mubārak narrated to us, from Ismāʿīl ibn Muslim, from al-Ḥasan and Qatādah, from Anas ibn Mālik, from the Prophet ﷺ in similar words, adding that the man will say, “My Lord, send me back and I will bring it all to You.” Yet were he returned, he would send nothing ahead, and he will be driven to the Fire. The same report was transmitted through Yazīd al-Raqāshī, from Anas, from the Prophet ﷺ, with similar wording.

Allah the Exalted has said: “And indeed you have come to Us one by one, just as We created you the first time, and you have left behind all that We bestowed upon you.” ⦗al-Anʿām 94⦘ (1)

In Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim it is narrated that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: “The son of Adam says, ‘My wealth! My wealth!’ Yet do you possess of your wealth anything except what you ate and thereby consumed, or what you wore and thereby wore out, or what you gave in charity and thus sent ahead? Whatever is other than that will depart and be left for the people.” (2)

Allah the Most High also says: “He says, ‘I have squandered vast wealth!’ (6) Does he think that no one has seen him?” (7) ⦗al-Balad 6-7⦘

Ibn Abī al-Dunyā further said: Suraij ibn Yūnus narrated to us; Saif ibn Muḥammad, the nephew of Sufyān al-Thawrī, narrated to us, from Layth ibn Abī Sulaym, from ʿAdiyy ibn ʿAdiyy, from al-Ṣunābiḥī, from Muʿādh ibn Jabal, who said that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:

“The servant’s feet will not move on the Day of Resurrection until he is questioned about four things: about his lifespan—how he spent it, and about…”