Reckoning:

Dear brother, we will start a new topic in the series “Ways of access and signs of acceptance”, and today’s topic is reckoning.
Our master Umar Ibn Al Khattab, May Allah be pleased with him, said: “call yourselves to account before you are called to do so and weigh your deeds before they are weighed, and you should know that the Angel of Death has been reaching sh3er and will reach us soon, so pay heed.”
Man reads tens of obituaries each day, but one day people will read his obituary, so what did he prepare for that day?
All of us enter the Masjed in order to offer prayers, but one day we will enter that Masjid in a casket and people will pray on us, so what did we prepare for that day?
All of us go out of our houses walking upright, but one day we will go out lying in a casket, so what did we prepare for that day?
“call yourselves to account before you are called to do so and weigh your deeds before they are weighed, and you should know that the Angel of Death has been reaching sh3er and will reach us soon, so pay heed.”

((The clever one))

The prudent and the clever one:

((The clever one is he who upbraids himself))

The one who controls his earning, spending, household and his women:

((The clever one is he who upbraids himself and works for what comes after death, and the weak one is he who follows his desires and lives on wishful thinking))

[Tirmizi by Shaddad Bin Aws]

It is said: “He, who is severe in self reckoning in the worldly life, will be reckoned on the Day of Resurrection easily, and he, who goes easy on himself with regard to reckoning it in the worldly life, will be severely reckoned on the Day of Resurrection.”
narrated on the authority of Abu Huraira from the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) one is this that the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) said: I go back to my family and I find a date lying on my bed or in my house, and I take it up to eat it, but then I throw it away fearing that it may be a Sadaqa or from a Sadaqa.

(( Two Rak’as (of Prayer performed) by a pious person are far better than a thousand Rak’as by someone who mingles (good deeds with evil ones).))

Dear brother, some of you work in trading, and the merchant should be accurate in accounting which brings him great relief, but if there were any mistakes in his account, in his warehouses and in Zimam (debts and the like), he would become upset all the time. Therefore, reckoning brings comfort; similarly, you should reckon yourself on a daily basis, for the honest believer severely reckons himself and never forgives it, yet he accuses it all the time.
One of the followers of the companions said: “I met 40 companions; each one of them thought that he was a hypocrite out of fearing Allah.”
Our master and giant of Islam Umar Ibn Al Khattab, came to our master Huthaifah (who was told by the prophet PBUH the names of hypocrites amongst Muslims), and he asked him: “I ask you by Allah, is my name among the Munafiqeen (hypocrites)?” Huthaifah said: “No Amir Al Mu’mineen”. Umar asked Huthaifah out of fearing Allah.

The specific meaning of reckoning

Dear brother, self-reckoning has a specific definition which goes as follows: To be able to tell what is yours and what is for sh3er and to render that which is for sh3er, and to demand that which is yours.
It is said: “Do what is divinely imposed on you, and then ask Allah what is yours.”
The following Hadith will bring tranquility and security to the heart of the believer who comprehends it:

Narrated Mu'adh bin Jabal:

((The Prophet said, "O Mu'adh! Do you know what Allah's Right upon His slaves is?" I said, "Allah and His Apostle know best." The Prophet said, "To worship Him (Allah) Alone and to join none in worship with Him (Allah). Do you know what their right upon Him is?" I replied, "Allah and His Apostle know best." The Prophet said, "Not to punish them (if they do so).))

[Bukhari, Muslim and Tirmizi by Mu’adh Ibn Jabal]

When you fulfill your obligations of worshipping, honesty, trustworthiness, justice, piousness, taking control of your household, earnings and spending, your right is that Allah will not torment you. Allay says:

﴾Say: "Nothing shall ever happen to us except what Allah has ordained for us.﴿

[At-Taubah, 51]

For us, not upon us.

The process of reckoning:

The process of reckoning starts with sitting with yourself every day for minutes and asking yourself: Why did I do that? Why did I abandon that? Why did I give? Why did I withdraw? Why did I break ties? Why did I get angry? Why am I satisfied? Why did I smile? Why did I rebuke? Why did I hit? Why did I reckon? Why did I cause harm?
“call yourselves to account before you are called to do so …”
Your success lies in preparing an answer to your Lord.
A man in a very influential position, where he can cause harm to people without being called to account, once asked me: “Advise me”, to which I said: “Do whatever you like, and cause harm to whoever you want, and put people in prison as you wish, but don’t forget to prepare an answer to your Lord for every single thing you do.
Therefore, the believer’s success lies in preparing an answer, to Allah, for everything he does.
Dear brother, the believer is just with people even at the expense of his own interest.
Please pay attention to this important point: a man might be in a position where he is above being called to account, like the father, who can call his wife, sons and daughters to account, but he himself is above being called to account, and those kind of people must have million times self-reckoning more than sh3er.
The same goes for the minister, under whom many employees are working and no one can call him to account, so as the manager of a company, the head of a hospital or the president of the university.
These jobs are occupied by people who are above reckoning, those people are in dire need for this lecture, for they should reckon themselves.
When man gets acquainted with Allah, he will reckon himself severely, and accordingly he is ready to apologize, or give a gift to someone seeking his forgiveness after wronging him, and he should say it loud: “Please whenever I wrong you, tell me about my error”.
The opening speech of Abu Bakr upon assuming the office of Caliph according to Ibn Hisham reporting: Abu Bakr began to speak at his inauguration, praising Allah as He deserves and saying, “O people, I have been put in authority over you and I am not the best of you, so if I do the right thing then help me and if I do wrong then put me straight.”
I hope that each person in a delicate position or a leading one should seek the frank opinion of those around him when he is in error.
Our master Umar Ibn Abdul Aziz, May Allah have mercy on his soul, had chosen one of the most notable characters whose name was Hazim, and he said to him: “Be with me, and when you see me in error, hold me from my clothes and shake me harshly and say to me: “Fear Allah O Umar”

If no one has authority reproach to reproach you, youshould reproach yourself:

I hope that every influential man in a powerful position does the same, because it is most likely that he is able to flee with his errors without reproach, given there are a lot of hypocrites around him who will praise him despite his errors, because the hypocrite praises the powerful people whether they were right or wrong, and thus the most deceiving persons to the powerful man are those around him, therefore, you should get them accustomed to call you to account.
If any one passes you a notice, accept it with a smile and thank him for it, doing so will encourage those around you to give you advice, given the one who advises another person will be abundantly rewarded, and the one who accepts the advice will not be rewarded less than the advisor.
Hence, the one, who occupies a position where no one can hold him responsible for what he does, should severely call himself to account.
A brother told me once: “I have a short temper, and once my wife said a word which upset me, so I took it on my little son and hit him harshly, then a while later I asked myself, what did my son do to me to deserve this punishment? So I went to my room and started crying, then I went to my son and said to him: O son, forgive me, I wronged you.”
The apology solves a million problems, so accustom yourself to admit your errors, for it reflects your greatness.
Generally speaking, admitting errors by any person in any society will solve thousands of problems, so don’t hesitate to say loud: “I committed a mistake”

((All the sons of Adam are sinners, but the best of sinners are those who repent))

[Tirmizi by Anas Ibn Malik]

Wronging sh3er, and being arrogant to such an extent that one refuses to admit his error, is someone who insists on wronging sh3er.
A person stood before one of the most aggressive tyrants (Al Hajjaj) on earth and he said: ‘I ask you by the One before Whom you are weaker than my weakness before you, and Who is capable of punishing you more than you are capable of punishing me”
The believer always feels Allah’s Hand over him and this feeling provides him with good conduct with which he deals with those around him.

The most idiotic one is the person who doesn’t consider Allah in his life:

The more clever, prudent and prosper you are, the more rigid you would be in reproaching yourself.
What marks the believer is that he sees his error like a mountain over his chest, whereas what marks the hypocrite is that he sees his error like a fly.
When you see your error so great, your error will become so little in the sight of Allah, and when you see your error so little, it will become so great in the sight of Allah, so it is an inverse relationship.
Listen to my words from the stand point of cleverness and stupidity: The most idiotic person is the one who doesn’t consider Allah in his life.
Take for example the criminal who destroyed the houses of Gaza, who was one of the fiercest tyrants on earth (Sharon) and who rejoiced killing Palestine people, this is his fourth or fifth year in a coma and he didn’t die yet, and let us supplicate and say: May Allah make him live long (in order to feel all this torture in worldly life).
I have seen a picture of his in this coma, he became scary.
Again, the one who doesn’t consider Allah in his life is the most idiotic person on earth.
The believer always prepares an answer before Allah for every deed he does, and he assumes always: “What should I answer Allah if He asks me?
Pay attention to this following example: when you travel to a neighboring country and you notice that at the borders, they are very rigid in allowing people to bring anything from that country, so when you are there, you will not buy anything no matter how cheap it is because you know that it is very hard to bring it into your country according to what you witnessed at the border..
Much in the same line, whenever the believer intends to do something, he asks himself: What should I tell the Almighty Allah about it?
Accordingly, who is the successful person? He is the one who reckons himself always and asks it: why did you give? Why did you withdraw? Why did you get angry? Why did you get satisfied? Why did you maintain ties? Why did you break ties? Why did you rebuke?
Whatever man does, he should know that he is in the grasp of Allah so he must pay heed:
Dear brother, pay attention to what Allah says in the following Ayah:

﴾ Those who reject Our Ayat (proofs, evidences, verses, lessons, signs, revelations, etc.), We shall gradually seize them with punishment in ways they perceive not. And I respite them; certainly My Plan is strong. ﴿

[Al-A’raf, 182-183]

In physics we say "strong" to the metal which resists tensile strength; given steel is the strongest metal on earth, especially the braided steel from which the cables of elevators, cable cars and bridges are made of.
Now we say "hard" to the metal which resists the compressive strength. Diamond is the hardest element on earth and the tooth enamel comes next in hardness.
As for concrete, every 1 square centimeter of it can hold 550 kilograms of weight, but it if it is pulled using only 5 kilograms, it collapses, and this is why they use the reinforced concrete, and you can notice how big the pillars of a 20 stories building are.
Do we understand the secret of this Ayah?

﴾ And I respite them; certainly My Plan is strong. ﴿

Man is tied to a divine rope (as a figure of speech), and whatever he does, he is in the Hand of Allah, for a small stroke in his brain can kill him.
The prophet PBUH used to say the following supplication:

((O Allah I seek refuge in you from taking away your graces, from changing my good health condition, from your sudden indignation and from being subject of your wrath))

[Muslim and Abu Dawod by Abdullah Ibn Umar]

The clever person won’t be saved by his smartness in the hereafter, but only the upright person will be saved.
A familiar expression goes as follows: “With Allah there isn’t any clever person, because Allah can get to man from the most secure place of his.”
Allah’s treatment differs from country to country, for man in some countries has limitless freedom, thus the divine treatment is of special kind, whereas in other countries the divine treatment is different, but all in all, Allah, on every place on earth, disciplines His servants differently.
It is said: “If Allah decreed something, He would take away the reasoning of every prudent person”
Allah for example can take the shrewdness of a very shrewd and genius person, and make him do a foolish thing which might cause his demise.
Therefore, no one can use his cleverness with Allah.

Allah will not accept anyone unless he is upright:

There is a very delicate point: the powerful person needs followers (to express his power), therefore, he accepts anyone who follows him, and this is the way rich people act. But as for the Creator of heavens and earth, He will not accept anyone unless he is perfect.
In other words we can say: on the top part of the human pyramid there are the prophets and the powerful people, and while the powerful people took and never gave, owned the necks, served by people and are praised only in their faces, the prophets gave and never took, owned the hearts, served people and are praised even when they are absent. Accordingly, people are followers of either a prophet or a powerful man, and this is why people loved prophets and feared powerful people.
Success for powerful people lies in following the example of the prophets in order to gain people’s love.
Again, unless you follow Allah’s path and be upright, you won’t be accepted by Him, but every powerful person will accept you with all your flaws if you follow him.

The religion is crucial in man’s life as it involves his house and job:

Dear brother, let me give you some examples:
If there is a cancerous material which will raise the prices of the food one sells and this person uses it and disregards people’s health and causes them harm, I see that this person canceled all his acts of worship, now where did I get that idea from? There is an authentic Hadith reported by Ayisha in which she said:

((Inform Zaid that he has nullified his Jihad performed along with Allah's messenger, until he repents))

[Ziyadat Razin by Aishah mother of believers]

Maybe all your prayers, fasting or Hajj will be canceled when you sacrifice the health of Muslims in order to earn thousands from using a cancerous material in food just to make its color very light.
Sometimes a pharmacist might sell an expired expensive medicine to a little boy after scratching the expiry date on the box. If one does so, he will cancel all his acts of worship.
It is all about being upright.
A doctor might choose the medical tool which is less quality but comes with a commission of 10000 over the good quality tool without a commission, I see that this doctor canceled all his acts of worship.
The religion is very delicate and it is not practiced in the Masjid only, but it is practiced in your medical clinic as a doctor and in your office as a lawyer.
When a lawyer says to his client: “This is a winning case” while he knows for sure that it won’t win, but he said so to charge his client 500 thousand, I see that this lawyer canceled all his acts of worship.
Therefore, practicing Islam is not in the Masjid only, for in the Masjid you receive the divine instructions and you are rewarded for that, but practicing Islam is in your house, your clinic and your field.
Some farmers use cancerous fertilizers which are full of hormones on their crops in order to have bigger fruits or vegetables which will bring them more money, in spite the fact that these hormones are forbidden internationally, and any agriculture pharmacy, which sells them, will be closed immediately, however they buy them from the black market in order to use them.
Practicing the religion is a very crucial matter, for the religion involves your house, job, factory, office or store, and when man sacrifices the health and safety of Muslims in order to earn more money, he will lose all his acts of worship.

The acts of worship are meaningless if man is not upright:

Some raw materials might be expired and they should be off the market, but there is one way through which they can be sold, it is to sell them to factories where they can turn them into commodities (food) and no one will notice that they are expired. This factory, which bought these expired materials after having 30 % discount, is making big money from a small capital on the account of the health of people, and this person (the owner of the factory) canceled all his acts of worship.
A Muslim boy, whose father gave him 10 Liras to buy a candy, will be in great danger while the man who made this candy is making big money.
Unfortunately, this is the reality of Muslims.
Deceit and cunningness prevailed and harmful materials are all over the markets.
In the bakeries, the baker needs one Kilogram of a substance which costs him 50 thousand and it is enough for an entire year, but there is another kind of cheaper substance (the baker will pay only 5000 for one Kilogram) which gives the same effect but it is cancerous. If he uses the second one, he will cancel his acts of worship.
Your acts of worship are accepted only when you are upright; otherwise, these acts of worship are meaningless.
Dear brother, when you hurt a person badly, and make him disbelieve, you will be held responsible for his disbelief.
An employee didn’t get his salary for three months, and when he asked his boss the latter said: “I will not give you, and if you don’t like it resign from your job”
He resigned, and when his wife tried to find a job, she was asked to remove her Hijab in order to be accepted in any job, so the man said: “I disbelieve” but who made him reach this point? It is the owner of the factory who spent one million on his wedding ceremony, yet he was stingy in giving this employee his salary.
Allah is very great and His punishment comes in many ways, for it can be a cancer, liver cirrhosis, kidneys’ failure or other diseases which bewilder even the forbearing person.
Thus, whoever doesn’t consider Allah in his life is an idiot.