A Difficulty in the Statement of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him): “A man from among those before you was reckoned with,” for one might say

The Shaykh : After this, I want to draw attention to a matter that may occur to some people. Some may ask about the hadith here: . The question may arise: Did the reckoning take place? The Day of Reckoning is the day when people stand up for the Lord of the Worlds; so how did it come in the hadith here: and not... to the end of the hadith? Did the Hour occur? Was the scale placed with justice, and were people reckoned with, and it became clear that people are two groups: a group in Paradise and a group in the Blazing Fire? Of course, the answer is: No, the Hour did not occur, and people were not reckoned with. So how did the most truthful of people say: ?
The answer to this has two parts. The first is that his statement (peace be upon him) here, , is like the statement of Allah (Mighty and Majestic) in the Noble Qur'an: , , meaning the Hour has come, , the Hour has not come. The scholars of rhetoric say that this means reporting a past action for something that has not yet happened but will happen soon, to confirm its occurrence. This is a style in the Arabic language. means it will happen as if it has actually happened and become a report of what? The past tense. This is . Similarly, on this example, the Messenger (peace be upon him) said: , meaning he will be reckoned with quickly and quickly, and it will be found in his record that there is nothing of good deeds except faith, and so on. Then Allah (Mighty and Majestic) says: If He overlooks the faults of my servants, then I am more worthy to overlook them, so overlook them. This is the first answer.
The other answer—and it is the closest and most apparent—is that this actually happened. Because the principle for every Arabic sentence, especially if it is Qur'an or Prophetic hadith, is that it is interpreted according to its apparent meaning. So we do not say: means he will be reckoned with. Unlike the previous verse when He said: , it is necessary to interpret as meaning it will come soon. Why? Because Allah (Mighty and Majestic) followed His statement: with His statement: . So the sentence: means that this matter has not come yet, but it will come soon, so do not hasten to seek its coming; for it is coming to you soon. The point is that the verse and sentence confirm that here is considered a past tense verb used in a non-standard way; that is: it will come. Because He said: . Otherwise, if meant it actually came, what is the meaning of ? It would be like saying: So taste it. This sentence was close to interpreting as meaning it will come. But here, , there is no context; therefore, the stronger position is to interpret the hadith according to its apparent meaning. And this is the second meaning: ; that is: he was actually reckoned with; meaning his reckoning was hastened for him. And Allah (Mighty and Majestic) is capable of all things, and there is no difference for Him at all between hastening the reckoning or being deliberate with it and delaying it to the Day of Reckoning. It is all equal with Allah (Mighty and Majestic). So He reckoned with this man to show the benefit and result of Allah’s reckoning with some of His servants; even though they were among the fornicators and transgressors. And Allah forgave them for a trait or a character trait they possessed. Allah (Mighty and Majestic) hastened the reckoning of this person for this wisdom or for another that some people may understand and others may not.
And this has examples in the hastening of the resurrection of people with a special resurrection. Among them is the hadith narrated by al-Bukhari and Muslim in their two Sahihs, from the hadith of Abu Sa'id al-Khudri and others: From the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) that he said: . This is, as they say in colloquial language, he greets this one. Both are on the same wavelength in not praying with the imam who is necessary. . When he died, they burned him in the fire to carry out his will, and scattered half of him—meaning half of his ashes—in the raging sea, and the other half in the raging wind. Then Allah (Mighty and Majestic) said to his particles: Be so-and-so, and so it was. Then Allah (Mighty and Majestic) said to him: , from this unjust will that indicates your doubt in the resurrection? Because he said: ; as if he does not believe that Allah is capable of resurrecting him anew, because he represents or as if that proverb applied to the disbeliever in the end of Surat Ya-Sin: to the end of the verses. As if this is the man who made this unjust will, and said to his children: ; so that our Lord would not be able to do anything to him, he made this unjust will. So Allah (Mighty and Majestic), who said: , said to this man after his particles were scattered, some in the wind and some in the water, He said to them: . He stood up before his Lord (Mighty and Majestic) as a complete human being. Then Allah (Mighty and Majestic) said: . I was afraid of you. I am not one who does not believe that You are capable of all things, but out of my fear of You, nothing came out of me except that I made this unjust will. And Allah (Mighty and Majestic), the All-Knowing of what is in the breasts, to whom nothing is hidden in the earth or in the sky, knows that this man is speaking about sincerity when he says: I made this unjust will out of fear of You; meaning: You are my Lord, if You punish me, You punish me with justice, and I am deserving of that. So to be saved from this punishment, if You poured it upon me, I made this unjust will to be saved from the punishment. There is no doubt in Your power to resurrect me and bring me to life a second time. When Allah (Mighty and Majestic) knew from him the truth of his statement: That my fear of You is what caused my foot to slip, and I made that unjust will, Allah (Mighty and Majestic) said: Go, for I have forgiven you.
The point of this hadith is that it is like our hadith here; each of the two men was resurrected by Allah (Mighty and Majestic) and reckoned with before the Day of Reckoning. And this—as we said—there is no difference with Allah between hastening the reckoning or keeping it until the promised day. And each has its trial; because Allah (Mighty and Majestic) is Wise and does what He wills.
The point of the previous hadith: That it contains an exhortation for the Muslim, when dealing with his brothers, to cooperate with them on the basis of tolerance and on the basis of overlooking the mistakes of his companions, and not to cling to reckoning with them and being strict with them; because Allah (Mighty and Majestic) will treat the one who overlooks the mistakes and shortcomings of his brothers with the same overlooking He showed them. This is the intended meaning of this hadith, so it contains an exhortation to adopt the good character of the Muslim...