The Day the Debts Fall Due

And this relates now to the last and final thing, which is the Day of Judgement. This is the sixth article of faith. Human beings are fully accountable for their actions. According to the Islamic tradition, there is a day on which all of the souls are resurrected.

To relate this to where the accountability comes in: according to the Qurʾānic view, human beings were brought into the presence of God, and God said: Am I not your Lord? And all of the souls answered in affirmation.

And this is the proof. So what happens in this world is that the soul is to be reminded of this. It is the parents' challenge to remind the child, until it becomes firmly rooted in them that God is their Lord and that they should submit to God. If not, then prophets come and tell people, and they should submit.

The Day of Judgement is a day when the debts fall due. That is what it is called in the Qurʾān: yawm al-dīn, the day the debts fall due. It is very similar in Hebrew, which has that as well. Yawm al-dīn: the day the debts fall due.

So there is an idea that we are going to be taken to account. And the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: ḥāsibū qabla an tuḥāsabū — take yourselves to account before you are taken to account. So there is an idea that the human being can take himself to account in this world. And it is encouraged, as a spiritual practice before going to sleep, to go through your day and to ask forgiveness for the wrongs you did and ask for acceptance for the rights you did. That is a highly encouraged spiritual practice within the Islamic tradition. And if one does that with perseverance and sincerity, then that is, in a sense, a lesser reckoning. It is a way of facilitating the Day of Judgement.