Explanation

This Hadīth describes one of the aspects of social justice which Islam is keen to spread among its followers. Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) reports that the Messenger of Allah (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him) said: "He who has wronged his brother": the term “brother” here means a brother in Islam. Wronging one’s brother takes several forms including violating his honor or anything else related to him. "concerning his honor": honor refers to all that a person is keen to protect and rejects its defamation, like his life, his lineage, and family reputation. "or anything else": any other type of wronging such as taking his money or preventing him from utilizing it. This may also be a form of generalization of speech after specifying it. "let him ask for his pardon today": he should ask the one whom he has wronged to forgive him for his wrongdoing. To indicate the urgency of the matter, the Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) said 'today', meaning the days of the worldly life. He then refers to the opposite of the worldly life by saying "before there is no dinar or dirham"; i.e. on the Day of Judgment. He is thus urging the Muslim to seek the pardon of the person whom he has wronged, even if he would have to spend much money (dinar or dirham) to achieve that. That is because the loss of money in the worldly life is much easier than the loss of one’s good deeds or bearing the bad deeds of another (in case he has no good deeds to be given to the one whom he has wronged) in the Hereafter. "If he has good deeds, an amount equivalent to the wrong he has done will be taken and given to his brother. If he has no good deeds, then some of the bad deeds of the one whom he has wronged will be taken and loaded upon him." This is the case when the wrongdoer is a believer who is not pardoned by the one whom he has wronged. The amount that will be taken from him is determined by Allah in proportion to the wrong he did. Knowledge of such obedience and sinfulness in quantity and quality is referred to Allah, the Exalted, alone. However, if the wrongdoer was bankrupt of all good deeds on the Day of Reckoning, then, as told by the Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) he will be subject to a harsh reckoning that will burden him and increase his punishment; some of the bad deeds of the person whom he wronged will be transferred to the wrongdoer.