The Hadiths Regarding the Test of Certain People on the Day of Judgment

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There exist certain narrations stating that some people who either did not receive the message of the prophets in this worldly life or were unable to adequately understand it will argue with their specific circumstances on the Day of Judgment. Consequently, Allah will subject them to a separate test.

This account is reported in various hadiths from several Companions of the Prophet, primarily al-Aswad ibnu Sari' and Abu Hurayrah¹⁰⁸. For example, Ahmad narrates the following hadith in his Musnad through his chain of narrators from al-Aswad ibnu Sari' رضي الله عنه from the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم:

... عَنِ الْأَسْوَدِ بْنِ سَرِيعٍ أَنَّ نَبِيَّ اللَّهِ ﷺ قَالَ أَرْبَعَةٌ يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ رَجُلٌ أَصَمُّ لَا يَسْمَعُ شَيْئًا وَرَجُلٌ أَحْمَقُ وَرَجُلٌ هَرِمٌ وَرَجُلٌ مَاتَ فِي فَتْرَةٍ فَأَمَّا الْأَصَمُّ فَيَقُولُ رَبِّ لَقَدْ جَاءَ الْإِسْلَامُ وَمَا أَسْمَعُ شَيْئًا وَأَمَّا الْأَحْمَقُ فَيَقُولُ رَبِّ لَقَدْ جَاءَ الْإِسْلَامُ وَالصِّبْيَانُ يَحْذِفُونِي بِالْبَعْرِ وَأَمَّا الْهَرِمُ فَيَقُولُ رَبِّي لَقَدْ جَاءَ الْإِسْلَامُ وَمَا أَعْقِلُ شَيْئًا وَأَمَّا الَّذِي مَاتَ فِي الْفَتْرَةِ فَيَقُولُ رَبِّ مَا أَتَانِي لَكَ رَسُولٌ فَيَأْخُذُ مَوَاثِيقَهُمْ لَيُطِيعُنَّهُ فَيُرْسِلُ إِلَيْهِمْ أَنِ ادْخُلُوا النَّارَ قَالَ فَوَالَّذِي نَفْسُ مُحَمَّدٍ بِيَدِهِ لَوْ دَخَلُوهَا لَكَانَتْ عَلَيْهِمْ بَرْدًا وَسَلَامًا

... عَنْ أَبِي هُرَيْرَةَ مِثْلَ هَذَا غَيْرَ أَنَّهُ قَالَ فِي آخِرِهِ فَمَنْ دَخَلَهَا كَانَتْ عَلَيْهِ بَرْدًا وَسَلَامًا وَمَنْ لَمْ يَدْخُلْهَا يُسْحَبُ إِلَيْهَا

Four [people will present their arguments¹⁰⁹] on the Day of Resurrection (before their Lord): A deaf man who could not hear anything, a mentally disabled person, a senile elderly man, and a man who died during the period of fatrah¹¹⁰.

The deaf man will say: “My Lord, Islam came but I could hear nothing.”

The mentally disabled person will say: “My Lord, Islam came, and the youths threw filth at me.”

The elderly senile man will say: “My Lord, Islam came, yet I understood nothing.”

And the one who died in the time of fatrah will say: “My Lord, Islam came, yet no Messenger from You came to me.”

Then He will take their covenants¹¹¹ that they will surely obey Him. After that, He will send to them (a messenger commanding): “Enter the fire!” By Him in whose Hand is the soul of Muhammad, if they enter it, it will be cool and safe for them.

[…] The same is narrated from Abu Hurayrah, but he added at the end: “Whoever enters it, for him it will be cool and safe, and whoever refuses will be dragged into it [the actual fire].”

As can be seen from this hadith, the individuals mentioned therein argue that during their worldly life the actual test, which all human beings must undergo, did not occur for them.

This issue deserves mentioning because some people nowadays misunderstand these hadiths. They argue that a polytheist who outwardly professes Islam could thus emerge from such a test as a Muslim and enter Paradise.

Hence, the idea they present is roughly as follows: A person who claims to be Muslim but commits polytheism due to ignorance about Islam's fundamental message would be tested on the Day of Judgment and thus could be regarded as an excused Muslim even in this worldly life.

The obvious misunderstanding here is that the people mentioned in the hadith undoubtedly did not live nor die as Muslims, because there is a consensus among all Muslim scholars that a Muslim certainly will not undergo such a test.

Whoever understands this will clearly recognize that the hadiths mentioned here actually constitute another extremely strong proof against the mistaken notion that a polytheist could be judged as a Muslim merely because he outwardly professes Islam. The fact that these people will be subjected to such a test – as mentioned in the hadiths – clearly demonstrates that they cannot be Muslims, for such a test would otherwise be superfluous.

The fundamental principle remains that all people undergo their actual test during their worldly life. Indeed, the primary purpose of this worldly life is to establish whether someone has lived as a person devoted solely to Allah or not. Thus, this test only makes sense for someone who was not Muslim in this worldly life. Had he been Muslim, there would be absolutely no necessity for such a test.

What has been mentioned here concerning this topic should suffice to highlight the relevant aspects of these hadiths. However, a detailed discussion of these narrations and the test mentioned therein would stray too far from the core topic of this book.

Therefore, it was already noted in the foreword at the beginning of this book that certain issues, even though connected to the Islamic concept of monotheism, must be discussed in separate works independent of the main theme – and one of these issues is the test mentioned in these hadiths.