The 365 · Verses · Day 226 · Justice
Qur'an 5:106
يَـٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ شَهَـٰدَةُ بَيْنِكُمْ إِذَا حَضَرَ أَحَدَكُمُ ٱلْمَوْتُ حِينَ ٱلْوَصِيَّةِ ٱثْنَانِ ذَوَا عَدْلٍ مِّنكُمْ أَوْ ءَاخَرَانِ مِنْ غَيْرِكُمْ إِنْ أَنتُمْ ضَرَبْتُمْ فِى ٱلْأَرْضِ فَأَصَـٰبَتْكُم مُّصِيبَةُ ٱلْمَوْتِ ۚ تَحْبِسُونَهُمَا مِنۢ بَعْدِ ٱلصَّلَوٰةِ فَيُقْسِمَانِ بِٱللَّهِ إِنِ ٱرْتَبْتُمْ لَا نَشْتَرِى بِهِۦ ثَمَنًا وَلَوْ كَانَ ذَا قُرْبَىٰ ۙ وَلَا نَكْتُمُ شَهَـٰدَةَ ٱللَّهِ إِنَّآ إِذًا لَّمِنَ ٱلْـَٔاثِمِينَ
“You who believe, when death approaches any of you, let two just men from among you act as witnesses to the making of a bequest, or two men from another people if you are journeying in the land when death approaches. Keep the two witnesses back after prayer, if you have any doubts, and make them both swear by God, 'We will not sell our testimony for any price, even if a close relative is involved. We will not hide God's testimony, for then we should be doing wrong.' (Quran 5:106)”
Svenska: TROENDE! När döden nalkas någon av er, tag två rättsinniga män bland er till vittnen om denna sista vilja. (Koranen 5:106)
A reflection to carry
Imagine a believer on the threshold of death. Allah does not let that moment escape the law of justice. He commands: gather two just witnesses, even if you have to take two from outside your community while traveling. Have them stand by the bedside. And, if there is any suspicion of corruption, the next verse instructs: hold them after ṣalāh and make them swear by Allah. The oath itself is dictated: 'We will not sell our testimony for any price, even if it concerns a close relative. We will not hide Allah's testimony, for then we would be among the sinners.' Ya akhī, ya ukhtī. Look at the spiritual logic. Even the bequest of a dying believer, made in the most emotional moment of his life, must be witnessed under oath. Why? Because Allah knows that family politics surface at the deathbed. Allah knows that the one who is closer to the dying person can re-narrate the waṣiyyah in his favor. Allah knows that wealth on a deathbed is the ultimate testing of relatives. And He placed witnesses there. Have you written your own waṣiyyah? Have you named witnesses to it? The Prophet ﷺ said: it is not right for a Muslim who has something to bequeath to pass two nights without his will written down with him (Bukhari 2738). The Sunnah is to live as if the witnesses are already there. Live so honestly that if Allah called you tonight, your waṣiyyah would not need rescue from corruption.
Read the longer reflection
Yā Rabb, You legislated justice all the way to the deathbed. You did not allow the final words of a believer to escape Your law of qisṭ. Two just witnesses. If doubt, hold them after salāh and make them swear. And the oath You dictated, ya Allah, is what should be tattooed on every Muslim's chest: 'we will not sell our testimony for any price, not even for a close relative.' That word, dhā qurbā, struck me. You knew that the closest relatives are exactly the people who corrupt testimony at deathbeds. The favorite son who whispers a different waṣiyyah. The favored daughter who hides the original. The trusted brother who reinterprets the dying breath. You stood guard at the moment when family love most easily slips into family theft. And You said: not even for them. Forgive me, ya Allāh, for the waṣiyyah I have not yet written. For the years I have lived assuming there will be time. For the absence of two just witnesses I have not named. Move me this week, ya Rabb. Make me write it. Make me name them. Make me clear: who gets what, what charity flows out of my wealth, what debts must be settled first, what relationships need final words from me. Place the waṣiyyah in a place my family will find. And ya Allah, train me to live every transaction in the same posture. To act today as if witnesses were watching, because You are watching. To know that the man who lives in awareness of his deathbed is the man who never needs to rewrite a deathbed in panic. Let the verse change my Tuesday afternoon as much as it changes the night I die. Āmīn ya Ḥakam.
A verse, a healing, and a Sunnah, every morning.
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