Praise be to Allah.
Entering Paradise without being brought to account
Allah has blessed some of the elite among His slaves with the promise that they will enter Paradise without being brought to account and without being punished.
‘Abd-Allah ibn ‘Abbas (may Allah be pleased with him) said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: The nations were shown to me and I saw a prophet with a small band of followers, and a prophet with one or two men with him, and a prophet who had no one with him. Then I was shown a huge multitude and I thought they were my ummah, but it was said to me: This is Musa (peace be upon him) and his people. But look at the horizon. So I looked and saw a huge multitude, and it was said to me: Look at the other horizon, and there was (another) huge multitude. And it was said to me: This is your ummah and with them are seventy thousand who will enter Paradise without being brought to account or punished.” Then he got up and went into his house, and the people disputed about those who enter Paradise without being brought to account or being punished. Some of them said: Perhaps they are the ones who accompanied the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him). Some of them said: Perhaps they are the ones who were born in Islam and did not associate anything with Allah. And they mentioned other things. The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) came out to them and said: “What are you disputing about?” They told him, and he said: “They are the ones who did not seek ruqyah or believe in bird omens, and they put their trust in their Lord.” ‘Ukashah ibn Mihsan stood up and said: Pray to Allah to make me one of them. He said: “You will be one of them.” Another man stood up and said: Pray to Allah to make me one of them. He said: “ ‘Ukashah has beaten you to it.” (Al-Bukhari, 5705; Muslim, 220)
He did not say that among these seventy thousand would be those who died during the month of Ramadan . Rather those who are mentioned are the elite of the believers who achieved true belief in the oneness of the Lord of the Worlds (Tawhid).
It says in Fath al-Majid:
“The phrase “and put their trust in their Lord'' points to the basic principles from which these actions and attributes stemmed, which is putting one's trust in Allah (tawakkul) and sincerely turning to Him and depending on Him. This is the ultimate Tawhid which raises a person to a high status of love, hope, fear and being content with Allah as one's Lord and God, and being content with His decree.” (p. 74)
Death in Ramadan: Any Virtues?
Concerning the virtue of one who dies whilst fasting, it was narrated that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: “Whoever says La ilaha illa-Allah (there is no god but Allah), seeking the Face of Allah and that was his final action, will enter Paradise. Whoever fasts one day seeking the Face of Allah and that was his final action, will enter Paradise. Whoever gives charity seeking the Face of Allah and that was his final action will enter Paradise.” Narrated by Imam Ahmad, 22813, from the hadith of Hudhayfah (may Allah be pleased with him). Al-Albani said in Ahkam al-Janaiz: its isnad is sahih.
It should be noted that the previous hadith points to the high status of those seventy thousand (may Allah make us among them) with regard to doing righteous deeds, which is what brought them to that status before Allah. Shaykh Muhammad ibn ‘Abd al-Wahhab (may Allah have mercy on him) said, after quoting this hadith in Kitab al-Tawhid: “This is indicative of the depth of the knowledge of the salaf, because they knew that they could not attain that status except by doing righteous deeds.” It should be obvious to the questioner that if there were anything special about dying in Ramadan, this would apply only to the believers and not all those who die in Ramadan.
Similarly, with regard to the hadith quoted above concerning the virtue of one who dies whilst fasting, which says that he will enter Paradise, this promise is for one who does righteous deeds and that was his final deed, not simply for dying in Ramadan. Moreover, it does not mention that specific virtue of entering Paradise without being brought to account. And Allah is the Source of strength.
For more, please see these answers: 130283 and 10903 .
And Allah knows best.
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