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To what extent is the saying "The more wealth a person has, the more severe their reckoning" valid, and is it a Prophetic Hadith or a saying of a Companion?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

The hadith: "No man increased in proximity to the ruler except that he increased in distance from Allah; nor did his followers multiply except that his devils multiplied; nor did his wealth increase except that his reckoning intensified," is very weak because it is mursal and munqati', and due to the presence of Layth ibn Abi Sulaym in its chain of transmission, who suffered from confusion at the end of his life.

It was also narrated with a similar wording from Ibn Mas'ud and 'Ubayd ibn 'Umayr, but these narrations are also weak and munqati'.

Despite the weakness of the hadith, some of its meanings have supporting evidence in the authentic Sunnah, such as the narration that the poor among the Muhajireen will enter Paradise forty autumns or five hundred years before the wealthy, because the wealthy will be detained for reckoning concerning their wealth.

Similarly, on the Day of Judgment, a servant will be questioned about his lifespan, knowledge, wealth, and body, which indicates that an abundance of wealth prolongs the reckoning.

Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026

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