Question:
Is it true that the husband would bear the sins of his wife?
Answer:
Alhamdulillah, praise and thanks to Allah for the many countless blessings He has blessed us all with. Blessings and salutations to the Prophet Muhammad PBUH, his wives, his family, companions and all those that follow his teachings to the day of judgement.
In the Quran there are a lot of verses that command every Muslim to take care of themselves and the people around them from misdeeds and sins. Among the statements of Allah SWT are:
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا قُوا أَنفُسَكُمْ وَأَهْلِيكُمْ نَارًا
“O you who have believed, protect yourselves and your families from a Fire,”
Surah al-Tahrim (6)
Syeikh Muhammad Sayyid Tantawi in his commentaries said that this verse is for every individual that pronounced their belief towards Allah SWT, so that they will keep themselves away from hellfire by doing good deeds and avoiding sins, and their family members by advising them, showing them the right way and asking them to do ma’ruf and keep away from munkar. Meanwhile, Imam al-Qurthubi wrote the opinions of Qatadah and Mujahid that said, protecting oneself by always being mindful of one’s actions and protecting one’s family members through advice. (See Tafsir al-Wasit, 476/14)
However, answering the question above, originally in syara’ every individual is responsible for his own actions and not of someone else’s. This is in accordance with a statement of Allah SWT:
وَلَا تَكْسِبُ كُلُّ نَفْسٍ إِلَّا عَلَيْهَا
“And every soul earns not [blame] except against itself, and no bearer of burdens will bear the burden of another.”
Surah al-An’am (164)
Imam al-Hafiz Ibn Kathir when commenting on this verse said that, this verse explains about the Day of Judgement when the reckoning, reprisal, punishment and judgement from Allah SWT will be passed. Every soul will be recompensed based on his deeds. If his deeds are good, then he will be rewarded. And if his deeds are bad, then he will be punished. This is because every soul (human) will not bear the misdeeds (sins) of someone else. This proves Allah SWT’s fairness, as stated in the Quran: (See Tafsir Ibn Kathir, 383-384/3)
وَلَا تَزِرُ وَازِرَةٌ وِزْرَ أُخْرَىٰ ۚ وَإِن تَدْعُ مُثْقَلَةٌ إِلَىٰ حِمْلِهَا لَا يُحْمَلْ مِنْهُ شَيْءٌ وَلَوْ كَانَ ذَا قُرْبَىٰ
“And no bearer of burdens will bear the burden of another. And if a heavily laden soul calls [another] to [carry some of] its load, nothing of it will be carried, even if he should be a close relative.”
Surah Fatir (18)
Reviewing the verse and the statement by Imam Ibn Kathir above, clearly it shows that according to syara’ every human being with mature thoughts and has reached puberty (mukallaf), a person’s sins is on the person, it does not matter whether the person is a husband, wife, father, mother, child or others. However, the husband or anyone else for that matter, will bear a sin if he does not fulfil the responsibility that is his. For example, advising his wife in ma’ruf matters and preventing her from munkar. This is said in a hadith:
- From Abdulah bin Umar RA, the Prophet PBUH said:
أَلَا كُلُّكُمْ رَاعٍ، وَكُلُّكُمْ مَسْئُولٌ عَنْ رَعِيَّتِهِ، فَالْأَمِيرُ الَّذِي عَلَى النَّاسِ رَاعٍ، وَهُوَ مَسْئُولٌ عَنْ رَعِيَّتِهِ، وَالرَّجُلُ رَاعٍ عَلَى أَهْلِ بَيْتِهِ، وَهُوَ مَسْئُولٌ عَنْهُمْ
“Beware. every one of you is a shepherd and everyone is answerable with regard to his flock. The Caliph is a shepherd over the people and shall be questioned about his subjects (as to how he conducted their affairs). A man is a guardian over the members of his family and shall be questioned about them (as to how he looked after their physical and moral well-being).”
Sahih Muslim (1829)
There is also a statement from Allah SWT that shows that man is the leader for woman.
Allah SWT states in the Quran:
الرِّجَالُ قَوَّامُونَ عَلَى النِّسَاءِ
“Men are in charge of women,”
Surah al-Nisa’ (34)
Syeikh al-Sa’di said, the meaning of “men are in charge of women” in this verse is that men are obligated to ask the woman (wife) to fulfil the rights of Allah SWT, such as the obligatory worships in Islam and preventing their women from sins. This verse states the responsibility of men (husbands) towards their women (wives) in ensuring they fulfil Islam’s commandments. (See Tafsir al-Karim, 177)
To answer the question asked, we state here that a husband does not bear his wife’s sins at all if he has fulfilled his responsibilities the best he could. However, if his wife still sinned after his advice or his wife sinned behind her husband’s back (without his knowledge), then his wife sins are hers to answer to and the husband does not bear any of her sins. This is because his responsibility is to advise his wife and that is what will be asked of him in front of Allah SWT on the Day of Judgement if he neglected his responsibility. Thus, we emphasize that a husband does not bear his wife’s sins for it contradicts the Quranic and prophetic evidences stated above.
Closing
As a conclusion, every individual (mukallaf) will be responsible for his/her own sins in front of Allah SWT on the Day of Judgement. And he will not bring or bear the sins of other people after he has fulfilled his responsibilities the best that he could. Lastly, may Allah SWT give us solehah wives and make our family a family that is built with sakinah (peace), rahmah (blessings) and mawaddah (love). Amin.
Wallahua’alam.