الأخلاق الحميدة
Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) reported that the Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) said: "There was a man who used to give loans to people. He would say to his servant: 'When you come to an insolvent person overlook his debt. Perhaps Allah would overlook our sins.' So, the man met Allah (after death) and He overlooked his sins."
عن أبي هريرة -رضي الله عنه- مرفوعاً: «كان رجل يُدَايِنُ الناس، وكان يقول لفَتَاه: إذا أَتَيْتَ مُعْسِرًا فَتَجَاوَزْ عنه، لعَلَّ الله أن يَتَجَاوَزَ عنَّا، فَلَقِيَ الله فتَجَاوز عنه».
شرح الحديث :
The meaning of the Hadīth: "There was a man who used to give loans to people", meaning: he used to deal with them through loans, or sell goods to them for a deferred payment. He would say to his servant who used to collect debts from the people: "If you come to a debtor and he does not have anything with which to can pay off his debt due to his inability, then “overlook it”, either by leaving it without asking him insistently to repay it, or by accepting whatever he has with him, even if its value is slightly below the value of the debt. “Perhaps Allah will overlook our sins,” meaning pardon us due to the fact that we our overlooked His slaves debts and because we made things easy for them and removed their distress. The man said this because he knew that Allah, the Exalted, rewards the slaves for their benevolence towards His slaves in a way that is commensurate with their action, and because he knew that Allah, the Exalted, does not allow the reward of the one who does good to be lost (without reward). “So the man met Allah (after his death), and He overlooked his sins” as a reward from Him for his merciful treatment of people, for his gentleness with them, and for making things easy for them. In another narration this reward was given even though he had never done anything good as indicated by the narration of An-Nasā’i and Ibn Hibbān which reads: “There was a man who never did any good, and he used to give loans to people. He would say to his messenger: ‘Take what is available with them of the debt, and leave what they are not able to repay and overlook it. Perhaps Allah, the Almighty, would overlook our sins...’” So, when the man had good expectations about Allah, the Exalted, and dealt with Allah’s slaves with benevolence, Allah overlooked his sins. A person always reaps what he sows.