I said: “O Messenger of Allah, when Allah sends down His wrath upon the people of the earth and among them are the righteous, will they perish along with them?” He said: “O ʿĀʾishah, when Allah sends down His wrath upon a people deserving His punishment, and among them are the righteous, they will be afflicted along with them, then they will be resurrected according to their intentions and their deeds.”

Reported by Ibn Ḥibbān (no. 7314) and al-Bayhaqī in Shuʿab al-Īmān (no. 7193), from the narration of ʿĀʾishah — may Allah be pleased with her.
Authenticated in Silsilat al-Aḥādīth al-Ṣaḥīḥah (no. 1622) and Ṣaḥīḥ al-Targhīb wa al-Tarhīb (no. 11).

Brief Explanation of the Hadith

From Allah’s mercy to His servants is that He does not hold anyone accountable for the deeds of another, as He, the Exalted, said: {Every soul is held in pledge for what it has earned} al-Muddaththir: 38. Thus, if a servant’s intention is sound and his deed is upright, he will prosper and succeed in the Hereafter.
When ʿĀʾishah — may Allah be pleased with her — asked the Prophet — may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him — about Allah’s punishment and wrath when it descends upon the people of the earth, and among them are the righteous, saying: “Will they perish along with them?”
He informed her that when punishment descends upon a people, it encompasses everyone—the righteous and the wicked alike—and that the destruction of the righteous occurs due to the ill consequence of mixing with the corrupt. Then, on the Day of Judgment, they will be separated, and each person will be recompensed according to his intention and his deed: whoever was among the righteous will be among the people of Paradise, and whoever was among the corrupt will be among the people of the Fire.
The hadith encourages distancing oneself from the people of oppression and avoiding rebels and the immoral—so as to protect the community from corruption, which is among the greatest causes of an evil end. It also teaches that sharing in a calamity does not mean equality in recompense; rather, each person will be resurrected according to his intention and rewarded for his deed.
It further shows that punishment is a purification for the believers and a retribution upon the wicked.

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