Observing Rights Between Fellow Humans

In fiqh, a person’s belongings are their movable and immovable property, money they are owed, things that a person can legitimately benefit from, such as a house or shop they rent, and nominal values which are not visible in sight such as their honour and dignity. When these are transgressed, their rights become due.

Rights come with certain responsibilities and duties. Since humans have to live in groups, they are obliged to fulfil these responsibilities and duties.

Some of these rights can be listed as the rights of mothers and fathers, the rights of husband and wife, the rights of children, of relatives, of neighbours, the rights between teachers and students, of friends, rights between employer and employee and the rights of society.

There are also the rights that Allāh Ta‘ālā has over us, such as to worship Him, to stay away from harāmand perform the farḍs.

Our religion has meticulously focused on these rights and has especially emphasized the rights of people. Because Allāh Ta‘ālā has declared that He will accept the repentance of those who sincerely repent of their sins, since Allāh Ta‘ālā is not in need of our worship, but because people are needy Allāh Ta‘ālā has protected their rights. That is why, while it is sufficient to repent from the sins that are related to the divine law, it is not enough to repent from the sins that concern the rights of other people, it is also necessary to ask for that person’s forgiveness.

Rasūlullāh (sallallāhu ‘alayhi wa sallam) said:

“Whoever has a right against their brother due to honour or anything else, let him make it halāl(forgive) for them before the day comes when the dinar and dirham have no value. (Otherwise, on that day) if the has a good deed, it will be taken from him to the extent of his injustice. If he does not have any good deeds, the sins of that person will be taken from them and placed on the person who has transgressed other’s rights.”

Allāh Ta‘ālā says: “So whoever does an atom’s weight of good will see it, and whoever does an atom’s weight of evil will see it.”

There are many instances which transgresses the rights of others. Some of them are:

Lying, stealing, perjury, delaying or not paying back the debt, ignoring religious sensitivities regarding inheritance, backbiting, insulting someone, using foul words, cursing, mocking, nicknaming and slandering.

Worse than these is to unjustly seize and improperly use the goods that are the common right of society, such as Bayt al-Māl and goods of waqfs and masjids. For these are the rights of society as a whole and does not have one individual who could forgive the transgression.

The rights of the unbelievers are also equally important. We should refrain from any wrongdoing.

Those who do not adhere to the rights of others, are in the words of Rasūlullāh (sallallāhu ‘alayhi wa sallam) people who have been bankrupt. It is stated in the hadīth al-sharīf:

Rasūlullāh (sallallāhu ‘alayhi wa sallam) one day said to his Sahābah: “What is a Muflis (a person who is bankrupt)?” they answered, “the person we call Muflis is the one who has no money or wealth.” Upon thisRasūlullāh (sallallāhu ‘alayhi wa sallam) said “A muflis from my ummah is a person who will come on the Day of Qiyāmah with the rewards of their salāh, fasting and zakāt. But they have sworn at somebody, they have wrongfully accused somebody of zinā, they have taken somebody’s property, they have shed the blood of another and beaten someone. Therefore, his good deeds are given to those people. If his good deeds finish before paying the rights of the others, then the other people’s sins will be taken from them and cast upon this man, and he will be thrown into Jahannam.”