One of the early scholars used to say that nothing is more dangerous in journey of iman as the rights of others over us. We do not live in a vacuum, but in an organic society, where each one of us has mutual rights and obligations towards one another. It is not enough for us to perform the salat and hajj, but disregard the social contract by which we are all governed. Observing the rights of others over us forms part of our journey of iman.
Our actions impact those around us, hence all Muslims and non-Muslims have basic rights over us. Even animals and the environment have certain rights over us. Every relationship that we forge – marriage, friendship, parenthood, comes with it certain codes of conduct which we must observe.
This article examines the basic rights briefly and is by no means comprehensive. However, the fundamental underlying principle is simple – if we want to have peace with Allah, we must achieve peace with the people and things around us. Nothing in this world is better than getting away from oppressing others, and to instead treat everyone with justice and kindness. This is one of the core messages of Islam, and it is quite a common sense approach to life when you think about it.
The Basic Rights
Muslims as a whole have general rights over each other. These create mutual obligations, and when we look at them, they are not at all difficult to implement, but have far reaching effects of increasing the bond of brotherhood.
As a starting point, Abu Hurairah RA reported Allah’s Messenger SAW as saying: Six are the rights of a Muslim over another Muslim. It was said to him: ‘Allah’s Messenger, what are these?’ Thereupon he said:
When you meet him, offer him greetings;
when he invites you to a feast accept it,
when he seeks your counsel, give him,
and when he sneezes and says:” All praise is due to Allah,” you say yarhamuk Allah (may Allah show mercy to you);
and when he falls ill visit him;
and when he dies follow his bier.’
Aren’t these astonishingly simple to follow?
The above rights are self explanatory and to be taken quite literally. The common thread is that we are supposed to treat other Muslims with love, compassion and caring. We are supposed to foster close ties with them. We are supposed to be there in their times of need and distress. We are supposed to be their support when they are weak. We are supposed to be their beacon when they are lost. We are supposed to accompany them on their final journey on earth, back to the earth.
Where are we today? Many of us have neglected basic etiquette. When we bump into another Muslim, even in the masjid, we ignore his rights to the greeting. If we have difficulty even to offer basic salutations, what more the rest? Our ties with each other are crumbling, and even family outings are disunited – many are more interested in communicating through their tablets and smartphones rather than with each other. We have succumbed to social conventions which have departed from Muslim values. We are in danger of becoming unfeeling and uncaring in our dealings.
The unity of our Islamic brotherhood is unravelling fast.
Loving for our Brothers what we Love for Ourselves
Anas RA relates that the Prophet SAW said: “None of you truly believes until he loves for his brother what he loves for himself.” [Bukhari and Muslim]
This hadith is brief, but it runs deep to the core of basic humanity. One’s belief is deficient unless he wishes the same for his Muslim brother as he does for himself. The practice of this hadith negates base emotions such as envy and selfishness, and encourages compassion, empathy and mercy to others and to strive for the betterment of the Islamic brotherhood as a whole. The hadith, by implication, also means that we should hate evil and misfortune befalling our Muslim brothers the same way that we should hate it falling on ourselves.
Sadly, many of us are heading the opposite direction. We relish on the misfortunes of our Muslim rivals, and are indifferent to those in need. We turn turn a blind eye to the atrocities committed on our brothers and sisters in Islam. Instead, majority of us give priority to our daily routines – the antics of our children, what’s for dinner and where we are in our latest pastimes. We may be busy, or financially and physically limited from helping, but at the very least, how about sparing a few minutes of our schedules to make du’a for the plight of our brothers and sisters? We should remind ourselves that with just one simple twist of fate, it could have been us in the shoes of those whose suffering we overlook.
The Collective Ummah – our right to basic unity
All our relationships have established etiquette. A husband has rights over his wife and vice versa. Parents have rights over their children, and children also have certain rights over their parents. A customer has rights over the merchant, just as the merchant has rights over the customer. Islam is not about unilateral relationships, but rather, multiple and reciprocal ones. These rights are too numerous to be addressed here, but will be examined in future articles, insha Allah.
Why is it so important to observe the rights of others upon us? Let us take a quick look at the state of Islamic society today. We are lacking humility, love and mercy. The wife has lost the ability to apologise to her husband, and the husband has lost the ability to be compassionate and just to his wife. Children are not taught basic manners, not even how to respect their own parents. Parents are hardly capable of having even basic conversations with their children, and then wonder why their children are strangers to them. Family squabbles are rife. As a result, many families are now broken and disunited. Many are miserable in our own family structures, having been denied our basic rights to love, justice and mercy – this is a hard truth.
How can the Muslim nation ever gain unity if the nucleus of the ummah, the family unit is in such a chaotic state?
We have been raised to think that in order to survive in this world, the “me, me, me” mentality is paramount. The frightening thing in this is that, once we are on that slippery slope, we no longer realize it and it is difficult to stop.
Prophet Muhammad (SAW) said: “The similitude of believers in regard to mutual love, affection, fellow-feeling is that of one body; when any limb of it aches, the whole body aches, because of sleeplessness and fever.” [Muslim]
The smallest actions can have wide reaching implications on society. For instance, if all the rich Muslims in the world pooled their resources and donated even less than one per cent of their collective wealth to the poor, global poverty can be eradicated in an instant. Or let us visualise a simpler example where no cash changes hands: what if tomorrow, all the Muslims in the world started the day by smiling at each other and spend a few seconds offering greetings, even if to strangers (within boundaries permitted by Islam), how much more powerful, happy and united we will feel?
However, let us not play the blame game. Look at our own selves – when was the last time we showed any caring to those outside our immediate concern? Why do we put Muslims of our race above other Muslims when Islam is colour blind? How much effort do we take to reconcile differences between fellow Muslims, to solve rather than prolong the rifts? When we hear that someone has fallen into error, do we pray for their repentance and try to guide them, instead of gossiping about their mistakes? How often have we heard the classic excuse of hating how hospitals to avoid visiting an ill person?
We are now paying the price for our insular behaviour, and our ummah is disintegrating. We have become weak as a nation, embroiled in our own internal issues and leaving ourselves wide open to secular invasion and propaganda.
Imagine if we were called to account for our actions before Allah. If we do not make the effort of fostering unity and mercy amongst us, and if we deny the rights of our Muslim brothers and sisters upon us, can we anticipate that Allah will be merciful to us?
This article sets out only six steps – they are not difficult at all, and before discussing the full blown rights of Muslims over each other, let us try to implement these first, insha Allah.
A Final Note
Once, Umar al Khattab RA, the Criterion of the Ummah, complained to Rasulullah SAW about Ali ibn Abi Talib RA, the cousin of Rasulullah SAW, the one who Rasulullah SAW labelled as the head of the young people of jannah. Umar’s RA complaint was that every time Ali RA met him he would not offer salam. The Prophet SAW called Ali RA and confronted him with Umar’s RA grievance. Look to the shocking answer – Ali RA said, ‘O the Prophet of Allah, I know how much you love Umar, and I heard you say that whoever meets his brother and he starts with salam, Allah builds him a palace in jannah. So I decided to delay my salam just to make him say it first and I help him to get this palace in jannah.”
This is just a small example of the amount of love the Companions had for each other, not only of the material reward, or for marriage, money or wealth, but for a level in jannah. Just imagine how far they reached and how far we reached the opposite direction, when we deny each other rights, justice and goodness.
In another incident, Ali ibn Abi Talib RA entered the house and gave his greetings to his wife, Fatimah RA, the most beloved daughter of the Prophet SAW. Her stomach ached, and she requested her husband to take the few dirhams she had to buy some pomegranates for her. He obliged and purchased a pomegranate from the market. On the way home, a poor man in the street waved to him, saying “Ya Ali, I’m a very poor man. Do you know what I want? I want a pomegranate.”
Without any hesitation Ali RA gave the poor man the pomegranate, explaining that he had bought it for his wife but gave it to the poor man instead for the sake of Allah. The poor man offered to take half the pomegranate only, but Ali RA refused and instead went home empty handed. He explained the incident to Fatimah RA when he got home. Immediately, she replied, “It is the best, what you did. It is better that you give it to the poor person.” Some time later, there was a knock on the door. It was one of the Companions, bearing a gift of ten pomegranates for them, on the request of the Prophet SAW.
It transpired that the poor man was Angel Jibreel AS, who, in the form of a man, came to test Ali’s RA iman. After he passed the test, Allah sent down the ten pomegranates for the obedience and sacrifice of he and his wife for the path of Allah – for Allah rewards tenfold for every good deed performed.
Imagine, today, you are going to buy your spouse a new phone or a present that you promised to get. On the way, you hear of someone who is ill or needy, or of a funeral, so you donate the money or even a portion of it. Would you be able go home and face your spouse empty handed? There will be the mother of all fights! Can we react the way Fatimah RA reacted?
This may sound amusing and trivial, but think of where we are now compared to the early Muslims, who lived the message the way it should have been lived. It is time for us to be aware that we are not individual islands, but are part of a much larger collective nation under Allah. Islam is a living religion. It is time for us to revive these basic tenets of Islam, and start seeing our brothers and sisters in Islam as an extension of ourselves instead of strangers. The perfection of our belief is dependent on this, and it is incumbent upon us to fulfil the rights of other Muslims upon us.
