Almighty Allah is infinitely merciful, most compassionate and full of forgiveness. If a servant of God commits a sin unknowingly or at the prompting of Satan, and later sheds sincere tears of repentance before Allah, He can forgive even sins as vast as mountains. But an unshakable and inviolable principle of Islam is that, although Allah may forgive all of a person’s sins, there is one particular class of sin that He will not simply pardon of His own accord — the rights of other people, the Haqqul Ibad. Stressing its importance, Allah says in the holy Quran: “O believers, do not consume one another’s wealth unjustly.” (Sura an-Nisa 29)
In our society and daily life, the matter of the rights of others is vast and sensitive. Sadly, though we regularly perform acts of worship such as prayer, fasting, Hajj and zakat, through negligence and carelessness we constantly violate the rights of others — and for this single fault, all the good deeds of a lifetime can turn to dust on the Day of Judgement. In everyday life we take away others’ rights and dues in many ways that we often do not even count as sin: giving short weight in trade, adulterating food, lending money at exorbitant interest, or delaying repayment of a creditor despite having the means. The most terrifying of all is failing to pay the rights of inheritance — cunningly depriving sisters, wives or daughters of their lawful share has become a dreadful disease, and even when some do pay, it is often not on a just basis. Backbiting a person in their absence, defaming someone with false accusations, or hurting someone mentally through words and conduct also fall under the rights of others.
Then there are things we never even think about — creating traffic jams that obstruct ordinary people’s movement, embezzling public property or welfare funds, or drawing a salary while shirking one’s work. All of these amount to violating the rights of countless people. The Quran severely condemns those who unjustly devour others’ wealth: “Indeed, those who consume the property of orphans unjustly are only filling their bellies with fire, and they will soon enter a blazing fire.” (Sura an-Nisa 10)
In one hadith, the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) asked his Companions: “Do you know who is bankrupt?” They replied: the one who has no wealth or money. The Prophet (peace be upon him) then warned the ummah: “The truly bankrupt of my ummah is the one who comes on the Day of Judgement with much prayer, fasting and zakat, but who had abused someone, slandered another, unjustly devoured another’s wealth, shed another’s blood and struck another. So his good deeds will be handed, one by one, to those he wronged; and if his good deeds run out before their dues are settled, their sins will be loaded onto him, and he will finally be cast into the Fire.” (Muslim 2581)
This hadith shows how sensitive the rights of people are. A shortfall in the worship of Allah He may forgive if He wills, but if the right of a person is denied, the Creator Himself will not wipe away that sin until the wronged person forgives it from the heart. Many of us take pride in our outward worship, yet keep no account of how many people’s tears and sighs we cause behind the scenes. Money or power may secure an escape in the courts of this world, but on the Day of the Great Judgement there is no escape — that day, one’s hard-earned good deeds must be handed over to others.
Let us, today, place ourselves in the dock of self-reckoning. Have we, knowingly or unknowingly, seized anyone’s land? Withheld a worker’s wage before his sweat had dried? Broken the heart of a brother, sister or relative? Denied people their rights while carrying out our duties? If so, let us set aside pride and shame and hurry to them today: if they are alive, beg their forgiveness and settle their dues; and if they have passed from this world, give charity on their behalf and pray to Allah for them. To be a true Muslim, let us be most careful not only of the rights of Allah but of the rights of people.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report