The Treatise on Rights

33- THE RIGHT OF THE COMPANION

And the right of the companion is that you should act as his companion with nobility as much as you can. You should at least treat him with fairness and honor him as he honors you, and guard him as he guards you, and do not let him be the first one to deal with the other one with honor. And if he does so, you should do something for him in return. And you should not neglect the friendship that he deserves in the least bit. You should commit yourself to advise him, care for him, and help him perform the acts of obedience to his Lord, and help him restrain himself from any act of disobedience of his Lord that he might attempt. Then be like a mercy upon him, and not as a chastisement. And there is no power but in God.

33. حق الصاحب

وَأمـــــــــــــّا حَقُّ الصَّاحِب فَأَنْ تَصْحَبَهُ بالفَضلِ مَـــــــا وَجَدْتَ إلَيهِ سَبيلاً وإلا فَلا أَقَلَّ مِنَ الإنصَــــــــافِ، وَأَنْ تُكْرِمَهُ كَمَا يـُكْرِمُكَ، وَتـحْفَظَـــــــــــــــــهُ كَمَا يـَحْفَظُكَ، ولا يَسْبقَكَ فِيمَــا بَينَكَ وبَينَهُ إلَى مـَكْرَمَةٍ، فَـــــــــــــإنْ سَبَقَكَ كَافَـــأتَهُ. ولا تُقَصِّرَ بهِ عَمَّا يَسْتَحِقُّ مِنَ الْمَوَدَّةِ. تُلْزِمُ نفْسَكَ نصِيحَتَهُ وَحِيَـــــــــاطَتَهُ وَمُعَاضَدتَهُ عَلَى طَـــــاعَةِ رَبهِ وَمَعُونتَهُ عَلَى نَفْسِهِ فِيمَــــــــا لا يَهُمُّ بهِ مِنْ مَعْصِيةِ رَبهِ، ثُمَّ تَكُونُ [عَلَيْهِ] رَحْمَةً ولا تَكُونُ عَلَيهِ عَذَاباً. ولا قُوَّةَ إلا باللهِ.

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34- THE RIGHT OF THE PARTNER

And the right of the partner is that you should take care of his affairs in his absence. And you should treat him equally when he is present. And you should not make any decisions on your own without considering his opinion. And you should not act according to your own opinion before discussing it with him. You should safeguard his property, and advise him against cheating whether there is honor or disdain in it, since it has been transmitted to us: "God's hand is with partners as long as they do not cheat." And there is no power but in God.

34. حق الشريك

وَأمّــا حَقُّ الشَّرِيكِ، فَإنْ غَابَ كَفَيْتَـــــــــــــــــهُ، وَإنْ حَضَرَ سَــــــــــــاويْتَهُ، ولا تَعْزِمْ عَلَى حُكْمِكَ دُونَ حُكْمِـــــهِ، وَلا تَعمَــــــــــــــــــلْ برَأْيكَ دُونَ مُنــــاظَرَتهِ، وتَحْفَظُ عَلَيْهِ مَالَهُ وَتنْفِي عَنْهُ خِيَانتَهُ فِيمَـا عَزَّ أَو هَانَ فَإنَّهُ بَلَغَنَا أَنَّ "يَدَ اللهِ عَلَى الشَّرِيـكَيْنِ مَــــــــــــــــــا لَمْ يَتَخاوَنا". ولا قُوَّةَ إلا باللهِ.

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35- THE RIGHT OF PROPERTY

And the right of your property is that you should not attain it except by legitimate means and you should only spend it for legitimate causes. You should not spend it improperly, you should not use it wrongfully, and you should not use what is from God in ways other than in His way and make it as a means to approach God. And you should not prefer to use it for one who does not show gratitude instead of using it for yourself. It is better that you do not leave it for others as inheritance who might use it not to obey your Lord, and then your wealth may be considered to be as an assistance for them in so doing. Or you may bequeath your property to one who spends it in the way of obedience to God in ways better than you do. Then he will gain the benefits, and you will be left with the sins, and the regret, and blame yourself for the ill consequence. And there is no power but in God.

35. حق المال

وَأمّا حَقُّ المَالِ، فَأَنْ لا تَأْخُذَهُ إلاّ مِنْ حِلِّهِ، ولا تُنْفِقَهُ إلاّ فِي حِلِّهِ، وَلا تُحَرِّفْــــــــــــــــــهُ عَنْ مَـــــــــوَاضِعِهِ، ولا تَصْرِفَهُ عَنْ حَقَـــــــــــــــائِقِهِ، ولا تَجْعَلْهُ إذا كَانَ مِنَ اللَّهِ إلاّ إلَيهِ وَسَبَباً إلَى اللَّهِ. ولا تُـــــــــؤثِرَ بهِ عَلَى نفْسِـــــــكَ مَنْ لَعَلَّهُ لا يَحْمَدُكَ، وَبالْحَرِيِّ أَنْ لا يُحْســـــــــــــــِنَ خِلافَتَــــــــهُ فِي تَرِكَتِكَ(30) ولا يَعْمَلُ فِيهِ بطَـــــــــاعَةِ ربكَ فَتَكُونَ مُعِينًا لَهُ عَلَى ذلِكَ أَو بمَـــــــا أَحْدَثَ فِي مَالِكَ أَحْسَنَ نَظَرًا لِنَفْسِهِ، فَيَعْمَلَ بطَاعَةِ رَبهِ فَيَذْهَبَ بالْغَنِيمَةِ وتَبُوءَ بالإثمِ وَالْحَسْرَةِ وَالنَّدَامَةِ مَعَ التَّبعَةِ.(31) وَلا قُوَّةَ إلا باللهِ.

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36- THE RIGHT OF THE CREDITOR

And the right of him to whom you owe ⁴⁵ is that you should pay him back if you have the means to do so. You should meet his need, make him rich, and avoid putting him off and procrastinating. The Prophet, may God's peace be upon him and his household, said: "Procrastination is oppression for the rich." But if you are in hardship you should satisfy him by using good words. You should gently ask him ⁴⁶ and send him away with gentleness. You should not take his property and mistreat him too. That will surely be mean. And there is no power but in God.

36. حق الغريم الطالب

وَأمّا حَقُّ الغَرِيمِ الطَّالِب لَكَ،(32) فَإنْ كُنْتَ مُوسِرًا أَوفَيتَهُ وَكَفَيتَهُ وَأَغْنَيتَهُ وَلَـــــــــــمْ ترْدُدْهُ وتَمْطُلْهُ فَإنَّ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَآلِهِ - قَالَ - "مَـطَلُ الغَنِيَّ ظُلْـــــــــــــــمٌ". وَإنْ كُنْتَ مُعْسِرًا أَرْضَيتَــــــــــــــهُ بحُسْنِ القَوْلِ وَطَلَبتَ إلَيهِ طَلَباً جَـــمِيلاً وَرَدَدتَهُ عَنْ نفْسِكَ ردًّا لَطِيفًا، وَلَمْ تَجْمَعَ عَلَيْهِ ذهَابَ مَالِهِ وَسُوءَ مُعَامَلَتِهِ فَإنَّ ذلِكَ لؤمٌ. ولا قُوَّةَ إلاّ باللهِ.

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37- THE RIGHT OF THE ASSOCIATE

And the right of the associate is that you should not mislead, or cheat him, lie to him or fool him, and you should not trick him. And you should not treat him as an enemy does -who alienates all his friends. If he trusts you, you should be very careful of yourself for his sake, and realize that cheating the intimate ones is like usury. And there is no power but in God.

37. حق الخليط

وَأمّــــــا حَقُّ الخَلِيطِ(33) فَأَنْ لا تَغُرَّهُ ولا تَغُشَّـهُ ولا تُكَذِبَهُ ولا تُغَفِّلَهُ ولا تَخــــــــدَعَهُ ولا تَعمَلْ فِي انتِقَـــاضِهِ عَمَلَ الْعَدُوِّ الَّذِي لا يُبقِي عَلَى صَـــــــاحِبهِ وَإنِ اطْمَأَنَّ إلَيكَ اسْتَقْصَيتَ لَهُ عَلَى نفْسِـكَ(34) وَعَلِمْتَ أَنَّ غَبْنَ الْمُسْتَرْسِلِ رِِبًا. ولا قُوَّةَ إلا باللهِ.

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38- THE RIGHT OF THE ADVERSARY

THE RIGHT OF THE CLAIMING ADVERSARY

And the right of the adversary who has a claim against you is that if his claim against you is true⁴⁷ , you should not nullify his proof and not abolish his claim. And you should dispute against yourself on his behalf and be a fair judge against yourself, and give witness to his right against you without the witnessing of any witnesses. This is the right of God that is made incumbent upon you. But if what he claims against you is false, treat him with patience and remind him to fear God, and implore him to his religion. And by reminding him of God you should help reduce his fury against you. Avoid using indecent words and yelling at him since this will not eliminate the animosity of your enemy but it will

38. حق الخصم

حق الخصم المدعي عليك

وَأمّــــــــا حَقُّ الخَصْمِ المُدَّعِي عَلَيْكَ، فَإنْ كَانَ مَا يَدَّعِي عَلَيكَ حَقّــــــــاً لَمْ تنفَسِخ فِي حُجَّتِهِ وَلَمْ تَعمَلْ فِي إبطَـــــالِ دَعْوَتِهِ وَكُنْتَ خَصْــــــــــمَ نفْسِكَ لَهُ والحَـــاكِمَ عَلَيْهَا والشَّـــاهِدَ لَهُ بحَقِّهِ دُونَ شَهَادَةِ الشُّهُودِ، فَـــــــــإنَّ ذلِكَ حَقُّ اللَّهِ عَلَيْكَ، وَإنْ كَانَ مَـــا يَدَّعِيهِ بَـــــــــاطِلاً رَفَقْتَ بهِ وَرَوَّعْتَهُ (35) ونـــــاشَدتهُ بدِينِه(36) وَكَسَرْتَ حِدَّتهُ عَنكَ بذِكْرِ اللهِ وَأَلْقَيْتَ حَشْوَ الْكَلامِ وَلَغَطَـــــــهُ(37) الَّذِي لا يَرُدُّ عَنْكَ عَـــــــــــاديَةَ عَدُوِّكَ بَلْ تبُوءُ بإثمِهِ وَبهِ يَشْحَذُ

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result in your suffering from the sin he commits against you. And it will also result in his sharpening of the sword of animosity towards you, since indecent words will cause evil but good words will eradicate evil. And there is no power but in God.

عَلَيْكَ سَيفَ عَدَاوَتِهِ(39) لأَنَّ لَفْظَةَ السُّوءِ تَبعَثُ الشَّرَّ. وَالخَيْرُ مُقْمِعَةٌ لِلشَّرِّ. وَلا قُوَّةَ إلا باللهِ.

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THE RIGHT OF THE CLAIMED ADVERSARY

And the right of the adversary against whom you have a claim is that if your claim against him is true⁴⁸ , you should use pleasant words while you are filing your claim, since hearing the claim is harsh for the defendant. And you should provide your evidence with lenience, and respite, and with the clearest statements, and with absolute gentleness. And you should not dispute with him over gossip lest your proofs will be voided and you will lose the opportunity to prove them. And there is no power but in God.

حق الخصم المدعى عليه

وَأمّــــــا حَقُّ الخَصْمِ الْمُدَّعَى عَلَيهِ فَإنْ كَانَ مَــــــــا تدَّعِيهِ حَقًّا أَجْمَلْتَ فِي مُقَـــــاوَلَتِهِ(40) بمَخرَجِ الدَّعْوَى، فَإنّ لِلدَّعْوَى غِلْظَةً فِي سَــــــــــــــمْعِ الْمُدَّعَى عَلَيهِ. وَقَصَــــــــــــــــدْتَ قَصْدَ حُجَّتِكَ بالرِّفْقِ وَأَمْهَلِ الْمُهْلَةِ وَأبْينِ الْبَيَـــــــانِ وَألطَفِ اللُّطْفِ ولَمْ تَتشَـــــــاغَلْ عَنْ حُجَّتِكَ بمُنازَعَتِهِ بالقِيلِ وَالقَــــــــــــــــالِ فَتَذهَبْ عَنْكَ حُجَّتُكَ ولا يَكُونَ لَكَ فِي ذَلِكَ دَرْكٌ. ولا قُوَّةَ إلا باللهِ.

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39- THE RIGHT OF HIM WHO SEEKS YOUR ADVICE

And the right of him who seeks your advice is that you should exert all efforts to advise him if you can provide him with a good opinion, and suggest to him to choose what you would have chosen if you were in his shoes. You should do so with mercy and with lenience since lenience will eliminate fear while rudeness will eliminate friendliness. But if you do not have any good advice for him, you should refer him to someone else whom you know and trust his advice yourself. You should spare no efforts to guide him towards the good and do your best to advise him. And there is no power but in God.

39. حق المستشير

وَأمّــــــــــــا حَقُّ المُسْتَشِيرِ، فَإنْ حَضَرَكَ لَهُ وَجْهُ رَأْىٍ جَهَدْتَ لَهُ فِي النَّصِيحَـــــــــةِ، وَأَشَرْتَ عَلَيهِ بمَا تَعْلَمُ أَنَّكَ لَوْ كُنْتَ مَكَانهُ عَمِلْتَ بهِ، وَذَلِكَ لِيَكُنْ مِنْكَ فِي رَحْمَةٍ وَلِينٍ، فَإنَّ اللِّينَ يُؤْنِسُ الْوَحْشَةَ وَإنَّ الْغِلْظَ يُوحِشُ مَوضِعَ الأنْسِ. وَإنْ لَمْ يَحْضُرْكَ لَهُ رَأيٌ وَعَرَفْتَ لَهُ مَنْ تثِقُ برَأيِهِ وَترْضَى بهِ لِنَفْسِكَ دَلَلْتَهُ عَلَيْهِ وَأَرْشَدتَهُ إلَيْهِ، فَكُنْتَ لَمْ تَـــــــــــــألُهُ خَيرًا(41) وَلَمْ تَدَّخِرْهُ نُصْحاً. ولا حَوْلَ ولا قُوَّةَ إلا باللهِ.

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40- THE RIGHT OF HIM WHOSE ADVICE YOU SEEK

And the right of him whose advice you seek is that you should not accuse him when he gives you advice which does not conform to your own opinion. It is quite natural that opinions are divergent and people have various views about their affairs in which they disagree. You are free not to accept his advice if you doubt it. However, you are not permitted to accuse him of providing you with ill advice as long as you consider him to be of those worthy of consultation. Do not stop thanking him for the thoughts and the good advice he has given you. And if it ⁴⁹ was appropriate for you, you should thank God for it, accept it from your religious brother with gratitude, and be ready to act similarly for him should one day he seek your advice. And there is no power but in God.

40. حق المشير

وَأمّـــــــــا حَقُّ المُشِيرِ عَلَيْكَ فَلا تتَّهِمْهُ فِيمَا لا يُوافِقُكَ عَلَيهِ مِنْ رَأْيِهِ إذا أَشَــــــارَ عَلَيْكَ فَإنَّمَا هِيَ الآرَاءُ وَتصَرُّفُ النَّــــاسِ فِيهَــــــا وَاختِلافُهُمْ. فَكُنْ عَلَيهِ فِي رَأيِهِ بالخِيَارِ إذا اتَّهمْتَ رَأْيَهُ، فَأَمّا تُهْمتُهُ فَلا تَجُوزُ لَكَ إذَا كَانَ عِنْدكَ مِمَّنْ يَسْتَحِقُّ الْمُشَاوَرَةَ. وَلا تَدَعْ شُكْرَهُ عَلَى مَـا بَدَا لَكَ مِن إشْــــــــخاصِ رَأْيِهِ وَحُسْنِ وَجْهِ مَشُورَتِهِ، فَإذا وَافَقَكَ حَمِدتَ اللَّهَ وَقَبلْتَ ذلِكَ مِن أَخِيكَ بالشُّــــــــــــــــــــــــكْرِ والإرْصَادِ بالْمُكَافَأَةِ فِي مِثلِهَـــــا إنْ فَزِعَ إلَيْكَ.(42) وَلا قُوَّةَ إلا باللهِ.

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41- THE RIGHT OF HIM WHO SEEKS YOUR COUNSEL

And the right of him who seeks your counsel is that you should give him your counsel as much as you think he can bear. And you should talk with him with such gentle words that he listens to you and you should use such words that his intellect can understand. This is because for each person's intellect there is a certain way of talking, which he can comprehend and respond to. You should choose having mercy as your course of action. And there is no power but in God.

41. حق المستنصح

وَأمّــا حَقُّ المُسْتَنصِحِ فَإنَّ حَقَّهُ أَنْ تُؤَدِّيَ إلَيهِ النَّصِيحَةَ عَلَى الحَقِّ الَّذِي تَرَى لَهُ أنّهُ يحْمِلُ وَتخرُجَ المَخرَجَ الَّذِي يَلينُ عَلَى مَسَـــــــــــــامِعِهِ، وتُكَلِّمَهُ مِنَ الْكَلامِ بمَا يُطِيقُهُ عَقلُهُ، فَإنَّ لِكُلِّ عَقْلٍ طَبقَــــــــــــــــــةً مِنَ الْكَلامِ يَعْرِفُــــــــهُ ويَجْتَنِبُهُ، وَلْيَكُنْ مَذهَبَكَ الرَّحْمَـــةَ. ولا قُوَّةَ إلا باللهِ.

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42- THE RIGHT OF THE COUNSELOR

And the right of your counselor is that you should treat him gently, then you should be whole-heartedly attentive to him, and open you ears for him so that you understand his counsel. And then study it deeply and if what he presents to you is right, you should praise God for it, and accept it from him and acknowledge his favor. But if what he presents to you does not agree with you, you should be kind to him and make no accusations against him; and you should know that he spared no efforts to provide you with the best advice, but he made a mistake. Unless he deserves to be accused in which case you should not trust him under any circumstances. And there is no power but in God.

42. حق الناصح

وَأمّــــــا حَقُّ النَّاصِحِ فَأَنْ تُلِينَ لَهُ جَنَاحَكَ ثُمَّ تشرأب لَهُ قَلبَكَ(43) وَتفْتَحَ لَهُ سَـــــــــمْعَكَ حتَّى تَفْهَمَ عَنهُ نصِيحَتَهُ، ثُمَّ تنْظُرَ فِيهَـــــا، فَإنْ كَانَ وُفّقَِ فِيهَا لِلصَّوَاب حَمِدْتَ اللَّهَ عَلَى ذَلِكَ وَقَبلْتَ مِنْـــــــــــــــــــهُ وَعَرَفْتَ لَهُ نَصِيحَتَهُ، وَإنْ لَمْ يَكُنْ وُفّقَِ لَهَا فِيهَا رَحِمْتَهُ وَلَمْ تتَّهِمَهُ وَعَلِمْتَ أَنَّهُ لَمْ يألُكَ نُصْحًا إلا أنَّهُ أَخطَـــــأَ إلا أَنْ يَكُونَ عِنْدَكَ مُسْتَحِقًّا لِلتُّهْمَةِ فلا تَعْبَـــــأْ(44) بشيء مِنْ أَمْرِهِ عَلَى كُلِّ حَالٍ. ولا قُوَّةَ إلا باللهِ.

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43- THE RIGHT OF THE OLDER ONE

And the right of him who is older than you are is that you should respect him because of his age, and honor his submission to God ⁵⁰ if he is one of the noble ones in Islam. You should recognize his seniority and stop confronting him in disputes and should not surpass him or walk ahead of him, and you should not treat him foolishly. If he should treat you foolishly, you should put up with him and honor him to respect his being an older Muslim. This is because the respect for one's age is according to how long he has been a Muslim. And there is no power but in God.

43. حق الكبير

وَأمّا حَقُّ الكبيرِ فَإنَّ حَقَّهُ تَوقِيرُ سِنِّهِ وَإجْلالِ إسْلامِهِ إذَا كَانَ مِنْ أَهْلِ الْفَضلِ فِي الإسْلامِ بتَقْدِيمِهِ فِيهِ وتَرْكِ مُقَابَلَتِهِ عِنْدَ الْخِصَــــــــــامِ ولا تَسْبقْهُ إلَى طَرِيقٍ، ولا تَؤُمَّهُ فِي طـرِيقٍ(45) ولا تَسْـــــــتَجْهِلْهُ. وَإنْ جَهِلَ عَلَيْكَ تحَمَّلْتَ وَأَكْرَمتَهُ بحَقِّ إسْلامِهِ مَعَ سِنِّهِ فَإنّمَـــــــا حَقُّ السِّنِّ بقَدْرِ الإسْلامِ. ولا قُوَّةَ إلا باللهِ.