Chapter on Observing the Rights of God and Fulfilling Them

Chapter on the Observance of the Rights of God and Fulfilling Them

Al-Harith — may God have mercy on him — said: "As for what you asked me about regarding the observance of the rights of God (Exalted and Glorious) and fulfilling them, you have indeed asked about a tremendous matter that the generality of the people of your time have come to neglect. It is the matter that God entrusted to His prophets and His beloved ones, for they observed His covenant, and they preserved His commandment.

Concerning this, the hadith has come from the Prophet ﷺ, transmitted from him by Muhammad ibn Ali ibn al-Husayn ibn Ali ibn Abi Talib, that the Prophet ﷺ said regarding the time in which they [the believers] shall be secure from all that they used to fear, and they shall attain all that they used to hope for, and their hopes shall be fulfilled — in the Seat of Truth in which He promised them that He would show them His Face and bring them therein to the utmost of honor, His good pleasure, and the vision of Him. He said of them in that Seat beyond which there is no station above it, nor any limit or honor beyond it:

"Welcome to My servants, My visitors, and the choicest of My creation — those who observed My covenant and preserved My commandment, and feared Me in the unseen."

For they preserved what He entrusted to them and placed in their care, for everything that God commanded to be fulfilled, He has commanded that it be observed, as the Prophet ﷺ said:

"Each of you is a shepherd, and each of you is responsible for his flock."

...upon them that their shepherds see to their affairs and concerning those placed in their charge, and their own selves.

For the leader (imam) is a shepherd over the people, and it is incumbent upon him to guard what has been entrusted to him of their affairs. Likewise the elite and the common folk. Do you not see that ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb, may God be pleased with him, used to say: "Were a young sheep to perish on the bank of the Euphrates, I would fear that God would question me about it."

So every right that God, exalted and glorified, has made obligatory upon His servants — whether concerning their own selves specifically, or concerning what He has made incumbent upon some of them toward others — He has commanded them to guard it and to fulfill it. That is the observance (riʿāya) of His right that He has made obligatory upon them, and its fulfillment.

Indeed, God Most High censured a people from the Children of Israel who innovated a monasticism they were not commanded with, then did not observe it as it deserved to be observed. God Most High said: «and a monasticism which they innovated — We did not prescribe it for them» [57:27].

There has been disagreement concerning this phrase. Mujāhid said: "«We did not prescribe it for them» — meaning: upon them — «except seeking the pleasure of God»" — that is: We prescribed it upon them seeking the pleasure of God.

Abū Umāma and others said: "«We did not prescribe it for them» — meaning: We did not prescribe it upon them and they did not innovate it «except seeking» the pleasure of God. This is the position of the majority of the scholars of the community. So God Most High said: «but they did not observe it as it deserved to be observed» [57:27].

Thus God Most High censured them for abandoning the observance of what He had not made obligatory and had not imposed upon them. So how much more deserving of censure is one who neglects the observance of His obligatory rights (huqūq), in the squandering of which He has made His wrath and His punishment incumbent, and He has made their fulfillment a key to every good in this world and the Hereafter? That is taqwā (mindfulness of God). For its people He has prepared Paradise, and for its people He has granted security in the Hereafter, and to them He has promised the acceptance of deeds, and them He has named with wilāya (divine friendship), and He has raised