Islam and Huqooqul Ibad: Extraordinary Importance of Muslims Keeping Promises and Fulfilling Obligations

 

By Arman Neyazi, New Age Islam

It is disappointing to observe breach of trust and broken promises in every facet of Islamic life today. The breach of trust with fellow Muslims and violation of covenant with God by today’s Muslims can be seen at every step.  Muslims are no more a community that uphold their promises as their religion teaches them to fulfil promises and obligations.  The verse of the Quran and a Hadith quoted below emphasise the importance of keeping promises and fulfilling one’s obligations in Islam:

•        O you who believe! Fulfil the obligations. (5:1)

•        The Holy Prophet (pbuh) says: One who does not keep his promise has no religion.

Fulfilling obligations means acting according to the ‘written’ or ‘unwritten’ agreements. We often make agreements and promises with people with whom we deal with on personal, emotional, legal or economic level. We also have some covenants with God which we have to fulfil.

Religious agreements such as the ones between us and our family members are also not being kept. We have forgotten our duties towards our elders otherwise there would not have been Old Age Homes run on charities. Some of us do not even care for the newly born babies and leave them on the mercy of orphanages for various reasons. Those who do this forget their duties towards them.

Modern day Maulanas deliver speeches concerning Huquooq ul Ebad (rights of people) and quote Quranic verses and Ahadees to prove that these are not less important than Huquooq ul Allah (rights of God). This Huquooq ul Ebad is a ‘treaty’, an ‘agreement’ which must be fulfilled by God fearing people.

Allah Kareem has time and again reminded mankind of the obligations he has to fulfil, as in the following verse, 4:58:

•        "Allah commands you to render trusts to their owners, and when you judge between people, that you do so with justice. Excellent indeed is the admonition He gives you, for Allah hears and sees all things."

Let us use our conscience and judge whether we are fulfilling our obligations under the agreement with God, the Almighty and our brethren on earth or not. 

Islam teaches us to lead a wholesome life in a balanced way fulfilling our obligations to God, to the family, to the society, to the country, to friends and even to our enemies. We cannot deprive one of his or her rights while fulfilling our obligations towards the other. In our day to day affairs we have made ‘offering of Namaz’, ‘fasting during Ramzan’ and praying during ‘Shab e Quadr’ etc an excuse not to perform our duties to the slaves of God.

It is a matter of debate how Tablighi Jamaat members manage to go for Tabligh tours while being employed either with the government or Islamic or semi-Islamic organisations. These ‘honourable’ members of Tablighi Jamaat go for Tabligh ignoring their obligations. No religious duty can be performed by breaking a promise made to someone or violating the trust of others. The holy Prophet (pbuh) says, “One who does not keep his promise has no religion.” In the light of this Hadith, we should adhere to our religious and social ‘duties’ under all circumstances.

Offering of Namaz during the office hours has been the practice of a section of Muslims. There have been instances when such people have been restricted from fulfilling their religious duty or have been relieved of their jobs. 

In the garb of religion people kill office hours for which they are paid, by prolonging their prayer time.  This is purely against the Islamic ethos and it is considered an act of ‘cheating’ in Islam. This brings bad name to religion and does not do good to them either.

Services in the path of Allah Kareem does not mean dereliction of your obligations and breach of trust, written or unwritten, between you and your employer.

An excerpt of a letter written by Hazrat Ali (K W) to Malik Ashtar is presented here. Malik Al-Ashtar was one of the most loyal companions of Ali Ibn Abi Talib (K W), the cousin of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). Al-Ashtar became a Muslim during Prophet (pbuh)'s time and rose to prominence during the caliphates of Usman (r a) and Ali (K W):

“From among the divine commandments, there is no subject like the keeping of promise, which is most unanimously agreed, despite other disagreements. Therefore even the idol worshippers of the days of ignorance were respecting the oath among them since they had understood the harms of oath breaking.”

There is another narration from Hazrat Ali (K W):

“Almighty Allah does not accept anything from His slaves except a good deed and nothing except the fulfilment of oath is acceptable in His court.”

I pray to Allah Kareem to bestow upon us the ‘wisdom’ to be able to fulfil our duties and live up to our agreements and come true to the trust reposed in us by the Almighty God and our fellow human beings.

واللہ اعلم با لصواب   (And God knows the best what is right)

URL: https://www.newageislam.com/islamic-ideology/-islam-huqooq-ibad-obligation/d/10122

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