Regarding rights, in Islam there are two categories of rights: the rights of God (huqooqu-llaah) and the rights of the people (huqooqu-l-abaad). The rights of God concern those things which God is owed (mainly obedience to His laws as revealed in Islam, which includes as its foundation faithful adherence to the Five Pillars of Islam). The rights of the people concern those things which people are owed. These rights are mandatory and affect a person’s salvation.

There is a debate among Muslims regarding which is superior. This debate, as trivial as it may seem, is substantial and significant for Muslims.

Legalists believe that the rights of God are superior. As such, they believe that on the Day of Judgment people will be asked primarily about their obedience to and fulfillment of these rights and commands; they also believe that a Muslim’s judgment will be based on his/her obedience. As such, it is of paramount importance, for example, for a Muslim to pray five times a day. Nothing else should come in the way of this requirement.

But this goes a bit further than simply determining whose rights are superior. If the rights of God are superior, then rules and regulations concerning them are likewise superior and of the utmost importance. Hence, the obsession with what seems to be minutiae: when a prayer’s time begins and ends; how to perform wuDuu (ritual washing) if one is wearing socks of cloth or leather; what movements are to be made in prayer; how loud one’s voice must be; the validation or invalidation of prayer due to various factors such as breaking wind, soiled clothes, someone walking in front of one’s prayer rug while one is praying, the presence of pictures; and so on and so forth. And this is only for praying. The Five Pillars of Islam also include fasting in the Islamic month of ramaDaan, going for Hajj, and paying zakaah (mandatory religious contributions levied on one’s gains and property).

Other Muslims believe that the rights of the people are of the utmost importance. Such Muslims would stress building character, social harmony, and uplifting the needy. They would also be more lax on the rules concerning ritual requirements. They believe that on the Day of Judgment a person will be asked primarily about his/her relations with other humans.

Neither side would say that one of the two categories of rights is unimportant or irrelevant. Nevertheless, because of the centrality of what is supposed to be superior, the other is given less attention.

This debate, as mentioned before, is quite significant because it is a matter of salvation. According to legalists, it will not matter how nice and charitable a person has been if he/she has not been faithful in praying and fasting. Likewise, on the other hand, Muslims will say that a person’s faithfulness to ritual requirements will not matter if he/she was not a good person to others. The side that wins minds is legalism (particularly when bolstered with quotes from Islam’s sources), but the rights of the people wins hearts. Not that the latter helps them any. One of Pakistan’s major philanthropists, Abdul Sattar Edhi, a very devout Muslim, has had his life threatened by Islamic militants. (His efforts and success are not surprising: he is from the Memon community, who are well known not only for their wise use of money but also their charity, philanthropy, communalism, and looking out for one another.)

This is significant for those in the West because of the ramification of legalism when taken to its logical conclusion: as long as a person is faithful to ritual requirements and to God’s commands, what a person does is irrelevant. All what matters is a person’s adherence to ritual requirements. Indeed, some would see terrorism, let alone suicide terrorism, as being part of this adherence to the rights of God. Hence, why such acts are not only important and significant in their mind but also why they are considered to die as martyrs. When Muslims rely on such a dry, formulaic, and ritualistic interpretation of Islam, the results are often quite bloody and inhuman.

innaa naHnu-l-a’lam.