Syed Ahmer

Even those people who are very conscientious in trying to fulfil the rights of Allah, should ponder over who has determined the rights of people. It is Allah Ta'ala who has determined that these are the rights of one's wife, one's employee, or one's children. So, in reality, the rights of people are actually rights of Allah too, but Allah Ta'ala has such love towards His creations that He has said that He will look away from neglect of His own rights, but will not forgive violations of rights of His subjects. On a lighter note, a friend asked me when will I start writing about men's rights in Islam. I told him that Muslim men have already usurped too many rights off women, way more than have been granted to them by Islam. It is time for them to first learn about what rights Islam has given to women, and then try to fulfil those rights with at least as much diligence and care with which they try to fulfil Allah's rights, even if it means letting go of some of...

There are several reasons why it is extremely important to highlight rights of people.  The first and foremost is the general negligent attitude Muslims today have towards rights of other people. A number of you may have observed this that as soon as a Muslim turns towards religion, they start praying Salah regularly, fasting regularly, and change their appearance in accordance with Sunnah. These are all very admirable changes and need to be  encouraged. However, how many times do we hear the same person say that they have become more conscientious about their job, have stopped lying to and deceiving others in their business, have stopped backbiting about people, and have become more mindful of the rights and welfare of their employees, because they want to become better Muslims? It is almost as if we believe at a practical level that Islam is only limited to Ibadah (acts of worship), and has nothing to do with how we deal with and treat human beings (Ma'az Allah). Allah Ta'la...

Probably because I have written a few posts about rights of women recently, my middle daughter recently asked me, "Daddy, are you a feminist?"  I tried to explain to her that what I had written had nothing to do with feminism, or any other 'ism' for that matter. What it was about are the rights of human beings.  I explained that Islamic commandments are broadly divided into two separate categories, rights of God (Huqooq Allah) and rights of people (Huqooq al-Ibad). Rights of God include all acts of worship like praying Salah, fasting, performing Hajj, doing Qurbani (animal sacrifice), etc.  On the other hand, rights of people have been elaborated beautifully in this one Hadith (saying of Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him), "A real Muslim is one whose hands (actions) and tongue (words) other Muslims are safe from." While elaborating on this Hadith Mufti Taqi Usmani DB said that the Holy Prophet (Peace be upon him) has used the word 'Muslim' in this a...

The reason these wise elders legally transferred the ownership of their property to their wives in their life was that, as mentioned previously, according to Islamic Inheritance laws a person loses their full control over their property when they become terminally ill or die. Even if they have made a will that their house should go to their spouse after their death, if that house is worth more than one third of their total estate, such a will would not be legally valid under Shariah.  The risk of doing the above will always be that if the wife dies before the husband, then the property will become part of her inheritance and will need to be distributed among all her inheritors as per shares pre-determined by Shariah. But as I mentioned in the previous post, these people lived their lives to the standard of Taqwa so they went well beyond what was strictly legally required of them to ensure that their wives would not come to any undue hardships if they passed away before their w...

The Holy Prophet (Peace be upon him) said that, " "The best person among you is the one who treats his family members the best, and I treat my family members the best amongst you." While none of us can ever reach the exalted heights of his behaviour and conduct, lets see some examples from his followers how they treated their families. Similarly, Mufti Shafi RE had told his family during his life that the house they lived in, and all the possessions in it, were legally his wife's property. He kept all the items that were his property, in his own bedroom, and that was why he was extremely careful that if a family member brought an item from another part of the house to his bedroom, he insisted that it be taken out of his bedroom as soon as it had been used, so that it would not be considered part of his inheritance by mistake.  Continued...

Before we go to the practical examples, it is important to understand another concept. There are two standards one of which Muslims can choose to live their lives by, in accordance with the Shariah. The first is the standard of Fatwa (religious edict), and the other one is the standard of Taqwa (fear of Allah).  Those of you who have applied for jobs, may remember that often there are two sets of required qualifications and experience that are listed, Essential, and Desirable. 'Essential' basically means that if you don't have them, don't bother applying. You won't get through. 'Desirable' means that if you have these qualifications, then you a higher than baseline chance of getting the job. The standard of Fatwa relates to Essential requirements. This is the bare minimum every Muslim needs to do to get through on the Day of Judgment. The standard of Taqwa is more like going an extra mile. If we do try to live to that standard, we stand a higher chance of pa...

Before beginning a discussion on how to secure women's financial rights, it is important to understand a few core principles of Shariah about Ma'amlat (financial transactions), and in particular around inheritance. - Islam gave women the right to own property and financial assets independently, 1500 years ago. It is shocking that in some Muslim majority countries and cultures today, women do not have the same  - In Islam the transparency of ownership is absolutely paramount. There is no concept of family ownership, or spousal ownership, the core principle being that ownership of each item and each asset is individual. To give an example, a house can be owned by both spouses jointly, but it should be absolutely clear what proportion of the house's value belongs to husband, and what to wife, e.g. 50/50. Similarly, if there is a family business, it should be specified right at the beginning what proportion of the business is owned by which individual...