HUMAN RIGHTS IN THE HADITH

In the year 632 [AD, the Prophet passed away and left behind a powerful yet diverse community.  This new community also known as the Islamic Ummah became a new project: new kind of citizenry with new kind of loyalty.  The early generation of disciples (comprised of Companions from the Muhájirún and Ansár) managed to avoid the disintegration of the Ummah and established a succession to the Prophet known as the Khiláfah; the first four leaders constituted a special period characterized by incredible social cohesion, unity, expansion, prosperity, and political stability forming the so-called Khiláfah Ráshidah.  Once the founder of the Umayyad dynasty took over, a shift in the political order took place, while a process of privatization of religious authority began to take affect.  Throughout these time periods, a second source of law emerged as a powerful tool to be used to justify one’s political and religious undertaking on the personal as well as on the collective level.  This authoritative source is generally the code of behavior and sayings of the Prophet—and in the eyes of many—the code of behavior and sayings of the selected few Companions that constituted a broad body of the Sunnah.  Since then, the Sunnah became the second, and may be equal, source of Islamic law in particular and Islamic way of life in general.  While the Qur'án was transmitted verbatim from memory from one generation to another all the way until the period of the recording, the Hadíth or the Sunnah were only transmitted in the form of “reports” where the transmitter could have used his own words while maintaining the overall general meaning of the tradition.  In short, the Qur'án was stored in memory, but only the meaning of the Sunnah was learned up until the six major books of Hadíth were produced couple centuries separated from the lifetime of Muhammad.  The Traditions we are going to survey in the following chapter are taken from these Sunni books of Hadíth. The translations here again are unabridged; they are simply reorganized under special topics whenever that was possible.


Rights in the Hadíth
* Mu’ádh Ibn Jabal, RAA, narrated:
I was riding behind the Prophet (Peace Be Upon Him [PBUH]) and there was nothing between him and me but the part of the saddle, when he said: Mu’ádh Ibn Jabal, to which I replied: At your beck and call, and at your pleasure, Messenger of God. He moved along for a few minutes, when again he said: Mu’ádh Ibn Jabal, to which I replied: At your beck and call, and at your pleasure, Messenger of God. He then again moved along for a few minutes and said: Mu’ádh Ibn Jabal, to which I replied: At your beck and call, and at your pleasure, Messenger of God. He (the Prophet) asked: Do you know what right has God upon His servants? I said: God and His Messenger know best. He (the Prophet) said: Verily the right of God over His servants is that they should worship Him, not associating anything with Him. He (the Prophet), with Mu’ádh behind him, moved along for a few minutes and said: Mu`ádh Ibn Jabal, to which I replied: At your beck and call, and at your pleasure, Messenger of God. He (the Prophet) asked: Do you know the servants' rights upon God in case they do it (i.e. they worship God without associating anything with Him)? I (Mu’ádh Ibn Jabal) replied: God and His Messenger know best. (Upon this) he (the Prophet) remarked: That He would not torment them (with the Fire of Hell). [Sahih Muslim (SM): 43]
* Abu Hurayrah, [May God be pleased with him (Radiya Allahu `anh) RAA], reported:
The Prophet (PBUH) said: Children of Israel were ruled over by the Prophets. When one Prophet died, another succeeded him; but after me there are no prophets and there will be caliphs and they will be quite large in number. His Companions said: What do you order us to do (in case we come to have more than one Caliph)? He said: The one to whom allegiance is sworn first has a supremacy over the others. Concede to them their due rights (i.e. obey them). God (Himself) will question them about the subjects whom He had entrusted to them. [SM: 3429]
* Abu Sa'id al-Khudri, RAA, reported:
God's Messenger (PBUH) said: Avoid sitting on the paths. They (his Companions) said: God's Messenger, there is no other help to it (but to sit here as we) hold our meetings and discuss matters there. Thereupon God's Messenger (PBUH) said: If you have to sit at all, then fulfill the rights of the path. They said: What are these right?  Thereupon he said: Keeping the eye downward, refraining from doing some harm to the other and exchanging mutual greetings (saying al-salamu 'alaykum to one another) and commanding the good and forbidding the evil. [SM: 3960]
* Abu Hurayrah, RAA, reported:
God's Messenger (PBUH) said: Five are the rights of a Muslim over his brother: responding to salutation, saying "yarhamuka Allah" when someone sneezes and says al-hamdu lillah, visiting the sick and following the biers. [SM: 4022]
* Sahl Ibn Sa'd, RAA, reported:
God's Messenger (PBUH) said on the Day of Khaybar: I would certainly give this standard to a person at whose hand God would grant victory and who loves God and His Messenger and God and His Messenger love him also. The people spent the night thinking as to whom it would be given. When it was morning the people hastened to God's Messenger (PBUH) all of them hoping that that would be given to him. He (the Prophet) said: Where is `Ali Ibn Abi Talib? They said: God's Messenger, his eyes are sore. He then sent for him and he was brought and God's Messenger (PBUH) applied saliva to his eyes and invoked blessings and he was all right, as if he had no ailment at all, and conferred upon him the standard. `Ali said: O God's Messenger! I will fight them until they are like us. Thereupon he (the Prophet) said: Advance cautiously until you reach their open places, thereafter invite them to Islam and inform them what is obligatory for them from the rights of God, for, by God, if God guides aright even one person through you that is better for you than to possess the most valuable of the camels. [SM: 4423]
* On the authority of Abu Sa'id: While the Prophet was distributing (something, Abdullah Ibn Dhil Khawaisira al-Tamimi came and said, "Be just, O God's Messenger!" The Prophet said, "Woe to you! Who would be just if I were not?" `Umar Ibn al-Khattab said, "Allow me to cut off his neck!” The Prophet said, “Leave him, for he has companions, and if you compare your prayers with their prayers and your fasting with theirs, you will look down upon your prayers and fasting, in comparison to theirs. Yet they will go out of the religion as an arrow darts through the game's body in which case, if the Qudhadh of the arrow is examined, nothing will be found on it, and when its nasl is examined, nothing will be found on it; and then its nadiyi is examined, nothing will be found on it. The arrow has been too fast to be smeared by dung and blood. The sign by which these people will be recognized will be a man whose one hand (or breast) will be like the breast of a woman (or like a moving piece of flesh). These people will appear when there will be differences among the people (Muslims)." Abu Sa'id added: I testify that I heard this from the Prophet and also testify that `Ali killed those people while I was with him. The man with the description given by the Prophet was brought to `Ali. The following Verses were revealed in connection with that very person (i.e., Abdullah Ibn Dhil-Khawaisira al-Tamimi): 'And among them are men who accuse you (O Muhammad) in the matter of (the distribution of) the alms.' [9.58] [Bukhari: Volume 9, Book 84, Number 67]

* On the authority of Abu Abd al-Rahman and Hibban Ibn 'Atiyya had a dispute. Abu Abd al-Rahman said to Hibban, "You know what made your companions (i.e. Ali) dare to shed blood." Hibban said, "Come on! What is that?" Abd-al-Rahman said, "Something I heard him saying." The other said, "What was it?" '`Abd al-Rahman said, "`Ali said, God's Messenger sent for me, al-Zubayr and Abu Marthad, and all of us were cavalry men, and said, 'Proceed to Rawdat al-Hajj (Abu Salama said that Abu 'Awana called it like this, i.e., Hajj where there is a woman carrying a letter from Hatib Ibn Abi Balta'a to the pagans (of Mecca). So bring that letter to me.' So we proceeded riding on our horses until we overtook her at the same place of which God's Messenger had told us. She was traveling on her camel. In that letter Hatib had written to the Meccans about the proposed attached of God's Messenger against them. We asked her, "Where is the letter which is with you?' She replied, 'I haven't got any letter.' So we made her camel kneel down and searched her luggage, but we did not find anything. My two companions said, 'We do not think that she has got a letter.' I said, 'We know that God's Messenger has not told a lie.'"

Then `Ali took an oath saying, "By Him by Whom one should swear! You shall either bring out the letter or we shall strip off your clothes." She then stretched out her hand for her girdle (round her waist) and brought out the paper (letter). They took the letter to God's Messenger. `Umar said, "O God's Messenger! (Hatib) has betrayed God, His Messenger and the believers; let me chop off his neck!" God's Messenger said, "O Hatib! What obliged you to do what you have done?" Hatib replied, "O God's Messenger! Why (for what reason) should I not believe in God and His Messenger? But I intended to do the (Mecca) people a favor by virtue of which my family and property may be protected as there is none of your companions but has some of his people (relatives) whom God urges to protect his family and property." The Prophet said, "He has said the truth; therefore, do not say anything to him except good." `Umar again said, "O God's Messenger! He has betrayed God, His Messenger and the believers; let me chop his neck off!" The Prophet said, "Isn't he from those who fought the battle of Badr? And what do you know, God might have looked at them (Badr warriors) and said (to them), 'Do what you like, for I have granted you Paradise?' “On that, `Umar's eyes became flooded with tears and he said, "God and His Messenger know best." [Bukhari: Volume 9, Book 84, Number 72]
Yahya said that he heard Malik say: "The Sunnah with us about the crime of slaves is that the hand is not cut off for any harm that a slave causes a man, or something he pilfers, or something guarded which he steals, or hanging dates he cuts down or ruins, or steals. That is against the slave's person and does not exceed the price of the slave whether it is little or much. If his master wishes to give the value of what the slave took or ruined, or pay the blood-price for the injury, he pays it and keeps his slave. If he wishes to surrender him, he surrenders him, and none of that is against him. The master has the option in that." [Muwatta’: Book 37, Number 37.9.8a]