The Ahlul-Bayt; Ethical Role-Models

Section Two: Rights and Obligations

In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent the Merciful

Amirul-Mu'minin Ali Ibn Abi Talib (a) said:

“Right is the most comprehensive in description and the narrowest in equity; whenever it be for the good of somebody in a situation, it will surely be against him in another, and whenever it be against somebody in a definite situation, it will be for his good in another. If it incessantly flows in the good of somebody, that somebody must have been exclusively Allah, not any of His creatures, because Allah is All-powerful over His servants and just with all those upon whom His acts are imposed.

But He has made His right, which is imposed upon His creatures, is that they must obey Him, and made the requital of that obedience as duplicated rewards, out of His grace and large favor that He is worthy of. He, the Praised, then made some of His rights imposed on some people for others; hence, He made them equivalent in their aspects, and made them necessitate each other, and made the obligation of some depend totally upon others.”