Islam is a religion of rights owed and rights honoured. Alongside the right of Allah — that He alone be worshipped — the Sharīʿah lays down the rights of people upon one another: parents, spouse, kin, neighbour, and the general right of every Muslim upon his brother. This page gathers them, each on its evidence.
The right of a Muslim upon a Muslim — the six
The Prophet ﷺ named them in a single, memorable hadith:
"Six are the rights of a Muslim over another Muslim. It was said to him: Allah's Messenger, what are these? Thereupon he said: When you meet him, offer him greetings; when he invites you to a feast accept it. when he seeks your council give him, and when he sneezes and says: "All praise is due to Allah," you say Yarhamuk Allah (may Allah show mercy to you); and when he falls ill visit him; and when he dies follow his bier."
Sahih Muslim — site reader no. 5505, Kitab al-Salam
- Return the greeting of salām when you meet.
- Respond to his invitation.
- Give him sincere counsel (naṣīḥah) when he asks.
- Say yarḥamuka-llāh when he praises Allah after sneezing.
- Visit him when he is ill.
- Follow his funeral when he dies.
The right of parents — birr al-wālidayn
Allah joined kindness to parents to His own worship in the same breath:
وَقَضَىٰ رَبُّكَ أَلَّا تَعْبُدُوا إِلَّا إِيَّاهُ وَبِالْوَالِدَيْنِ إِحْسَانًا
"And your Lord has decreed that you worship none but Him, and to parents, good treatment."
Sūrat al-Isrāʾ 17:23
And when a man asked who has the greatest claim to his good company, the answer weighted the mother threefold:
"A man came to Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) and said, "O Allah's Messenger (ﷺ)! Who is more entitled to be treated with the best companionship by me?" The Prophet (ﷺ) said, "Your mother." The man said. "Who is next?" The Prophet said, "Your mother." The man further said, "Who is next?" The Prophet (ﷺ) said, "Your mother." The man asked for the fourth time, "Who is next?" The Prophet (ﷺ) said, "Your father.""
Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 5971 · Sahih Muslim — site reader no. 6341, Kitab al-Birr wa's-Silah
The ties of kinship — ṣilat ar-raḥim
Maintaining the bonds of blood relatives is tied directly to faith in Allah and the Last Day:
"Whoever believes in Allah and the Last Day, should serve his guest generously; and whoever believes in Allah and the Last Day, should unite the bond of kinship (i.e. keep good relation with his kith and kin)…"
And true keeping of ties is not mere exchange, but restoring what others sever:
"Al-Wasil is not the one who recompenses the good done to him by his relatives, but Al-Wasil is the one who keeps good relations with those relatives who had severed the bond of kinship with him."
The circles of rights in Islam: the right of Allah at the centre — that He alone be worshipped; then parents, kindness decreed beside His worship; the spouse, treated with the best character; kin, ties kept even when cut; the neighbour, whose right Jibril stressed until the Prophet thought he would inherit; and every Muslim, owed the six.
The circles of rightsFrom the right of Allah at the centre, outward to those He placed in your care.
The thread: every one of these rights is a trust (amānah) you will be asked about — "Each of you is a shepherd, and each of you is responsible for his flock" (al-Bukhārī 893 · Muslim, site reader no. 4593).
The right of the spouse
Marriage in Islam is a covenant of mercy (30:21), and the measure of a man's faith is largely how he treats his wife:
"The best of you is the best to his wives, and I am the best of you to my wives…"
al-Tirmidhī 3895 — ṣaḥīḥ
He ﷺ charged the believers with this in his Farewell Sermon: "Fear Allah concerning women! Verily you have taken them on the security of Allah…" (Sahih Muslim — site reader no. 2833, Kitab al-Hajj). Their rights of kind provision, shelter and good company are matched by the rights the husband is owed — a mutual covenant, "and they (women) have rights similar to those (of men) over them, in kindness" (al-Baqarah 2:228).
The right of the neighbour
So heavy is the neighbour's right that the Prophet ﷺ said Jibrīl kept urging it upon him:
"Gabriel continued to recommend me about treating the neighbors Kindly and politely so much so that I thought he would order me to make them as my heirs."
Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 6014 · Sahih Muslim — site reader no. 6522, Kitab al-Birr wa's-Silah
And he made a neighbour's safety a test of īmān itself:
"By Allah, he does not believe! By Allah, he does not believe! By Allah, he does not believe!" It was said, "Who is that, O Allah's Messenger (ﷺ)?" He said, "That person whose neighbor does not feel safe from his evil.""
Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 6016 · Sahih Muslim — site reader no. 79, Kitab al-Iman
The right of children upon parents
Rights run downward as well as up. Before a child ever owes birr, the parents owe the child: a good name, provision and maintenance, teaching of the deen, and even-handed justice between siblings. Allah made the family the parents' charge:
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا قُوا أَنفُسَكُمْ وَأَهْلِيكُمْ نَارًا
"O you who believe, protect yourselves and your families from a Fire…"
Sūrat al-Taḥrīm 66:6
From this come the parents' duties: a good name — the Prophet ﷺ would change an ugly name to a beautiful one, renaming ʿĀṣiyah ("disobedient") with the words "You are Jamila" (Sahih Muslim — site reader no. 5458, Kitab al-Adab); teaching the child the deen, beginning with the prayer at seven (Abū Dāwūd 495 — ṣaḥīḥ); and provision, which is not generosity but debt:
"This sin is enough for a man that he withholds the subsistence from one whose master he is."
Sahih Muslim — site reader no. 2196, Kitab al-Zakah (ʿAbdullāh ibn ʿUmar; said of those one maintains)
And justice between the children. When a father brought one son a gift and asked the Prophet ﷺ to witness it, he refused:
"… Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) asked, 'Have you given (the like of it) to everyone of your sons?' He replied in the negative. Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) said, 'Be afraid of Allah, and be just to your children.' My father then returned and took back his gift."
al-Nuʿmān ibn Bashīr — Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 2587 · Sahih Muslim — site reader no. 4052, Kitab al-Hibat
For the full guide — names, ʿaqīqah, discipline without harshness, and teaching by stage — see Raising Children.
The right of the non-Muslim
The rights above are owed between Muslims, and it is easy to read that as meaning a non-Muslim is owed nothing. The texts do not read that way. Allah forbids alliance with those who fight you over your religion and drive you from your homes — and of everyone else says plainly that He does not forbid you “from being righteous toward them and acting justly toward them” (60:8). Toward the hostile, justice is still commanded: hatred of a people is no licence to depart from it (5:8). Beyond that, several of the duties on this page are simply not qualified by religion at all — the neighbour’s right, the keeping of contracts, the ties of kinship.
The right of the worker
Whoever labours under your hand — an employee, hired help, a domestic worker — holds a right the Sharīʿah settles promptly and in full:
"Give the worker his wages before his sweat dries."
Ibn Mājah 2443 — ṣaḥīḥ (al-Albānī)
And withholding it places a man against Allah Himself, in a ḥadīth qudsī:
"Allah says, 'I will be against three persons on the Day of Resurrection: … And one who employs a laborer and gets the full work done by him but does not pay him his wages.'"
The wage is fixed clearly before the work begins, paid without delay when it ends, and never trimmed by the strength of your position over someone who cannot argue back — the account, again, is with Allah.
Common questions
Does a non-Muslim neighbour or relative have rights too?
Yes. The neighbour's right in the hadith is general, and Allah permits and encourages kindness and justice toward non-Muslims who are not fighting the believers over religion: "Allah does not forbid you from those who do not fight you… from being righteous toward them and acting justly" (al-Mumtaḥanah 60:8). Kindness to a non-Muslim parent is likewise commanded (31:15).
What if keeping ties means enabling clear sin?
Ṣilat ar-raḥim means good treatment, contact and care — not obedience in disobedience to Allah. "There is no obedience to any created being in disobedience to the Creator" (Aḥmad; the meaning is agreed). You keep the tie, show kindness, and withhold only participation in the sin itself.
Which right comes first when they compete?
The right of Allah is above all. After it, the scholars weigh the rest by nearness and need — parents ahead of others, the more dependent ahead of the less. When rights genuinely clash, this is exactly where a trustworthy scholar's guidance is needed for your specific case.
Take the full guide with you
The rights Islam lays on you — parents, spouse, kin, neighbour and every Muslim — gathered in one place, each on its evidence from the Quran and the authentic Sunnah.
- The six rights of a Muslim
- The right of parents (birr)
- Ṣilat ar-raḥim — the ties of kin
- The right of the spouse
- The right of the neighbour
Full guides for each right: Parents — Birr al-Wālidayn · Spousal Rights · The Neighbour · The Guest · Elders & the Young · The Road
Related: Tazkiyah · Sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ · How to Practice
