Know God have mercy upon you that God has rights against you and that these encompass you in every movement you make, every stillness you choose, every place in which you reside, every limb which you employ, and every instrument which you put to work. Some of these rights are greater and some less.
The greatest of God’s right against you is the right, which He the Blessed the Exalted has made incumbent upon you for Himself and which is the root of all rights and from which every right branched forth, then those that He has made incumbent upon you in yourself, from your crown to your foot, in keeping with the diversity of your organs. He has given your eye right against you, your tongue right against you, your hearing a right against you, your leg a right against you, your hand a right against you, your stomach a right against you, and your private part a right against you. These are the seven organs through which acts take place.
Then He the Majestic gave your acts rights against you: He gave your ritual prayer a right against you, your fasting a right against you, your charity a right against you, and your offering a right against you.
Then these rights extend out from you to others who have rights against you. The most incumbent of them against you are the rights toward your leaders (Imams), then the rights toward your subjects, then the rights toward your relatives.
From these rights branch out other rights. The rights of your leaders are three: the most incumbent upon you is the right of him who trains you through authority, then of him who trains you through knowledge, then of him who trains you through property. Each trainer is a leader.
The rights of your subjects are three: the most incumbent upon you is the right of those who are your subjects through authority, then the right of those who are your subjects through knowledge—for the man of ignorance is the subject of the man of knowledge, then the right of those who are your subjects through property, such as wives and what is owned by the right hand (slaves).
The rights of your relatives are many; they are connected to you in the measure of the connection of the nearness of the relationship. The most incumbent upon you is the right of your mother, then the right of your father, then the right of your child, then the right of your brother, then the next nearest, then the next nearest the worthiest, then the next most worthy.
Then there is the right of your master who favors you (by freeing you from slavery), then the right of the slave whose favors reach you (by the fact that you free him), then the right of him who does a kindly act toward you, then the right of the muezzin who calls you to the ritual prayer, then the right of the imam who leads the prayer, then the right of your sitting companion, then the right of your neighbor, then the right of your companion, then the right of your partner, then the right of your property, then the right of him who has a debt he must pay back to you, then the right of him whom you owe a debt, then the right of your mate, then the right of your adversary who has a claim against you, then the right of your adversary against whom you have a claim, then the right of him who asks you for advice, then the right of him whom you ask for advice, then the right of him who asks your counsel, then the right of him who counsels you, then the right of him who is older than you, then the right of him who is younger than you, then the right of him who asks from you, then the right of him from whom you ask, then the right of him who does something evil to you through word or deed, intentionally or unintentionally, then the right of the people of your creed, then the right of the people under your protection, then all rights in the measure of the causes of the states and the occurrence of events. Therefore, happy is he whom God aids in the rights, which He has made incumbent upon him and whom He gives success therein and points in the proper direction.