Home › Blog › What mustahaqat means: dues in every direction

What mustahaqat means: dues in every direction

By Sami Adham · Published: 2026-10-29

Every ledger has two columns. One says owed to me; the other says owed by me. Most of us keep the first column with great care and let the second one fade. The Arabic word mustahaqat refuses to let either column go blank.

Short answer: Mustahaqat (مستحقات) is Arabic for "what is due": things owed to someone, which by right become theirs. It comes from the root ḥ-q-q, the root of ḥaqq, which means both truth and a right. In a work contract it means your final dues. In a life, it means dues that run in every direction: to God, to society, to the worker, to the employer, to family and to yourself.

We chose this name for a site of free calculators, and the reasons for the choice, with the dictionaries, are on our page why Mustahaqat? This article walks the other way: from the word out into the year you are living.

One sentence that holds the whole idea

Sahih al-Bukhari (1968) tells of a companion, Salman, who visited his brother in faith, Abu al-Darda', and found him fasting every day and praying every night while his family was neglected. Salman told him that his Lord had a right over him, his own self had a right over him, and his family had a right over him, so he should give everyone who has a right their right. When this reached the Prophet ﷺ, he confirmed that Salman had spoken the truth.

Notice the shape of it. Rights are not a single road from the weak to the strong, or from the strong to the weak. They are a web, and each of us stands at a knot in it: owed something, and owing something, at the same moment.

1. What is due to God, in our wealth

The Quran describes believers as those "in whose wealth there is a known right, for the one who asks and the one who is deprived" (70:24-25). Many commentators read it as the obligatory zakat (Qatada, Ibn Sirin); others as a set share given beyond zakat (Mujahid, al-Sha'bi). Either way, giving is a right in the wealth, not a favour.

That is why zakat is counted, not guessed. The Prophet ﷺ described it as taken from the rich of a people and returned to their poor (Sahih al-Bukhari 1395; Sahih Muslim 19).

Settle this column first. Our step-by-step zakat guide explains the sum, and the free zakat calculator does it in any currency, with both nisab views side by side and nothing sent from your device.

2. What is due to society, and to every neighbour

The Quran does not keep goodness inside the prayer hall. In 2:177 it places, beside faith and prayer, the giving of wealth "though you love it" to relatives, orphans, the needy and the traveller, and then names zakat separately in the same verse: a sign, as al-Qurtubi notes, that there are rights in wealth beyond zakat.

The Prophet ﷺ compared the believers, in their mercy and affection for one another, to one body: when one part aches, the whole body answers with sleeplessness and fever (Sahih al-Bukhari 6011).

Here the circle widens to everyone. Muslims give zakat and sadaqah; anyone, of any faith, can give sadaqah, open-hearted voluntary charity. When someone who is not Muslim gives to the poor in the same spirit, we call it sadaqah, never zakat, and we honour it. Giving can be a bridge between cultures: each tradition bringing the best of what it has to offer, and meeting the others at the same door. Our article on sadaqah from non-Muslims tells that story, and zakat vs sadaqa draws the line between the two.

3. What is due to the worker

In a hadith in which the Prophet ﷺ reports the words of God, God names three people He will oppose on the Day of Judgement; one is the man who hired a worker, took the full work from him, and did not pay his wage (Sahih al-Bukhari 2227).

The wage today is more than a monthly salary. In the UAE Labour Law, Article 53 carries the title, in Arabic, "payment of the worker's mustahaqat when the contract ends": gratuity, leave not taken, notice pay and days not yet paid, within 14 days. Our UAE gratuity calculator, final settlement sheet and Saudi end-of-service calculator exist for that column, with the article of law beside every line.

4. What is due to the employer

Rights run both ways. In the story of Moses, a young woman tells her father that the best one to hire is "the strong and the trustworthy" (28:26): strength in the work, honesty in it. And the Quran opens a chapter with "fulfil your contracts" (5:1). An employer is owed honest hours, care with what is entrusted, and the notice the contract and the law set.

The Prophet ﷺ listed three signs of the hypocrite: lying when speaking, breaking a promise, and betraying a trust (Sahih al-Bukhari 33). Each of them is, among other things, a failure at work. That is why our calculators also show what a worker may owe, such as lawful deductions and notice pay, and not only what he is owed.

5. What is due to family

The Prophet ﷺ spoke of four coins spent in good ways, and said that the greatest in reward is the one spent on your family (Sahih Muslim 995). Spending on those you are responsible for is not a leftover after charity; it is itself a due, and one of the heaviest. A gratuity worked out to the last cent is rent, school fees and a ticket home.

6. What is due to yourself

Salman's list ends where many of ours forget to begin: your own self has a right over you. Rest. Knowledge. The right to understand a sheet of figures before you sign it, and to ask a question without fear. A calm, informed person pays every other due more fully.

A yearly reckoning: six questions

God: do I know my zakat date, and have I counted my wealth honestly on it?
Society: beyond zakat, where did my sadaqah go this year, and to whom could it go next?
Workers: if I employ anyone, at home or in a business, is every wage and every final due paid on time and in full?
Employers: did I give honest work, keep my contract and serve my notice?
Family: are the people I am responsible for provided for, without being made to ask?
Myself: do I understand my own dues, and have I written down what I am owed and what I owe?

When both columns of the ledger are full, and each line has reached its owner, the word has done its work. That is all mustahaqat asks: that truth arrive where it belongs.

Work it out

Start with the column that is easiest to neglect: open the zakat calculator, or check your end-of-service dues with the UAE gratuity calculator. Both are free, and both show their working.

Please note

This article reflects on rights and dues for general learning. It is not a fatwa and not legal advice. For your own situation, ask a qualified scholar, your country's zakat authority or your labour ministry. Mustahaqat does not collect or pass on zakat or charity.

هذا المقال تأمّلٌ عامّ في الحقوق والمستحقات، وليس فتوى ولا استشارة قانونية. لحالتك الخاصة راجع عالماً مؤهلاً أو جهة الزكاة الرسمية أو وزارة العمل في بلدك. موقع مستحقات لا يجمع الزكاة ولا الصدقات ولا يوصلها.

Compiled from cited sources; ask a scholar you trust for your own case. This is not a fatwa. Drafted with AI help and checked against the sources listed. Sami Adham is a professional name, not a scholar or mufti.

Quran cited

﴿وَٱلَّذِينَ فِىٓ أَمْوَٰلِهِمْ حَقٌّ مَّعْلُومٌ﴾ [70:24]

Meaning (our own wording): And those in whose wealth there is a known right,

﴿لِّلسَّآئِلِ وَٱلْمَحْرُومِ﴾ [70:25]

Meaning (our own wording): for the one who asks and the one who is deprived.

﴿۞ لَّيْسَ ٱلْبِرَّ أَن تُوَلُّوا۟ وُجُوهَكُمْ قِبَلَ ٱلْمَشْرِقِ وَٱلْمَغْرِبِ وَلَـٰكِنَّ ٱلْبِرَّ مَنْ ءَامَنَ بِٱللَّهِ وَٱلْيَوْمِ ٱلْـَٔاخِرِ وَٱلْمَلَـٰٓئِكَةِ وَٱلْكِتَـٰبِ وَٱلنَّبِيِّـۧنَ وَءَاتَى ٱلْمَالَ عَلَىٰ حُبِّهِۦ ذَوِى ٱلْقُرْبَىٰ وَٱلْيَتَـٰمَىٰ وَٱلْمَسَـٰكِينَ وَٱبْنَ ٱلسَّبِيلِ وَٱلسَّآئِلِينَ وَفِى ٱلرِّقَابِ وَأَقَامَ ٱلصَّلَوٰةَ وَءَاتَى ٱلزَّكَوٰةَ وَٱلْمُوفُونَ بِعَهْدِهِمْ إِذَا عَـٰهَدُوا۟ ۖ وَٱلصَّـٰبِرِينَ فِى ٱلْبَأْسَآءِ وَٱلضَّرَّآءِ وَحِينَ ٱلْبَأْسِ ۗ أُو۟لَـٰٓئِكَ ٱلَّذِينَ صَدَقُوا۟ ۖ وَأُو۟لَـٰٓئِكَ هُمُ ٱلْمُتَّقُونَ﴾ [2:177]

Meaning (our own wording): Righteousness is not turning your faces east or west. Righteousness is believing in God, the Last Day, the angels, the Book and the prophets; giving wealth, though you love it, to relatives, orphans, the needy, the traveller, those who ask and to free people from bondage; keeping up the prayer and giving zakat; keeping promises once made; and being patient in hardship, illness and danger. These are the truthful, and these are the ones who are mindful of God.

﴿قَالَتْ إِحْدَىٰهُمَا يَـٰٓأَبَتِ ٱسْتَـْٔجِرْهُ ۖ إِنَّ خَيْرَ مَنِ ٱسْتَـْٔجَرْتَ ٱلْقَوِىُّ ٱلْأَمِينُ﴾ [28:26]

Meaning (our own wording): One of the two women said: Father, hire him. The best one you can hire is the strong and the trustworthy.

﴿بِسْمِ ٱللَّهِ ٱلرَّحْمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ يَـٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوٓا۟ أَوْفُوا۟ بِٱلْعُقُودِ ۚ أُحِلَّتْ لَكُم بَهِيمَةُ ٱلْأَنْعَـٰمِ إِلَّا مَا يُتْلَىٰ عَلَيْكُمْ غَيْرَ مُحِلِّى ٱلصَّيْدِ وَأَنتُمْ حُرُمٌ ۗ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ يَحْكُمُ مَا يُرِيدُ﴾ [5:1]

Meaning (our own wording): You who believe, fulfil your contracts. (The verse goes on to set out rules on food during pilgrimage.)

Sources

Corrections

2026-10-29: First published. Hadith limited to reports in Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim; Quran readings follow our source review.