Why Mustahaqat?
On your last day at work, someone hands you a sheet of paper. It is full of numbers. At the bottom there is an empty line for your name. The pen is in your hand. The person across the desk is waiting. One question fills your head: is this everything I am owed?
Years of early starts, long roads and work that nobody thanked you for have become a table of figures. You have the right to understand every line before you sign under it. That is why this site exists. And it is why we gave it this name.
A word from the root of truth
Mustahaqat (مستحقات) is Arabic for "what is due". It is the plural of mustahaqq: something that is owed to a person, so it becomes theirs. The verb istahaqqa means "to deserve" or "to become entitled to". The classical dictionary Mukhtar al-Sihah explains it with one word: istawjaba, "to have a binding claim".
The word grows from a short root of three letters: ḥ-q-q. From the same root comes ḥaqq. The great dictionary Lisan al-Arab defines it first as "the opposite of falsehood". Its plural, ḥuqūq, means "rights".
So one root holds two ideas. Ḥaqq is truth. Ḥaqq is also a right, a share that belongs to someone. The language seems to be telling us something. A thing is not truly yours unless it is true. And truth is not complete until it reaches the person it belongs to.
The verb form appears in the Quran itself, in a verse about witnesses to a will: "if it is found that the two of them istahaqqā (became guilty of) a sin" (Quran 5:107).
Then the word moved into modern law. In the UAE Labour Law (Federal Decree-Law No. 33 of 2021), Article 53 carries the Arabic title "Payment of the worker's mustahaqat when the contract ends". A word born in old dictionaries is now a heading on an official page. A worker reads it on the last day.
Al-Haqq: a name of God
From the same root comes one of the names of God in Islam: al-Haqq, "the Truth" or "the Real". The Quran says: "That is because God is the Truth" (22:6). And: "they will know that God is the clear Truth" (24:25). And: "That is God, your Lord, the Truth. What is there after truth except going astray?" (10:32).
The scholar Ibn al-Athir explained this name in al-Nihaya: al-Haqq is "the One who truly exists, whose existence and divinity are certain".
We do not say that mustahaqat is a name of God. We do not ask the word to carry more than it can. We say something simpler. The word shares its root with a great name. That reminds us every day that the numbers on this site are not a game. Every figure here is either a right that reaches its owner, or a right that gets lost.
"Give everyone their due"
Sahih al-Bukhari (1968) tells a short story. A companion called Salman visited his friend Abu al-Darda. He found him fasting all day and praying all night, and neglecting his family. Salman told him:
"Your Lord has a right over you. Your own self has a right over you. Your family has a right over you. So give everyone who has a right their right."
When this was told to the Prophet ﷺ, he said: "Salman has spoken the truth."
That sentence is the whole idea. Rights do not flow in one direction. They form a web. Each of us has something owed to us, and something we owe. Here are some of the threads.
What we owe 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). Look at the word: a known right. Zakat is not a favour from the rich. It is a right inside their money. The Prophet ﷺ said it is "taken from their rich and given back to their poor" (Bukhari 1395, Muslim 19). Zakat has detailed rules. Ask a scholar you trust. We do not give religious rulings.
What we owe to society. The Quran does not limit goodness to worship. It includes the one who "gives wealth, despite loving it, to relatives, orphans, the needy and the traveller" (2:177). The Prophet ﷺ said the believers, in their mercy and love for each other, are "like one body: when one part hurts, the whole body stays awake with fever" (Bukhari 6011). A company that pays every right in full is a healthy part of that body.
What is owed to the worker. In a hadith where the Prophet ﷺ reports the words of God, God says there are three people He will oppose on the Day of Judgement. One of them is "a man who hired a worker, took the full work from him, and did not pay his wage" (Bukhari 2227).
A famous saying goes: "Give the worker his wage before his sweat dries" (Ibn Majah 2443). We will be honest about it. The chain in Ibn Majah is weak. Al-Busiri and others said so. Al-Albani graded it authentic because of its other supporting chains (sahih li-ghayrihi). The meaning itself is certain, because Bukhari's hadith says it plainly: if you take the full work, you pay the full wage. Today that wage is more than a salary. It includes end-of-service gratuity, leave pay, notice pay and any days not yet paid.
What is owed to the employer. Rights go both ways. In the story of Moses, a young woman tells her father: "The best one you can hire is the strong and the trustworthy" (28:26). Strength in the work, and honesty in it. The Quran also says: "O you who believe, fulfil your contracts" (5:1). So an employer has a right to honest work, and to the notice period the contract and the law set. The Prophet ﷺ said the signs of a hypocrite are three: "when he speaks, he lies; when he promises, he breaks it; when he is trusted, he betrays" (Bukhari 33). This is why our calculators also show what a worker may owe, such as lawful deductions and notice pay. Not only what he is owed.
What is owed to your family. The Prophet ﷺ spoke of four coins given for good causes, then said: "The greatest in reward is the one you spend on your family" (Muslim 995). The gratuity you work out here is not just a number in a bank account. It is rent. It is school fees. It is a ticket home.
What is owed to yourself. "Your own self has a right over you." You have the right to know. To ask. Not to sign while you are afraid. Knowing brings peace of mind.
What this site is, and what it is not
Mustahaqat is a small, independent website. It has free calculators for end-of-service gratuity in the UAE and Saudi Arabia, and for the UAE final settlement. We are working on the other Gulf countries, each one from its own law.
Every result names the article of law behind it. It shows the working, step by step. It shows the date we last checked the law. And it links to the official source, so you can check it yourself.
We do not claim more than that. We are not a law firm. We are not a government body. We do not give religious rulings on zakat or anything else. Our results are careful estimates, not legal advice. Your contract, a free zone or a court ruling can change the result. Before you sign a final settlement, check it with your ministry.
Pages are drafted with AI help. Sami Adham, the founder, checks every formula against the law text before it goes live. "Sami Adham" is a professional name. He is not a lawyer.
Back to the sheet of paper
Go back now to that sheet of paper. To the pen, held above the last line.
We will not sign for you. We will not judge between you and anyone. But we can put the reason next to every number, and the article of law next to every reason. Then you know what is yours, and what you owe.
So if you sign, sign knowing. And before the ink of your name is dry, you will have taken your right, and given everyone their due.