Salman and Abu Darda': The Three Rights

The Prophet ﷺ had paired Salmān al-Fārsī with Abū al-Dardāʾ as Muʾākhah brothers. This pairing was made later in the Madani period, Salmān had accepted Islam a few years after the Hijra, having spent years traveling from Persia through Syria to Arabia in search of the final prophet.

Salmān visited Abū al-Dardāʾ's home. (This incident took place before the revelation of the Ḥijāb, and Salmān was also approximately 90 years old at this time, two factors noted by the scholars of Fiqh regarding this story.)

When he arrived, he found Abū al-Dardāʾ's wife Umm al-Dardāʾ in a poor state, her clothes were tattered, her hair unkempt. Salmān reproached her: "What is the matter with you, O Umm al-Dardāʾ? Why are you like this?"

She said: "Your brother has no interest in this world. He is constantly fasting and praying. He has no concern for any of this."

Ibādah, worship, had so absorbed Abū al-Dardāʾ that ordinary domestic life had been left behind.

When Abū al-Dardāʾ came home, he prepared food for his guest and said: "Eat."

Salmān said: "I will not eat until you eat with me."

Abū al-Dardāʾ was fasting voluntarily. Salmān did not care; he made him break his fast and eat.

When night came, Abū al-Dardāʾ rose to stand in Tahajjud, the voluntary night prayer. Salmān stopped him and said: "Sleep." He made him lie down and sleep.

Then, near the end of the night, in the final third, the time when night prayer carries the most reward, Salmān woke him and said: "Now stand and pray."

The next morning, Salmān turned to Abū al-Dardāʾ and said:

"Inna li-Rabbika ʿalayka ḥaqqan, wa inna li-nafsika ʿalayka ḥaqqan, wa inna li-ahlik ʿalayka ḥaqqan. Fa-aʿṭi kulla dhī ḥaqqin ḥaqqah."

"Your Lord has a right over you. Your body has a right over you. Your family has a right over you. Give each one its due right."

Abū al-Dardāʾ went to the Prophet ﷺ and told him what had happened.

The Prophet ﷺ said: "Ṣadaqa Salmān", "Salmān has spoken the truth."

❧The Fiqhi Lesson

This story is one of the most commonly cited examples in Islamic jurisprudence regarding the tawāzun (balance) required of a Muslim. Extreme voluntary worship, continuous fasting, entire nights in Tahajjud, is not automatically praiseworthy if it comes at the expense of other obligations.

Your body has a right: to sleep, to rest, to be healthy.

Your family has a right: to companionship, to attention, to care.

Your Lord's right: the obligatory worship (the five prayers, Ramadan, etc.) plus voluntary acts in proportion to one's capacity.

The wasaṭiyyah (the middle path) of Islam is not a weakness but a design. Allāh did not burden people beyond their capacity, and the Prophet ﷺ himself modeled a balanced life of worship, family, community, and rest.

This is why the Prophet ﷺ said, when he heard that ʿAbdullāh ibn ʿAmr ibn al-ʿĀṣ was fasting every day and praying every night: "Ṣum wa afṭir, wa qum wa nam", "Fast and break your fast; stand in prayer and sleep." The body is an amānah, a trust, and it has rights that must be honored.