is concerned with social and religious responsibilities. It exhaustively lists the rights God has upon humans and the rights humans have upon themselves and on each other, as perceived in Islam. The book describes the social duties each human must observe, and that those duties predicate on more fundamental ones, such as faith in God and obedience to Him. has been viewed as an elaboration of Muhammad's saying, "Surely your Lord has a right against you, your self has a right against you, your wife has a right against you." Some versions of this well-attested
hadith, possibly uttered on other occasions, include other rights and the clause, "So give everyone who possesses a right his right." What is meant by "everyone who possesses a right" is exhaustively detailed in by al-Sajjad, who bases himself in the Quran and hadith literature. has been translated as
Treatise of Rights, because the word () in the title is the plural for (), which is often translated as 'right', although other closely related words are 'justice', 'truth', 'obligation', 'duty', and 'responsibility'. These latter translations might have been more appropriate because is primarily concerned with the rights of others which the individual must observe, in sharp contrast with Western views where human rights are often interpreted as the rights of the individual. In Islam, however, the only true right of the individual is that of salvation, to attain which the individual must follow the guidance of God. Without this divine guidance, Islam teaches, the individual is unable to perceive his best interests in the midst of his own ego and self-centered desires. has been related by
Abu Hamza al-Thumali, a close confidant of al-Sajjad. There are two recensions of the book, one of which appears in and , authored by the Shia scholar
Shaykh al-Saduq (). Another version is included in , authored by Ibn Shu'ba, a contemporary of al-Saduq. This second version contains clarifications, perhaps added later to the original text. ==Contents==