In Islam, in all rulings of shariah can be divided into four parts.
The 1st one is عبادات all acts and forms of worship. All the obligatory worships and voluntary worships. For example, sadaqa, umra, zikr, Quran recitation, voluntary hajj and etc.
The 2nd معاملات is dealings, business, work and so on.
The 3rd is معاشرة family background: honor parents, associate kinships, be kind to children and respect towards elders.
The 4th one is اخلاق : conduct and behavior with all the creatures. Whether they are Muslims or not Muslims, your neighbors or not, humans or animals, spiritual creatures or material creatures, holy Islam teaches us to behave with all of them.
So only 1st part is connected with creator Almighty Allah (swt). That is the only حقوق الله rights of Allah (swt). And there are remaining three parts connected with creatures, that is حقوق العباد the rights of his slaves and his creatures. But we don't consider حقوق العباد as a part of religion and don't consider our duties to the society. As a result, people don't even realize that they are not fulfilling the rights of others.
A simple example is that of a person who drinks. Everyone will condemn him, even he himself will feel guilty for committing such a sin. But someone who backbites does not get condemned as much, nor does he himself realize that he is sinning although backbiting is a great sin as much as drinking.
In fact, backbiting is an even greater sin as it is linked with حقوق العباد. Also Allah explains its severity through an example in the Quran, and has not given such an example for other sins. He says in س الحجرات
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا اجْتَنِبُوا كَثِيرًا مِنَ الظَّنِّ إِنَّ بَعْضَ الظَّنِّ إِثْمٌ
O you who believe! Avoid much suspicion, for suspicion in some cases is a sin: وَلَا تَجَسَّسُوا وَلَا يَغْتَبْ بَعْضُكُمْ بَعْضًا
And don't spy, don't backbite on each other.
أَيُحِبُّ أَحَدُكُمْ أَنْ يَأْكُلَ لَحْمَ أَخِيهِ مَيْتًا فَكَرِهْتُمُوهُ
Would any of you like to eat the flesh of his dead brother? No, you would hate doing so. So hate backbiting!
Even then the sin of backbiting is a common practice in our society, there are hardly any gatherings free of backbiting.
We don’t realize how great this sin is as if it has nothing to do with Islam. And we don’t feel that Allah is watching us all the time.
It is a common misunderstanding that these days a feeling of ihsan is only required during salah and zikr.
Meaning of Ihsan, Rasulullah (slw) said,
ان تعبد الله كانك تراه فان لم تكن تراه فانه يراك
You should worship Allah in such a way as you are seeing Him. If this is not possible then you must at least be mindful that Allah is watching you. This is called status of ihsan.
We should be conscious of Allah swt at all times in every walk of our lives. Whether we are in the business of running a shop or responsible for managing subject or in our dealings with our wives, children, friends and neighbors, Ihsan is required anywhere.
We should always be conscious of the fact that Allah (swt) is watching us all the time.
