Importance of Honest Livelihood

Posted by islamic web  |  at  9:17 PM

Man's power of speech is a great gift from God. Through the vocal means of communication he is in a position to convey his ideas to others. The progress of human civilization is due to man's ability to understand and appreciate collective problems and to find out their solution through mutual consultation and consensus.

The purpose of a society built on the basis of such mutual communication is to live in peace, harmony and comfort. But a greater gift of Allah than speech is wisdom; the faculty to think and make decisions, to discover, to create and to invent. God has made man His vicegerent on earth. This means that man enjoys an unquestioned dominance over every other living creature and has the power to discover the elements, hidden and openly visible on earth to harness him or her into the service of all human beings. Besides Allah has given men and women the power of judgment to enable him to distinguish between the good and the bad so that he may choose for himself the straight path and prepare himself for the Hereafter.

Let us reflect upon this for a while. Since men/women are the finest of God's creatures endowed with many faculties, which other living creatures do not have, it is expected of men/women that they should manifest their superiority through his/her actions. We know in our daily observation that an animal, when hungry or thirsty would eat or drink whatever it finds and wherever it is. It cannot distinguish that whether the water or food found by it is permissible for it or not or whether it is trespassing other's domain for that matter.

But human beings are supposed to ensure that the sources of their livelihood even food and drinking water are permitted to them or not and whether the food and drink being served to them have been procured by honest and lawful means or not. Early Muslims were honest down to earth. There was a Muslim 'Wali', Dahb Ibn Al Waleed. He had made a point to make sure that the source of their (Rizk) livelihood was honest and lawful. The incident shown below is an eye opener indeed.

Once his mother gave him milk to drink. He enquired about its source of milk supply, the price etc. His mother told him every thing. Still he refused to drink on the plea that the pasture on which the goat had grazed was the one upon which Muslims had no right whatsoever. He told his mother that, "Verily God is Merciful and Compassionate and bestows his compassion upon us and I (The Wali) cannot soil His compassion with sin".

From the above instance we can deduce that the importance of honest livelihood that essentially means the instance men/women earn through the rightful and honest means without any foul or impermissible means. Islam is not against accumulation of wealth but on the condition that the welfare of the family and society is kept in view. No dishonest means like exploitation or infringement upon others' rights and preferences are employed.

The overriding principle is any income which causes loss or inconvenience to any other person is prohibited, both at individual and collective levels. All sources of income that are based on mutual benefit and welfare and conform with the principles of social justice and equality are permitted.

The Holy Qur'an has explicitly enunciated this principle as follows:

"O ye who believe! Squander not your wealth among yourselves in vanity, except it be a trade by mutual consent, and kill not one another. Lo! Allah is ever Merciful unto you. Whoso doeth that through aggression and injustice, we shall cast him into Fire, and that is ever easy for Allah." (4:29-30)

The illegal and prohibited means include bribery, usurpation of others' belongings, stealing, defalcation, breach of trust, depriving orphans of their rights, using false measure and weights, vices, making and selling of liquors and other intoxicants, gambling, fortune telling and usury.

Income earned through these and similar sources are totally prohibited by Islam. The best source is by toiling physically and shedding his/own sweat and working as per schedule without wasting time. Any earning hurting others or impinging upon the rights of others is a horrific sin. Muslims should always pray to Allah for showing the rightful means of earning.

Contentment and personal integrity are the two basic elements for honest livelihood. Contentment means that one should keep one's desires and needs within limits and should not succumb to worldly temptations. To be thankful to Allah and to be conscious of Allah's omniscience are bound to lead to rightful means of earning. Contentment and rightful earnings are the milestones of the right path and righteousness.