Actually I want to say some people don’t do jobs because they think its a slavery. They are bound by someone. Though because of their such thoughts, their family is suffering. Then too they say. Jobs are slavery. I want to answer them under Islamic content. Its not. For debating with them I need Mufti Sahab verses or bayaan that if anyone thinks job is slavery and keep their families suffering, how would it be considered under Islamic laws. Jazakallaahu wa khairan Kaseerah.
Bismillahi Ta’ala
Walaikum Assalam Warahmatullah
Humbling oneself to do a job so that one may earn to feed and support one’s family is not an action of a slave. Rather, it is an action of someone who realizes that his duty towards Allah involves fulfilling the rights of his family upon him. Allah Ta’ala has made man a breadwinner for the family, and if his personal ego comes in between him fulfilling the rights of his family and children, then he has enslaved himself to his own ego and Nafs.
In the Ahadeeth, a particular narration comes in admonishment of someone who chooses NOT to take zakat monies out of his ego, while his family depends on him and suffers because of him not taking the zakat monies. If this is the case for zakat monies which is considered to be filth of another’s wealth helping the need of another Muslim; then what of the pure and halal earning which is earned from the fruits of one’s own labour?
Nabi ﷺ has offered lot of praise for someone who earns with his own hands. This does not matter if this halal and tayyib income comes from working in your own business or for working for someone else through Ijaraat (employment). Shari’ah has stipulated extensive laws for employment to retain the income, halal and bountiful from Allah.
In the Qur’an, Allah has given the example of Sayyiduna Musaa alayhisalam who sought to be an employee in order to pay out his mahr towards his wife. (Quran 28:26-27)
In one narration of Bukhari Shareef, Nabi ﷺ has mentioned a Hadeeth Qudsi saying that Allah shall dispute on behalf of the right of an employee who fulfilled his duties as an employee, and yet the employer did not pay him full. (#2227)
It is saddening that one could feel that merely working for someone could be demeaning to one’s self. Those who connect it with slavery should learn the concept of slavehood in Islam. You do not have any possession to yourself as it all belongs to the master. So the work you do for the master is not paid, nor are you entitled to any wage or pay. Yes, the master is every encouraged to free the slaves, but that does not change the duty of a slave to the master under islamic rules.
Instead, one should consider that one is slave to Allah, and the need to work is in the path of fulfilling the rights towards makhlooq are in fact, enjoined by Allah the ultimate and only Master of all. When one has this mindset, then no work remains trivial whether independent or under employment of someone else. This work shall increase one’s ranks in Allah’s court while securing the rights of fellow humans dependent upon oneself. All such efforts shall then benefit gaining the pleasure of Allah in Duniya and Akhira.
Wallahu A’lam
And Allah Ta’āla Knows Best
Mufti Faisal al-Mahmudi