Uprightness and honesty
in monetary dealings forms a vital part of the fundamental teachings
of Islam.
The Quran as well as the Traditions of the Prophet are emphatic that
a true Muslim is he who is honest and upright in his business and monetary
transactions, keeps his word and fulfills his promises, shuns fraud
and avoids deceit and perfidy, encroaches not upon the rights of others
nor takes part in wrongful litigation, does not give false evidence,
and abstains from making dishonest money as from usury and graft. Whoever
is not free from these vices is, according to the Quran and the Traditions,
not a true believer but a renegade and a worthless transgressor.
We now proceed to examine some of the relevant Quranic verses and Traditions.
A short verse of the Quran says:
O ye who believe! Eat not up each other’s property by unfair and
dishonest means. (IV: 29)
The verse forbids Muslims against all unclean and corrupt means of making
money, such as, dishonest trading, embezzlement, gambling, speculation
and bribery. Then there are verses in which these hateful practices
are dealt with one by one. For instance, a severe warning is given in
the following verse to traders who cheat in weighment:
Woe to those that deal in fraud, those who, when they have to receive
by measure from men, exact full measure, but when they have to give
by measure or weight to men, give less than due. Do they not think that
they will be called to account on a Mighty Day when (all) mankind will
stand before the Lord of the Worlds. (LXXXIII: 1-6)
In the same way the under mentioned verse exhorts Muslims to be very
particular about their trusts and about other people’s rights.
God doth command you to render back your trusts to those to whom they
are due. At two places in the Quran a chief distinguishing feature of
Muslims is said to be that they are:
Those who faithfully observe their trusts and their covenants. (XXIII:
8)
The Prophet used often to say in his sermons:
“Remember, there is no faith in him who is not trustworthy; there
is no place for him in religion who cares not for his pledged word or
promise.”
Another Tradition says: “The signs of a hypocrite are three: when
he speaks, he is false; when he promises, he fails; and when he is trusted,
he plays false.”
Condemning those who cheat in business the sacred Prophet has said,
“He who cheats is not of us. Deceitfulness and fraud are things
that lead one to Hell.”
The Prophet of God once came upon a heap of corn in the market of Medina
and thrust his hand into it. His fingers felt damp. On being asked,
the trader replied that rain had fallen upon it. The Prophet observed,
“Why did you not then keep (the wet portion of) it above the dry
corn, so that men may see it? He who deceives is not one of us.”
Thus, traders who deceive by showing to customers a false sample or
by concealing from them the defects of the article they offer for sale
are not true Muslims in the judgment of the holy Prophet and, God-forbidding,
they are going to end up in hell. Another Tradition says:
“The seller must explain to the buyer the defects, if any, in
the quality of the article offered for sale. Should this not be done,
the seller will permanently be caught in the wrath of Allah (according
to another narrator the exact words are, ‘he will always be cursed
by the angels’).”
In short, all manner of deceit and dishonesty in business is prohibited
in Islam. It has been proclaimed to be an act worthy of unqualified
condemnation. The holy Prophet has expressed his strong dislike for
those who do so. He has said that he will have nothing to do with them;
they do not belong to him. Likewise, bribery and usury, although they
might be practiced by mutual consent and agreement, are totally disallowed
to Muslims and those who are guilty of them have been condemned squarely
in the Traditions. A well-known Tradition on usury reads:
“The curse of God rests on him who offers loan on usurious terms,
and on him who receives, and on those who are witnesses to the transaction,
and on the writer who writers the deed thereof.”
As for bribery, the Prophet has, in a Tradition, “condemned alike
the giver of bribes, and the taker of brides in deciding cases”.
A Tradition goes even to the extent of saying that, “If a person
made a recommendation for anyone in a just matter and the gratified
party gave him something as a gift (in return for it) and he accepted
it then he committed a grave error (meaning that it, too, is a form
of bribery).”
Worse still is the unsurpation of another’s property by force
or fraud or dishonest litigation. We have it on the authority of the
Prophet that:
“Whoever occupies land belonging to another unjustly will be sunk
into the ground along with that plot of land on the Doomsday till he
reaches the lowest layer of the earth.
“He who acquires the property of a Muslim unjustly by taking a
false oath (before an Officer) is debarred by God from entering Paradise
and the Fire of Hell is made inevitable for him”, On hearting
it a Companion is reported to have asked, “Even if it be a minor
thing?” The Prophet is said to have replied, “Yes, even
if it be a twig of Pilo (a plant which grows wild. Its twigs are used
for cleaning the teeth).
The Prophet, again is reported to have warned a person who was very
fond of entering into litigation with others in these strong words,
“Remember, he who will obtain the property of another by swearing
a false oath will appear as a leper before God (in the Day of Judgment).
“Whoever laid
his claim on a thing that was not his is not of us. He will do well
to reserve a place for himself in the hell.”
It is narrated that one day, after the morning prayers the holy Prophet
stood up and said thrice with great feeling that, “Perjury has
been made the equivalent of Polytheism.”
III-Gotten
Wealth
Money or property, which is acquired through unfair means, as we have
just indicated, is positively unclean and unlawful and anyone who makes
use of it and spends it on his needs does himself a great harm. As the
sacred Prophet has warned, his prayers will not find acceptance with
God, his supplications will not be answered, his petitions will not
be granted, and in case he does good deeds they will avail him nothing.
In the Hereafter, there will be no share for him in the special favours
and good graces of the Lord.
A Tradition says: “If a person earns or acquires anything through
dishonest means and then gives away a part of it in charity, his act
of charity will not be accepted, and if he will spend from it on his
needs there will be no auspiciousness or real prosperity in it, and
should he leave it behind to his descendants on his death it will serve
for him as hell’s provision. Believe it, God does not erase evil
with evil (i.e., charity and salvation). One impurity cannot remove
another; it cannot make it pure.”
And another:
“God is pure Himself and He accepts only offerings that are pure.”
The Prophet, at the end of the Tradition also narrated the story of
a man “who undertakes a long and tedious journey (to supplicate
to God at a haloed place) and arrives (at his destination) in such a
state that his hair is disheveled and his body is covered from head
to foot with dust. He throws up his hands towards the heavens and cries
out, “O Lord! O my Preserver!’ but his sustenance if of
the impure and he has been brought up on what is polluted; how can his
prayer be granted when such is the case?”
The above amply demonstrates that when a person draws his livelihood
from impure means his prayers no longer remain worthy of being answered.
Yet another Tradition of the holy Prophet reads:
“If a person buys a cloth for ten dirhams and one of them is tainted
(i.e., it has been earned dishonestly), none of his Namaz will be accepted
by God as long as he wears it.”
And, here is one more:
“The flesh gathered on one’s body by means of unclean earning
deserves to be thrown into the Fire”.
Brothers If we have the tiniest spark of faith left in our breasts we
must make up our minds, once for all, after hearing these Traditions,
that whatever poverty and hardship we may have to endure in the world
we will never care to make a single penny from unclean and dishonest
sources and will always content ourselves ith what we earn through honest
lawful means.
Clean
Earning and Honest Trade
Just as Islam has condemned all unclean and unlawful means of making
money as wicked and sinful and denounced all profits derived from them
as filthy and devilish, in the same way it has proclaimed great virtue
in seeking one’s livelihood honestly and in engaging oneself cleanly
in trade or profession. The Prophet has said:
“To earn a clean living is also a duty next only to the prescribed
duties of the faith.”
“The cleanest food is that which has been earned by the labour
of his hand. Indeed, Prophet David used to work with his own hands for
the food he ate.”
“The trader who plies his trade cleanly and honestly will rise
in the hereafter in the company of Prophet’s saints and martyrs.
Kindness and Compassion in Monetary Dealings
Islam has laid great stress on honesty and truth fullness in trade and
other monetary dealings and described profound virtue and excellency
in it. It has declared it to be a means of gaining nearness unto God.
Islam, likewise, enjoins on us to be kind and avoid harshness and severity
in our monetary transactions and has promised great spiritual advantage
in it also. We will reproduce two of the Prophet’s Traditions
here:
“Blessings of God be on him who is mild and gentle in his business
transactions and in the realization of his dues.”
“God will protect him from the agonies of the Day of judgment
who allows respite to a poor and indigent servant of His in the payment
of his debt or writes off the debt (altogether or a part of it).”
These Traditions are meant for merchants and other wealthy men from
whom people borrow money in the hour of their need. As for the borrowers,
the Prophet used to urge them to do their best to pay back their debts
quickly lest they die in a state of indebtedness, with the claim of
anyone lying unsettled on their heads. How strict the Prophet was in
this regard can be imagined from the following Traditions:
“If a person is killed in the path of God then all his sins will
be forgiven (by virtue of his martyrdom). But if he owes anyone anything
even martyrdom will not secure his release from it.”
“By the lord in whose power lies the life of Mohammad, if a person
falls a martyr in the path of God and returns to life and is killed
again in the path of God and returns to life and is killed again in
the path of God and returns to life only to be killed once more in the
cause of God and there is still a debt outstanding against him, (until
it is settled) even he will not be able to enter Paradise”.
These two Traditions are quite sufficient to show what great importance
Islam attaches to monetary affairs and the rights of men. May Allah
grant us the wisdom to understand their delicacy and significance and
to make it our constant endeavour to assure that the claims of no one
are left unsatisfied by us!
