Benefits from the Book

“How the Employee is to

Fulfill Responsibility”

by Ash-Shaikh Abdul Muhsin Al’Abbaad

 The Employee is Rewarded in this Life and
the Hereafter for Fulfilling his Trust with
Hard Work and Sincerity

When the employee undertakes the

performance of his duty with diligence
hoping for Allah’s reward he has cleared
himself of further accountability and
deserves the wage of his work in this life
and has won reward in the abode of the
hereafter. Texts have been reported
showing that the wage and reward for what
a person does of deeds are to be done
hoping for reward and seeking Allah’s Face:
Allah the mighty and majestic said:

{ ْ‫صدَ َقةٍ أَوْ َمعْرُوفٍ أَوْ إِصْلحٍ بَ ْينَ النّاسِ َو َمنْ َي ْفعَل‬
َ ‫ل خَ ْيرَ فِي كَثِيٍ ِمنْ َنجْوَا ُهمْ إِل َمنْ َأ َمرَ ِب‬
114( ‫)ذَلِكَ ابِْتغَاءَ َمرْضَاتِ ال ّلهِ َفسَوْفَ نُؤْتِيهِ أَ ْجرًا عَظِيمًا‬

There is no good in most of their secret

talks save (in) him who orders Sadaqah
(charity in Allâh's Cause), or Ma'rûf (Islâmic
Monotheism and all the good and righteous
deeds which Allâh has ordained), or
conciliation between mankind, and he who
does this, seeking the good Pleasure of
 Allâh, We shall give him a great reward.
(An-Nisa 4:114)

Al Bukhaari and Muslim reported on the

authority of Abu Mas’ud that Allah’s
Messenger said:

“When a man spends on his family seeking

reward then that is charity in his favor.”

Also on the authority of Sa’ad ibn Abee

Qaqqaas that he, salla allahu alaihi wa
sallam, said:

“You don’t spend any expenditure seeking

thereby Allah’s Face except that you are
rewarded thereby even the morsel of food
you put in the food of your woman.”

These texts have shown that if the Muslim

fulfills what is mandatory on him towards
people he is free from further
accountability and that wage and reward
only occur along with hoping for it and
seeking Allah’s face.
 Safeguarding the Time Particularly
Designated for Work for what is in Favor of
the Work:

It is upon all workers and employees to

busy their specified work time doing the
work designated and not busy himself with
other matters outside of the work he is
obligated to fulfill therein. He is not to
busy the time itself or any of it in what is in
his particular interest nor the interest of
anyone else so long as it has no relation to
the work. This is because the time of work
does not belong to the employee or worker
but rather it is for doing what is in favor of
the work from which a wage is taken in
exchange for.

AshShaikh Al Muammar ibn Alee Al Bagdadi

(who died in the year 507 h.) admonished
the minister Nidhaam Al Mulk with an
eloquent, beneficial admonition. From what
he said in the beginning was:
“It is known, oh Sadr al-Islam, that the
individual subjects are at liberty to choose
whether or not to meet with those seeking
audience and travelling delegates. If they
so wish, they can attend to them and if they
want, they can leave. As for those specially
chosen for authority, then they have no
choice concerning those seeking audience
and meeting with travelling delegates
because whoever is a governor over the
people then he in reality, he is a hired
employee who sold his time and took his
price and so nothing remains for him in his
day during which to conduct himself as he
chooses, nor is it for him to pray extra-
obligatory prayers or enter into I’tikaaf
because that is extra while this is
mandatory and binding.”

Also from what he said while admonishing

him was:
“So prepare to habitate your grave just as
you inhabited your castle.” from the book
Dhail Tabaqaat al Hanabilah by Ibn Rajab.
(v. 1 /p. 107)
 Just as a person hopes to take his wage in
full and doesn’t like to be
undercompensated whatsoever then it is
upon him not to undercut anything from his
work time using it for other than what is
appropriate to work. Allah has dispraised
those who give short measure and weight
who require their full rights while
undercutting the rights of others. He said:

{ ْ‫وَْيلٌ لِ ْلمُ َط ّف ِفيَ * اّلذِينَ ِإذَا اكْتَالُوا عَلَى النّاسِ َيسْتَوْفُونَ * وَِإذَا كَالُو ُهمْ أَوْ َوزَنُو ُهم‬
َ‫خسِرُونَ * أَل يَ ُظنّ أُولَِئكَ أَّن ُهمْ مَ ْبعُوثُونَ * لَِيوْ ٍم عَظِيمٍ * يَوْمَ َيقُومُ النّاسُ ِلرَبّ اْلعَاَل ِمي‬
ْ ‫} ُي‬

Woe to Al-Mutaffifin [those who give less in

measure and weight (decrease the rights of
others)], those who, when they have to
receive by measure from men, demand full
measure, And when they have to give by
measure or weight to men, give less than
due. Think they not that they will be
resurrected (for reckoning), On a Great Day,
The Day when (all) mankind will stand
before the Lord of the 'Alamîn (mankind,
jinns and all that exists)? (Al-Mutaffifin
83:1-6)
 Stipulated Grounds on Which to Choose a
Worker and Employee:

The basis on which to choose every

employee or worker is that he is capable
and trustworthy. This is because by
capability he is able to undertake the work
sought of him and by trustworthiness he
will fulfill it in a manner freeing him from
accountability because by trustworthiness
he places affairs in their due place and by
capability he will be able to fulfill what is
mandatory upon him. Allah informed about
one of the two daughters of the man of
Madyan that upon Musaa drawing water for
them she said to her father:

{ ُ‫} يَا أَبَتِ اسْتَأْ ِجرْهُ ِإنّ خَ ْيرَ مَنِ اسْتَأْ َج ْرتَ اْلقَوِيّ ال ِمي‬

And said one of them (the two women): "O

my father! Hire him! Verily, the best of men
for you to hire is the strong, the
trustworthy." (Al-Qasas 28:26)

Also, He said about the Ifreet who displayed

his readiness to Sulaiman to bring the
throne of Bilqees:
 ٌ‫جنّ أَنَا آتِيكَ ِبهِ قَبْلَ َأنْ َتقُومَ ِمنْ َمقَا ِمكَ وَإِنّي عَلَ ْيهِ َلقَوِيّ َأ ِمي‬
ِ ‫قَا َل ِعفْريتٌ مِنَ اْل‬

An Ifrît (strong) from the jinns said: "I will

bring it to you before you rise from your
place (council). And verily, I am indeed
strong, and trustworthy for such work."
(An-Naml 27:39)

The meaning is that he gathered the

descriptions of having ability to carry
and present it as well as his
safeguarding what it contained.

Also Allah informed about Yusuf that he

said to the King:

55( ٌ‫ظ عَلِيم‬

ٌ ‫)قَالَ ا ْجعَلْنِي عَلَى َخزَاِئنِ ال ْرضِ إِنّي َحفِي‬

[Yûsuf (Joseph)] said: "Set me over the

storehouses of the land; I will indeed guard
them with full knowledge" (Yusuf 12:55)

The opposite of capability and

trustworthiness is incapability and
betraying. They are the basis of not being
chosen for work and the true grounds of
being terminated from it. When Umar made
Sa’ad ibn Abee Waqqaas the governor over
Al Kufah some of the foolish detracted from
 his character and spoke ill of him to Umar
and so Umar saw a greater good in
removing him to prevent fitnah so that
none of them would transgress against him.

However, during his malady of death he

appointed selection of six of the
Companions of Allah’s Messenger from
whom to choose the Khalifah after him.
Sa’ad ibn Abee Waqqaas was one of them
and so he (Umar) feared that it would be
thought that Umar removed him from his
governance of Al Kufah on account of his
not being suitable for authority. So he
negated what has thought by saying:

“If the rulership befalls Sa’ad then he is

appropriate for that, otherwise whoever is
made leader is to seek his help, for
certainly I did not remove him because of
incapability or betrayal.”

There comes in Saheeh Muslim on the

authority of Abu Dharr who said: I said: Oh
Messenger of Allah! wont you appoint me?
He said: So struck his hand on my shoulder
and then said:
 “Oh Abaa Dharr you are weak and it is a
trust and will be humiliation and regret on
the Day of Resurrection except for he who
takes to it rightfully and fulfills what is
upon him regarding it.”

Also it is reported on the authority of Abu

Dharr that Allah’s Messenger said:
“Oh Abaa Dharr, verily I see that you are
weak and I love for you what I love for
myslef. Do not govern over two persons
and do not take resposibility for the wealth
of an orphan.”