Asalamu alaikum Qur'an Weekly,
I picked an ayah from juz number 5, from Surah
Al-Nisaa' today and this is ayah number 29.
It has very powerful phrasing and it really
captures one of the main ethical principles
of Islam. Those of you who claim to believe,
'يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ
آمَنُوا لَا تَأْكُلُوا
أَمْوَالَكُم بَيْنَكُم
بِالْبَاطِلِ' (Yā 'Ayyuhā Al-Ladhīna
'Āmanū Lā Ta'kulū 'Amwālakum Baynakum
Bil-Bāţili) -- don't consume each others
money using falsehood. Don't lie about your
hours at your job when you have to punch in;
don't lie about it. When you're a consultant
and you get paid a certain amount to fill
a job or by the hour and you're just sitting
having coffee and chilling or whatever and
you're getting paid for that, unless your
employer knows that that's what you're doing.
'إِلَّا أَن تَكُونَ تِجَارَةً
عَن تَرَاضٍ مِّنكُمْ' ('Illā
'An Takūna Tijāratan `An Tarāđin Minkum)--
unless it's a trade that's happening - a business
that is happening with mutual agreement among
you. In other words, nobody can be one hundred
percent productive all the time, its not humanly possible.
So, you might feel like 'Ok. I'm
going to work 9 to 5 but I take a 40 min break.
Sometimes I just sit there and talk. Is that
ok?' Well, if your employer knows that's what
you do and it is acceptable to him then it
is ok because it is mutually agreed upon.
'إِلَّا أَن تَكُونَ تِجَارَةً
عَن تَرَاضٍ مِّنكُمْ' ('Illā
'An Takūna Tijāratan `An Tarāđin Minkum)
Unless it is a trade, it's a business that
is mutually agreed upon. Other than that,
don't scam people out of money. Don't overprice things.
Don't over charge for your services.
If you are a mechanic don't inflate your price
because you're the only mechanic in like 10
miles and you know this guy has got a transmission problem,
might as well tell him his timing
belt and his engine fluid and all this other
stuff is messed up too because, what's he
gonna do? All he can do is use you, right?
Don't over bill people if you are a physician,
and charge them more and more and more because
you know they are desperate and they are coming
to you. Don't manipulate people like that.
So don't eat peoples' money using falsehood.
Also, 'تَرَاضٍ' (Tarāđin) means that
both parties are agreeing to the service or
the product that is being exchanged so if
you know something about what you're selling
or something about the service that you are
providing, fine print if you will, that you
know that your customer or your employer is
not aware of they need to be aware of it.
They need to know, because if they don't know
and you are scamming money out of them, this
is unacceptable to Allah.
Most of our cell phone contracts, the fine print -- this is
the 'تِجَارَةً بِالْبَاطِلِ'
(Tijāratan Bil-Bāţili) because you get
all of these fees and inconvenience fee or
whatever and you don't even know what these
fees are for. You never agreed to them but
they are all tacked on there and they have
a 40 page fine print that you have to sign
at the end and they know you're not going
to read that if you're a normal human being
so then that is how they get away with these
kinds of false agreements.
We, Muslims, when we go into business or professional
agreements or employment, we cannot consume
money based on falsehood. We cannot eat people's
money and it's not just about employees with
employers, it is employers with employees
too. That's what I'll end with.
Employers decide to pay a certain amount.
When you know your employees are working harder
and they are doing more and you're not paying
them more as a result, or you are paying some
employees more than you are paying other employees
for the same exact work because you're giving
preferential treatment, this is also falsehood.
This isn't right. You can't do that.
These are unethical standards: that you pay some
the same amount or you pay someone else a
different amount even though they are doing
the same work. You are eating their money
because it is no longer your money. The person
you underpaid, you just ate their money.
And the only way you can get away with that is
that they both 'عَن تَرَاضٍ مِّنكُمْ'
(`An Tarāđin Minkum). And finally if they
both agree to it and they are both happy with
it that is the amazing thing in the ayah.
You don't just agree with your consumer because
you can get them to agree even if they are
not happy. You know how car salespeople get
you to agree even if you are not happy and
you sign the thing and you regret it later?
You have to be happy; both sides have to be
happy and completely content with the agreement
'عَن تَرَاضٍ مِّنكُمْ' (`An
Tarāđin Minkum).
That is the beauty of this ayah. If both parties
are not content and this is not a fair agreement
and once the fair agreement is in place, you
have no right to complain because you are
the only one who consciously and clearly agreed
to this sort of thing. If we abide by this
principle wAllahi (by Allah) our business
practices and our organizations and our companies
that we run and us as employees we are going
to have much better lives.
May Allah عز وجل help us be fair in our
business dealings and implement the wonderful
ethics that are in this beautiful ayah of
Surah al-Nisaa'.
بارك الله لي ولكم
Wasalamu alaikum warahmatu Allahi wabarakatuhu
Quran Weekly.
