of employment, we should avoid every such action that harms the work of the employer.

In order to gain information regarding the rulings on employment, reading the booklet ‘50 Madani Pearls of Earning Halal Sustenance’ of Shaykh-e-Tareeqat, Ameer-e-Ahl-e-Sunnat, ‘Allamah Maulana Abu Bilal Muhammad Ilyas Attar Qaadiri Razavi Ziyaee دَامَـتْ بَـرَكَـاتُـهُـمُ الْـعَـالِـيَـه will be extremely beneficial. This booklet can also be read, downloaded and printed out from Dawat-e-Islami’s website www.dawateislami.net.

It is narrated that Sayyiduna Aadam عَـلَيْـهِ الـسَّـلَام was the first one to weave cloth and then engaged in agriculture. (Tafseer Na’eemi, part 1, Al-Baqarah, Taht-al-Ayah: 36, vol. 1, pp. 260) Sayyiduna Idrees عَـلَيْـهِ الـسَّـلَام used to sew clothes. (Al-Hiss ‘alat Tijarah was-Sana’ah,   pp. 113) Similarly, another Nabi Sayyiduna Dawood عَـلَيْـهِ الـسَّـلَام used to graze goats before becoming a king. After becoming a king, he عَـلَيْـهِ الـسَّـلَام would make armours and sell them. (Tafseer Khaazin, Saba, Taht-al-Ayah: 10, vol. 3, pp. 517)

Likewise, the famous Muhaddis, Sayyiduna ‘Abdullah Bin Mubarak رَحْمَةُ اللهِ تَعَالٰی عَلَيْه, used to trade in textile. (Tareekh Baghdad, vol. 6, pp. 234)

We came to know that striving to work for Halal sustenance is the way of the righteous people of Allah Almighty. Alas! The passion of considering earning of halal sustenance to be an act of worship is diminishing away in our society nowadays and the concept of earning money is rapidly picking up regardless of the fact whether it is Halal or Haraam. That’s why the ill traits like lying, breaching promises, making a deal over deal, hoarding goods, selling adulterated goods, fraud and ill-manners get developed within them. Whereas, our pious predecessors’ dealings were not like that at all. How would they deal in such situations, let us listen to two parables.

1. Return my money

Once upon a time, silk cloth became expensive in Basra. When Sayyiduna Yunus Bin ‘Ubayd رَحْمَةُ اللهِ تَعَالٰی عَلَيْه came to know about it, he رَحْمَةُ اللهِ تَعَالٰی عَلَيْه bought silk cloth worth 30 thousand dirhams from a person. After buying it, he asked the seller, ‘Do you know that silk cloth has gone expensive at such and such a