Allah has placed countless ways on this earth for people to work and live, and has given them the knowledge to use them.
Using this to try to meet one's needs is a person's responsibility.
2. Agriculture
The oldest and most basic way of earning a living.
The two kinds of agriculture
Kind
Purpose
1. Growing crops
To obtain plant food
2. Raising livestock
To obtain meat
The Quran says both are great blessings of Allah.
Evidence from the Quran
Verse
Meaning
6:141
It is Allah who created gardens with trellised and untrellised plants, date palms, crops of many kinds of food, olives and pomegranates
6:142
He created among the livestock some for carrying loads and some small; eat of what is permitted
55:10–12
He laid out the earth for His creatures; in it are fruits, date palms, grain in husks and fragrant plants
87:4
He brought out pasture for the livestock
Agriculture in history
The first human, Adam (AS), began both kinds of farming (on the basis of hadith reports).
Son of Adam (AS)
Occupation
Habil
Growing crops
Qabil
Raising livestock
Given exactly as in the textbook (other sources sometimes give these the other way round – confirm with the teacher).
On this basis, early societies were seen as two groups: farmers and herders.
Hadiths about agriculture
Meaning of the hadith
Source
Whoever uses and develops land that no one ownshas the best right to it
Bukhari
Whoever has land should cultivate it, or give it to his brother as charity
—
For one who plants a tree and patiently looks after it until it bears fruit, whoever benefits from that tree – it is accepted by Allah as charity for him
Ahmad
Every prophet Allah sent herded sheep; "You too?" – "Yes, I herded sheep on the pastures of the people of Makkah"
Bukhari
The practice of the Prophet ﷺ
He distributed the farmland gained at the victory of Khaybar to those who would farm it.
Hadiths have been compiled under headings such as cultivating barren land, farming, partnership, and leasing land; books of fiqh also contain the laws of farming.
The Prophet ﷺallowed the people of Madinah to pollinate date palms to increase their yield → this is regarded as permission for farming techniques.
Today
Farming and herding have been modernised together with science – more produce on less land in a shorter time.
Studying these well and taking the advice of experts to build up the economy is praiseworthy in Islam.
3. Industry
Industry (handicraft / manufacturing): a person using his knowledge and skill to make a needed finished product from a raw material.
The oldest industries
Industry
Introduced by
Evidence
Weaving
Idris (AS)
Imam Ibn Khaldun – "al-Muqaddimah" (a widely held belief)
Carpentry
Nuh (AS) (may have introduced it)
His ark was made of planks and nails – Surah al-Qamar 54:13
Worked as a carpenter
Zakariyya (AS)
Sahih Muslim
The iron industry
Very important in industry; it is the raw material for very many products.
Verse
Meaning
57:25
We sent down iron, in which there is great strength and many benefits for people
34:10–11
We made iron soft for Dawud (AS), and commanded him to make full coats of armour and to join the rings into chain mail
18:94–96
King Dhul-Qarnayn had the technology to build great walls and barriers using iron (Surah al-Kahf)
The Industrial Revolution
After the Industrial Revolution of the 18th century CE, many new inventions followed.
These are the result of human beings, as Allah's representatives (khulafa'), using their knowledge → Allah, who gave the resources and the knowledge, is the One most deserving of thanks.
Two kinds of industry
Kind
Needs
Examples
Large-scale industry
Large capital and a large workforce
(factories)
Small-scale (cottage) industry
Ordinary investment
Tailoring, making food products, repairing machines, bookbinding, printing, handicrafts
Hadiths about industry
Meaning of the hadith
Source
"What is the best work?" – "Work with one's own hands, and trade without lies"
Ahmad
"No one eats better food than what he earns with his own two hands. Dawud (AS) used to eat from the work of his own hands"
Bukhari
Women and industry
Women among the Companions also earned their living through crafts.
Example: Zaynab bint Jahsh (RA), one of the Mothers of the Believers, made her living by weaving nets (crafting).
Key guidance
Every occupation has halal and haram aspects → the Islamic Shari'ah must be followed.
The driving force of industrial growth is new inventions → we must develop creativity from now on.
Whoever works within Islamic principles will see the fruit of his effort in the Hereafter too.
