Dr. Suheil al-Ahmad.

Work is defined as: Every legal effort exerted by human beings mentally or physically to find an interest, considered legal, whether it is a service or a commodity with a value that meets material and spiritual needs of the society in return for a wage or a donation.”

Islam has urged us to work. Allah says: “It is He who made the earth tame for you- so walk among its slopes and eat of His provision, and to Him is the resurrection. ”al-Mulk: 15

  Allah says:`Do as you will for Allah will see your deeds, and so will His Messenger and the believers” at-Tawba: 105

  Islam enhanced the value of work as the base for ownership. The Almighty says: “And when the prayer has been concluded, disperse within the land and seek from the bounty of Allah, and remember Allah often that you may succeed” al-Jum’aa:10

 Prophet Mohammad (PBU) says: “When a Muslim plants a tree, whatever is eaten from by a human, a bird or an animal, is a charity”

 Prophet Mohammad (PBU) says:”Nobody has ever eaten a better meal than that which one has earned by working with one’s own hands. The Prophet of Allah, David, used to eat from the earnings of his manual labor.”

In order for a deed to be righteous, faith should be present as the worker knows that he is under God’s monitoring. This way a person who works, performs in a loyal manner as he is aiming God’s mercy, and in this way, the material and spiritual wealth come together. For this reason, Islam called for science and faith. Allah says” Allah will exalt those who have believed among you, and those who were given knowledge to high ranks’ “al-Mujadala:11

Faith is the guarantee for increasing productivity and quality. In reality, the value and quality of this increase represent the value of material and spiritual wealth. So, we see that Islam is holistic for material and spiritual wealth.

The principle of work as a base for ownership assures that Islam rejects any gain not related to work, such as unemployment and begging from needy people. Prophet Mohammad (PBU) says; 'By the One whose hand is my soul, If one of you where to take a rope and gather firewood on his back, that would be better for him than coming to a man to whom Allah, the Mighty  and Sublime, has given and asking him (for help) Which he may or may not give”

       Islam sees achieving abundance and quality together requires division of labor or specialty, and our religion prompted us to do so as stipulated in its texts and general regulations.

 In order for the work to meet the needs of individuals to the whole society, each has to specialize in doing what he is only creative at, has the ability to achieve it and to specialize only in knowledge. Increasing productivity (wealth) depends on the abundance of production elements. The most important elements of work are man power representing the laborer, investor of money and land owner.  

The availability of work is not enough unless it is associated with knowledge because knowledge allows increase in productivity, and contributes in more specialization to provide renewable, variable and advanced humanitarian needs. Islam paid attention to division of work through a number of Islamic funding forms such as: Contribution, Speculation, Murabaha ( mark-up ratio), Manufacturing sale, Partnership in crop, Partnership in irrigation and Forward sale, for the purpose of funding different projects whether they are agricultural, industrial, trade or service.

*Dean of Law School -al-Ahliya Palestine University-Member of Higher Committee for Shar’iyya supervisory-Monetary Authority