Outline
- Introduction
- The Concept of Barakah
- The Concept of Trading and Business in Islam
- The Barakah Effect
- The Implications of Considering the Barakah Effect
- How Does Hard Work Determine Our Wealth
- Stories of Observing Halal in Business Transactions
- Conclusion
Introduction
Alhamdulillah… infinite thanks and praise are due to the Almighty Allah, the Creator, the Master, the One and Only. Complete peace and salutations are upon His chosen final Messenger to the world, Sayyidunā Muhammad, his household, his companions, and all those who follow his guided path.
This is a supplementary article for episode 4 of the “A Moment Please!” series on Al-Bushra by GSalam.
Please spare four and a half minutes to watch the video below (if you haven’t done so yet) before to diving in the article.
If you haven’t taken your coffee yet, why not we pause for A Moment Please! and make a cup and come back right here… Let’s go!
The Concept of Barakah
Welcome back!
When discussing the integrity upheld by many Muslim traders of the past, a quality that is lacking in some, if not many Muslim traders today, it’s important to review our understanding of the concept of barakah, first.
In an article (which you can click here to read), I have given a detailed explanation of the concept of barakah. Once you understand the deep meaning of the word from Arabic, you won’t be bothered to use its translation anymore. Check out this article for the explanation.
The Concept of Trading and Business in Islam
Regardless of the historical transformation of trading, and regardless of how the word evolved to be used in reference to business, Islam strongly encourages trading and business.
A significant number of the companions of The Prophet Muhammad ṣallā Allāhu ’alayhi wa sallam did trading and business. In fact, trading and business is the best way to earn pure and halal income, as long as the commodity one chooses to trade in is permissible to be traded in, in Islam.
For the Muslim, who is already into trading and business or who is aspired to do so, it’s important to note, that there’re guidelines that Islam has put in place to constitute your business ethics and trading conduct.
A true Muslim will handle those guidelines seriously. Simply because he’s aware of the implications, whether he chooses to follow them, or he chooses to be ‘otherwise’ (see video below). The more a Muslim trader aligns his business ethics and trading conducts with the teachings of Islam, the purer his earnings will be, by the grace of Allah.
In a ḥadīth reported by al-Ḥākim, the Prophet ṣallā Allāhu ’alayhi wa sallam was asked, “what type of earning was best?” And he replied saying:
عَمَلُ الرَّجُلِ بِيَدِهِ وَكُلُّ بَيْعٍ مَبْرُورٍ
“A man’s work with his hand and every business transaction which is approved.”
An approved transaction is one that does not carry any form of cheating, and of course, it does not contradict Islam in any way.
Now, let’s look at how the barakah effect works.
The Barakah Effect
For the Muslim, the presence of the barakah effect in his business ethics and trading conducts is crucial. This is because one feeds and nourishes his body from the earnings that he makes from the business transactions. And so does he feed his household from the same source of income.
Now, these earnings, when used to obtain food and drink to feed oneself and his family, it turn into food and drinks. In their turn, the food and drinks turn to form the blood and flesh of our bodies.
This understanding is endorsed by the ḥadīth reported by Imām al-Nasā’ī from the narration of Sayyidatunā ‘Ā’ishah raḍiya Allāhu ’anhā, that the Prophet ṣallā Allāhu ’alayhi wa sallam said:
إِنَّ أَطْيَبَ مَا أَكَلَ الرَّجُلُ مِنْ كَسْبِهِ وَوَلَدُهُ مِنْ كَسْبِهِ
“The most pure food that a man eats is that which he has earned himself, and his child is part of his earning.”
If we flip the meaning of this ḥadīth, we get something to this extent: the most contaminated food that man eats is that which he earned from haram sources. and his child is part of his earning.
So, what are the implications of Barakah Effect?
The Implications of Considering the Barakah Effect
The easiest way to understand and appreciate upholding the Barakah effect is to digest the story of The Mysterious Wall as narrated by the Qur’an in Surah al-Kahf.
Furthermore, we have the two ḥadīths mentioned in the main video of this article. The two ḥadīth are as follows:
Sayyidunā Jābir ibn ‘Abdullāh raḍiya Allāhi ‘anhu narrates in a ḥadīth reported by Imām al-Bukhārī, the Prophet ṣallā Allāhu ’alayhi wa sallam says:
رَحِمَ اللَّهُ رَجُلًا سَمْحًا إِذَا بَاعَ وَإِذَا اشْتَرَى وَإِذَا اقْتَضَى
“May Allah show mercy to a man who is kind when he sells, when he buys, and when he makes a claim!”
Also, Imam al-Bukhārī and Muslim report from the narration Hudhayfah raḍiya Allāhu ’anhu, that the Prophet ṣallā Allāhu ’alayhi wa sallam says:
أُتِيَ اللَّهُ بِعَبْدٍ مِنْ عِبَادِهِ آتَاهُ اللَّهُ مَالاً فَقَالَ لَهُ مَاذَا عَمِلْتَ فِي الدُّنْيَا – قَالَ وَلاَ يَكْتُمُونَ اللَّهَ حَدِيثًا – قَالَ يَا رَبِّ آتَيْتَنِي مَالَكَ فَكُنْتُ أُبَايِعُ النَّاسَ وَكَانَ مِنْ خُلُقِي الْجَوَازُ فَكُنْتُ أَتَيَسَّرُ عَلَى الْمُوسِرِ وَأُنْظِرُ الْمُعْسِرَ . فَقَالَ اللَّهُ أَنَا أَحَقُّ بِذَا مِنْكَ تَجَاوَزُوا عَنْ عَبْدِي
“A servant from amongst the servants of Allah was brought to Him whom Allah had endowed with riches. He (Allah) said to him: What (did you do) in the world? (They cannot conceal anything from Allah) He (the person) said: O my Lord, You endowed me with Your riches. I used to enter into transactions with people. It was my nature to be lenient to (my debtors). I showed leniency to the solvent and gave respite to the insolvent, whereupon Allah said: I have more right than you to do. Ease the affairs of My servant.
How Does Hard Work Determine Our Wealth
The difference between Muslims and non-Muslims, pertaining to earning living is that Muslims do (or they’re supposed to) earn knowing well, that wealth only remains as a means to sustain and get closer to Allah and earn His Pleasure. As for non-Muslims, Akhirah and reward are yet to be put on the table for discussion.
While Islam teaches us to work and make clean earnings, it also teaches us to uphold two important things. These two things are (1) the belief in Fate and Destiny and (2) the Belief in the Day of Judgement. I’m sure you remember that these two things are part of the six pillars of Iman. Don’t you?
Understanding Qaḍā’ and Qadar (Fate and Destiny) reassures us that we can only earn what’s destined for us. The effort put in therefore is to keep us moving and not remain heedless or oblivious. With that, our little effort may earn us more than someone who puts in more effort than we do. Likewise, someone’s little effort may earn him more than what we earn, even though we put in more effort than he does.
This will set our minds to observe and be mindful of Allah and lead life of contentment. Muslims are less inflicted with mental health issues when they succeed in establishing content in their hearts.
The other thing that helps is the consciousness of the Day of Judgement (or the Last Day). Thus, we don’t insist on taking what’s not lawfully ours. This is because even if there are no humans to detect our wrongdoings, the Owner of the Day of Judgement will hold us accountable.
Stories of Observing Halal in Business Transactions
In this section, I’m sharing two stories that represent the good side of practices by Muslim traders. One from the past. And the other from our present time.
Sayyidunā ‘Umar, the Milk Seller, and Daughter
After Sayyidunā ‘Umar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb raḍiya Allāhu ‘anhu became the Caliph, he used to patrol the city of Madinah, at night, when the city become silent. In his company used to be his servant, Aslam.
One night, while patrolling, they sat and leaned against a wall. While resting, they overheard an argument between a lady and a young girl.
The lady was urging her girl to mix the milk with water before dawn arrived. But the latter couldn’t obey the former. Her reason was that Sayyidunā ‘Umar the Caliph has prohibited the people from mixing milk with water.
The lady insisted, and claimed, “but ‘Umar isn’t here, nor is any of his men, to catch us mixing the milk with water.”
The girl could only get tougher. She reminded the lady, that “if ‘Umar is not here to see us, Allah is with us, and He sees us if we do. And I can’t disobey Him.”
Well, as you rightly guessed, the lady eventually gave in to the young girl. For the duo, the story ends here. However, for the young girl and ‘Umar, the story continues.
The next day, Sayyidunā ‘Umar tasked Aslam to gather as much information about the duo as possible. The summary of the information gathered concluded that they’re mother and daughter, who stayed alone, and had no men in their life. Meaning they were unmarried at the time. By the way, the girl’s name was Umm ‘Amārah bint Sufyān ibn ‘Abdillāh ibn Rabī’ah al-Thaqafī.
After knowing about the mother and daughter, Sayyidunā raḍiya Allāhu ‘anhu married the girl to one of his sons, ‘Aṣim. ‘Āṣim and ‘Umm ‘Amārah were blessed with two daughters, Ḥafṣah and Laylā. Later, Laylā married ‘Abdul-‘Azīz ibn Marwān. This duo was blessed with ‘Umar ibn ‘Abdul-‘Azīz, known as the fifth Calip of Islam for his righteousness and justice.
The moral of the story: observe Allah in our business ethics and trading conduct, and He will bless your business from where you least expect.
The Old Man Who Adds an Empty Teabag to the Weight Wing of the Scale
The old man you see in the picture is a tea seller. Look at his weighing device, and you can see that he’s added an empty tea bag to the weight wing. Practically, he does that whenever he weighs the tea for a client.
When asked about the extra tea bag, his response was, “I’m selling you the tea. I’m not selling you the teabag.” Thus, the weight of the teabag must be subtracted during the transactions.
End of the story.
When was the last time you met someone who fears Allah to this level and precision?
What do you extract from this true story? Please share your thoughts in the comments area below.
Conclusion
Every Muslim trader or business owner, who is mindful of Allah in his business ethics and trading conduct has a story of barakah effect to share. Sometimes, such barakah effects are so obvious to go unnoticed
However, no matter how many stories we read about them, one will only appreciate it better when he encounters a first-hand experience. And it’s unlikely that one will encounter it while cheating and deceiving, and making up stories in his business ethics and trading conducts.
With barakah effect in mind, a Muslim trader can trade in any type of commodities, as long as it pleases Allah, and as long as it has value to clients.
Don’t jump into selling just any products, simply because it has emerged as a trend when you’re certain that it carries no value, or worst still, when you are certain of the harm it can pose to clients.
If you’ve reached this point of the article, then kindly consider sharing it with your loved ones. Do you have any personal stories of barakah effects from your trade and business experience, feel free to share with us in the comments area below, or here on Facebook.
Allāh knows best.
Allāhu Ḥāfiẓ 🙂
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