GUIDELINES FOR TRADE AND BUSINESS
HADHRAT MAULANA ABRARUL HAQ SAHEB (of Hardoi)

I intend directing your attention towards something very important. You may have thought over these matters, but there's a need to ponder over them more deeply. Allah Ta'ala says in the Quran: "For you there's a perfect example in Rasulullah" - sallallahu alayhi wasallam. You should therefore mold your life according to this example.

One aspect of this life is also muaamalaat, i.e. all those things which are connected to our daily transactions such as buying and selling, mortgaging, farming, business, etc. For all these things, Allah Ta'ala has laid down certain limitations. He has forbidden certain things, for example, He has forbidden the buying and selling of alcohol and pork. There are also other similar types of transactions.

Just as we conduct our businesses according to the rules laid down by the ruler of the country, for example, just as every person cannot sell bullets and guns and if he does so without a licence he will be jailed - in the same way we should also conduct our muaamalaat in accordance with the rules laid down by Allah Ta'ala.

It has been mentioned in the Hadith that the person who conducts his business with honesty and righteousness, then he will be raised on the day of Qiyaamat with the prophets and the practising aalim. What a great reward this is!! In whatever work we may be occupied, it is necessary for us to find out the Islamic ruling related to it. We should find all this out from the Ulama and by reading Deeni books. An easy method of learning all this is to offer our salaat with Jamaat in the musjid, and when the kitaab is being read we should listen to it and also find out the necessary masa'il from the Ulama.

People generally make this error of selling their crop once the fruit appears or even before the appearance of the fruit. Is there any difference between this and gambling??? The house which they have mortgaged, they live in it without paying any rent or pay a very meagre amount. Is there any difference between this and interest??? There are many other similar types of errors which people make. The cure for all these errors is that we should find out as to what Allah Ta'ala and His Rasul (Sallallaahu Alayhi Wasallam) have to say with regard to them.

There's a booklet titled "Safaaee Muaamalaat" which comprises of necessary masa'il concerning business transactions. Try and study this booklet so that you may be able to save yourself from the punishment of the hereafter. What benefit is there in that worldly profit if it is going to be a cause of our destruction in the hereafter??? If we are going to be negligent and complacent in this matter, then how will we face Rasulullah (Sallallaahu Alayhi Wasallam) on the day of Qiyaamat. Furthermore, the outcome of this will not be good, i.e. we will be entered into the "prison" of Allah Ta'ala in which is the punishment of a blazing fire, snakes and scorpions. So what a fatal mistake it is to fear the prisons of this world and not to fear the "prison" of Allah Ta'ala. May Allah Ta'ala save me and you from those things which earn the displeasure of Allah Ta'ala.

Published and Printed by: Madrasah Arabia Islamia (Azaadville)

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Source:  Jamiatul Ulama (Kwazulu-Natal)