Reflection on Islamic Work Ethics
By Hwaa Irfan
Based on Islamic Work Ethics from Traditional Islam in the Modern World by Seyyed Hossein Nasr
“It is necessary to recall from the outset the fact that the term ‘work’ in Arabic is not distinguished from the word ‘action’ in its most general sense and is treated by the Divine Law (al-Shari’ah) under the same category. In fact, if one were to look for the translation of the word ‘work’ in an English-Arabic dictionary, one would usually find the two terms ‘amal’ and ‘sun’ given as its equivalents. The first of these terms means ‘action’ in general as contrasted with ‘knowledge’ and the second ‘making’ or ‘producing’ something in the artistic and artisanal sense of the word. Human beings perform two types of functions in relation to the world about them. They either act within or upon that world or else make things by moulding and remoulding materials and objects drawn from that world.
Work ethics in Islam applies in principle to both categories: to both ‘amal’ and ‘sun’, since the Divine Law covers the whole network of human actions. While the principles of the aesthetic aspect of ‘sun, or ‘art’, in the primordial meaning of the word, belong to the inner dimensions of the Islamic revelation, the ethical aspect of both ‘amal’ and ‘sun’, or all that man does externally, is to be found in the injunctions and teachings of the Shari’ah. It is true that for the purposes of a particular discussion, one may limit the meaning of work to its economic or social aspect, but to understand Islamic work ethics in universal terms it is necessary to remember this wider and more general concept of ‘work’ whereby it is in fact never fully differentiated from human action, including art in general and the ethical considerations contained in the Shari’ah pertaining to the domain of human action as a whole.”
During a period of global economic crisis, as the frustrations of many around their occupations come to surface, along with the frustrations of those who feel forced into certain types of occupations that are socially acceptable, and those who desperately seek any type of job, and/or certain types of jobs that are not suited to their disposition, the above description of the nature of work for many might offer the ability to breathe in and out as a subconscious response to the feeling of self recognition.
Not everyone knows why or understands why they cannot work in a particular mode, and of those many become physically or mentally ill because of the imposition of State thus societal demands on what is considered work, and of that the kind of work that satisfies everybody else accept one’s self.
Around the world, for the past twenty years in particular, many have battled and have convinced themselves that to be a doctor, a lawyer, a CEO etc is the ‘thing’ to be because everyone else says so. In the process we have learned to look down upon the farmer who feeds a community, the carpenter/blacksmith/shepherd whose craft is alchemical in nature, but functional as well as evolutionary in the spiritual sense f the word, the driver who prefers the road for a living because with it comes his sense of freedom by transporting goods and people, the crafts person whose products we buy to inspire and beatify our homes or those who make a living from praying for others! Increasingly the debate that students have with their parents leave them unsatisfied because they are still in a process of self discovery, and know deep down that the limited course available within higher education binds them to a reality that is not theirs. The proof of the pudding are the endless doctors, lawyers, journalists, computer engineers, students of business etc leaving university each year, to find that it is easier to end up unemployed than to achieve gainful employment in something that at the heart of hearts they really did not want to do in the beginning to end up stressed out and dulled by the routines of that lifestyle. Work becomes the means by which we take control of our lives, and in doing so, we find that we in fact have less control because work for purely socio-economic reasons includes the intentions of many, not just the intentions of the one.
Now as secular systems become increasingly dysfunctional is a golden opportunity to reflect on what one’s life is really about, to acknowledge that self learning is an ongoing process, and that by exploring what inspires, feeds the soul, and benefits others, is a prime time to invest emotional and psychological energy as to what one wants to do for the rest of one’s life of which we only know about today.
It is the means by which we establish an inner equilibrium and for each person that moves towards that, the greater the chance that equilibrium will manifest in society as a whole, God Willing….
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