Contract of Employment (Service)
Before discussing employment contracts, we need to discuss the concept of social justice and equity in Islam. Justice means fair dealing of all (whether Muslim or non-Muslim, male or female). The Quran is of the view that all human beings are equal as they were created from the same male and female, namely Adam and […]
Hours and Conditions of Work
Islam is of the view that worker should not be overburdened with work. If the worker is asked to work for more hours or work beyond his or her capacity, the employer must provide the necessary help. The Quran says that “God only assigns a soul something that it can cope with” (02:286), and while […]
Unions and Collective Bargaining
The question of union legitimacy in Islamic discourse is quite crucial in that we do not find much reference to the concept of unions in Islamic jurisprudence. However, as explained by Belal (2005), most Islamic scholars working on the development of Islamic jurisprudence were quite alienated from the problems of the working class. While interpreting […]
Wages
The Quran refers to hiring the services of Musa (AS) by Prophet Shuaib (AS) for a wage and also for a specified period of time, i.e., eight years (28:26–27).[1] In another instance, it talks about Zulqarnain when people request him to build a wall for them, and that they would be paying him a tribute […]
Work Ethic and Islam
Work ethic is a combination of ideas and assumption about the necessity of work (why it should be done), people’s beliefs about this necessity of work, and how they are persuaded to do some work.[1] Work ethic is linked to job satisfaction and organizational commitment. It also shows the individual’s attitude toward work, i.e., preference […]
Labour Rights in the Quran and Sunnah
There are five different words (used in Islamic sources) relevant to the concept of work, i.e., amal (عمل) , sa’y (سعی), fi’l (فعل) , and Kasab (کسب) all these roughly meaning work, and the fifth word is the Ajr (اجر) , which is the compensation for work or employment. The word amal has four different […]
State Role in the Labour Markets
Hisbah (ombudsman/market inspector) in Islamic law is the state institution which is established for enforcing what is ordained by Islam (Ma’aruf) and forbidding or preventing what is unlawful or improper (Munkar). The Quran considers it the obligation of every Muslim to play their role in hisbah and requires that some section of the society must […]
Sources of Islamic Law
Labour relations or labour and employment law can be seen as part of Islamic economic law which has evolved through the development of Islamic law that, i.e., Shari’a. The Arabic word Shari’a literally means the way to a watering-place. In Islamic jurisprudence, Shari’a is considered to make rules for every aspect of life, whether economic, […]
Introduction
Islam, derived from the Arabic root “Salema”, means peace, purity, submission, and obedience. Islam also means submission to the will of God and obedience to His law. Islam originated in the Middle East more than 1,400 years ago, and currently, the Muslim population is around 1.8 billion, or one-fourth of the total world population.[1] Islam […]
Acknowledgements
The nexus between religion and labour has invariably fascinated me. I read with profound interest the works of Hifzur Rahman Seoharvi, Manazir Ahsan Gilani, Mujibullah Nadvi, Nejatullah Siddiqui, and Noor Muhammad Ghaffari on Islamic Economics as early as 2002. I later had a chance to practically explore some of these issues as I joined the […]