Run a Business Islamically: Key Sunnas 1
Running a business in accordance with Islamic principles is a fundamental concern for Muslims in the modern world. This is the seventh in a series of articles from Running a Business Islamically.
Firstly, work, start your business, and run your business with a clear purpose and intentions. Do not trade or work simply to earn a living or amass wealth, but rather, trade to seek the pleasure of Allah.
The Hadith of Intention mentions that actions are by intentions and each person shall have whatsoever they intended. So whoever’s migration was to Allah and His Messenger, his migration was to Allah and His Messenger. But whoever’s migration was for some worldly or for a woman to marry, then his migration was to whatever he migrated for.
Form and Reality
Seeking worldly gain, merely for worldly gain is a loss because, without purpose and intention, you will not take any of it with you to the grave. Actions are by their intentions. Your actions have a form, which is what you do and they have a reality, which is the purpose and the intention that drives them.
Anas ibn Malik reported: The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said, “Three things follow a deceased person. Two of them return and one remains. His family, his wealth, and his deeds follow him. His family and wealth return, but his deeds remain.”
To complete the point, is marrying a bad deed? No, it is a Sunna. The person whom the Hadith was said to have come regarding, was one of the Companions. He wanted to marry a lady named Umm Qais. She was a female Companion of the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) and an intelligent woman. She said, “I’ll only marry you if you migrate to Madina.” This Companion migrated with one concern, just to marry. Is that a bad intention? No, that is your good intention but that is merely a good intention.
Why should you migrate? Why should you do anything? Sincerity is to act for the sake of Allah alone. Allah says:
أَلَا لِلَّهِ ٱلدِّینُ ٱلۡخَالِصُۚ
“Truly indeed to Allah alone is pure religion due.” [Quran, 39:3; tr. Keller, Quran Beheld]
وَمَاۤ أُمِرُوۤا۟ إِلَّا لِیَعۡبُدُوا۟ ٱللَّهَ مُخۡلِصِینَ لَهُ ٱلدِّینَ
“Nor have they been commanded aught else but to worship Allah alone, making their religion sincerely His” [Quran, 98:5; tr. Keller, Quran Beheld]
Sincerity and Devotion
The obligation is to be devoted to Allah in our acts of worship and in the halal and haram (lawful and unlawful). Out of recommendation, it applies to be devoted to Allah in our worldly life. You do not have to be sincere at work, but you are missing out if you are not.
Sincerity is to have one intention, which is for the sake of Allah. That is the Abrahamic way:
قُلۡ إِنَّ صَلَاتِی وَنُسُكِی وَمَحۡیَایَ وَمَمَاتِی لِلَّهِ رَبِّ ٱلۡعَـٰلَمِینَ
“Say: ‘Verily my prayer, my worship and sacrifice, the works of my life, and those when I die, are but for Allah, Lord of all Worlds of Beings” [Quran, 6:162; tr. Keller, Quran Beheld]
It is obligatory to make our acts of worship for the sake of Allah. Actions are by their intention. Each person only has what they intended. So going to work for the sake of Allah, starting your business for the sake of Allah, getting married, not because you want to, but, do it for the sake of Allah. That puts everything else in perspective. Set a high intention.
Then, of course, think about how you will seek the pleasure of Allah in this and through this. One can have numerous intentions of how you will seek the pleasure of Allah through your work, through your business, and through whatever else that you are engaged in.
Renew Your Intentions
Renew your intentions regularly, ideally daily. Each day when you head out to work or you begin your work, renew your intentions. If you take a snapshot of people on public transport or if you are driving in the morning and you look around, most people do not look joyous and content as they commute to work on a Monday.
Pause and think, what exactly are you doing? You are going to earn a living. Allah has blessed you with education, ability, some skill, work, the means to get to work, means of transportation, and shelter. We are enveloped in layers and layers and layers of blessings beyond count. We are miserable because we act without intention.
Your soul is in discomfort because you do not know what you are doing. Allah asked:
فَأَیۡنَ تَذۡهَبُونَ
“So where do you get by rejecting its truth?” [Quran, 81:26; tr. Keller, Quran Beheld]
Allah says:
أَلۡهَىٰكُمُ ٱلتَّكَاثُرُ
حَتَّىٰ زُرۡتُمُ ٱلۡمَقَابِرَ
“All of you are distracted by competing for worldly gain:
Until you pay your final “visit” to far-stretching graveyards.” [Quran: 102:1-2; tr. Keller, Quran Beheld]
Our master Ali is reported to have said, “People are asleep and when they die they wake up” Except for the few who live purposefully.
Meaningful Directions in Life
The Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) taught us, “Actions are but by their intentions and each person shall have whatever they intended.” Before you get in your car to start driving, make an intention to go to work for the sake of Allah, to seek the pleasure of Allah, to earn a lawful living, to be able to provide for your family in a permissible way, to be able to spend lawfully, to be generous to family, to be able to spend in the ways of good, to be able to be free of need of asking others, and out of gratitude for the blessing of Allah to partake in the good.
If you try to make good intentions, it might make you think about more meaningful directions in life, but you pursue them sensibly. This gives us clarity. The believer would know where he is going. Allah says:
وَقَالَ إِنِّی ذَاهِبٌ إِلَىٰ رَبِّی سَیَهۡدِینِ
“And he told them, ‘Verily I am to emigrate unto my Lord; Verily He is certain to guide me.’” [Quran, 37:99; tr. Keller, Quran Beheld]
The straight path is the path of the good of this life and the next, towards the good pleasure of Allah. Where are you going? To Allah. Your work is just part of it. In that sense, every moment at work is part of your devotion to Allah and then it is easier to remember Allah at work. It is easier to establish prayer at work and to uphold the good.
Acting as a Servant of Allah
The third is to commit to trade as a servant of Allah, to run your business or to work as a servant of Allah. Act as a servant of Allah. A servant acts in accordance with the command of his Lord.
To work and trade as a servant of Allah requires knowledge. We act with clarity and definition in all our agreements. We strive for excellence as a servant of Allah.
