Virtues of Trade & Business

CHAPTER ONE
THE CHAPTER ON HALAAL EARNINGS

It is reported in a Hadeeth that to acquire halaal earnings is a duty incumbent upon Muslims. This duty is of slightly secondary nature to the other pillars of Islam, viz. Salaah, Zakaah. In other words, although it is a Muslim's duty to acquire Halaal (clean and pure) wealth, this duty is not of the same importance as the other fundamentals such as the five pillars of Islam.

This obligation is for those who are in need of wealth for their daily necessities, whether those necessities are to satisfy the requirements of one's self or for the needs of one's dependants. However, it is not an obligation on those persons who are in possession of sufficient provisions e.g. the landowner, or that person who has other sources of income. The reason for this is that Allah had created wealth for the sole purpose of fulfilling necessities, so that one can be free to spend time in the worship of Allah, because without proper food and drink, one will not be able to perform Ibaadah. Hence we may say that the acquisition of wealth is not a goal in itself, but a means towards a goal.

From the foregoing, it appears that when a person has the necessary wherewithal for a decent existence, it is not commendable at all to search for further wealth or to seek to increase one's possessions out of pure greed. In any case, it is not compulsory for those of adequate means to seek to increase their wealth. Greed is a thing which causes negligence and misleads one into numerous sinful practices. Please take notice of this very carefully. Where Halaal means are available, a Muslim should never ever turn towards Haraam earnings.

Such haraam earnings are completely devoid of blessings and whoever earns such wealth will continuously be cursed and live in disgrace in both his religious and wordly life. These days, there are some ignorant people who claim that it is now impossible to acquire Halaal earnings. These persons have given up all hope of acquiring Halaal wealth. This is absolutely untrue and a trick of shaytaan. Bear in mind at all times, that whoever desires to follow the path of Shariat, is granted assistance by Allah from unexpected and unthought of sources. When the intention of a person is to acquire Halaal food and to avoid Haraam, Allah surely makes Halaal earnings available to him. This can be seen in the experiences of man. And furthermore, these promises in the Quraan and in the Hadeeth are only too numerous.

It is a fact that in these difficult times to those servants of Allah, who had stayed clear of Haraam or doubtful earnings, Allah grants good and clean wealth. Such people have much more comfortable, more honourable and cosier lives compared to those who gather and devour Haraam. Any person who has seen how Allah deals with him or how Allah dealt with others, will never pay attention to the ignorant statements of those who maintain that the earnings of Halaal is today impossible. Even if they should read such a statement in some kitaab, then they will immediately realize that the meaning is not that which the ignorant ones have understood. So, when one happens to come across such statements, it is best to inquire from a reliable and recognised pious Aalim as to the true meaning thereof. Insha-Allah, such undesirable thoughts will be removed from the mind and the question will be answered to one's satisfaction.
Many people take little precautions with regard to their earnings. Very often, they earn their living through such professions which are not permissible. Some even trample the rights of others, all of which is, of course, Haraam. One need have no fear of want because in the treasure house of Allah, there is no shortage of anything. Whatever has been written as one's share of sustenance, so much shall one receive, nothing less. So why should one have evil intentions and endeavour to acquire more and thereby prepare a path leading to hell? Is this not the height of foolishness?

Because of the fact that people in these days pay little attention to ensure that their earnings are Halaal, we intend to draw attention to Halaal earnings time and again. It should be borne in mind that the actual purpose for the creation of man and jinn is that they should worship Allah. At all times and in all affairs, this should be remembered. Further, one should at all times remember that eating and drinking are solely for the sake of creating strength and energy in the body, which in turn enables one to glorify the name of Allah.

Life was not meant that one should be continuouslly engrossed in the pleasure of eating and drinking while in the meanwhile, forgetting the presence of Allah Ta'ala and disobeying Him. Some other irreligious ones are of the opinion that life only means to eat and drink, wear clothes and satisfy one's lusts and desires. This kind of attitude is an extremely irreligious one. May Allah eradicate this ignorance, which has become a real scourge upon society.

Rasulullah Sallallahu Alayhi Wasallam is reported to have said:
"No one has ever eaten any food which is better than that which he had earned through working with both his hands and Verily Allah's Nabi Dawood Alayhis Salaam used to eat which he earned with his two hands." This Hadeeth indicates that the best food to consume is that which is earned from the work of one's own hands, in the case of having practised some trade or business. One should not unnecessarily become a burden on others, through begging and one should never consider it beneath one's dignity to even do any menial work for a living.

When it is known that the Prophets of Allah (Alayhimus Salaam) used to earn a living through hard work, there is none who can be more or equally honourable. According to another Hadeeth we learn: "There is not a single Nabi who did not herd goats." This should be well understood and Muslims should avoid ignorance and arrogance.

Then there is another point which is often misunderstood. Some people are of the opinion that should one acquire any Halaal wealth from sources where he did not work for, as in the case of wealth received through inheritance, such wealth is not of an honourable nature. They then prefer to work hard to earn Halaal sustenance and consider this striving better than to consume such inherited wealth, instead of keeping busy with the Ibaadah (worship) of Allah. This is also wrong. When a person acquires such Halaal wealth eg. from the estate of someone, it is best to make use thereof and to spend one's time in Allah's service. It is ingratitude that Allah should grant a life of ease and freedom of want only to find that that person refrain's from celebrating His praises, and continues to accumulate wealth.

One should remember that as long as there is no embarrassment or humility involved, all Halaal sustenance should be considered as pure and good, no matter from which Halaal source it reaches us. Such sustenance is indeed bounty from Allah and should be appreciated. Hence, such persons should be careful in their spending and not squander anything unnecessarily.

The Hadeeth also means that people should not cast their responsibilities and burdens on others and not resort to begging, except in such cases of dire necessity, which is considered as a necessity according to Shariat. Doing menial work should not be considered as humiliation when Halaal earnings are sought. Employment should not be considered as something degrading. For this reason, the contents of this Hadeeth has been stressed so that people may not look down upon work, and so that they may earn, eat, feed others and give in charity.

The Hadeeth under discussion does also not mean that Halaal food obtained from any other sources than one's own hard work is not Halaal or that such Halaal food is not equal in value and virtue to that obtained through sweat and toil. In fact, there are cases where such wealth can even be better. Similarly, it is wrong of ignorant persons to look down upon the true servants of Allah with ridicule when they remain in prayer and worship while depending entirely and sincerely on Allah alone. It is wrong to quote this Hadeeth and deride those righteous people, and to mock at them by saying that they should work for their sustenance and it is also not right to tell such people sarcastically that they sit and wait for sustenance to come by means of tawakkul and the offerings of people.

This is an utterly foolish objection which would even heap scorn upon Rasulullah Sallallahu Alayhi Wasallam. One should be very careful. It is quite possible, that because of disrespect to those righteous personalities, Allah's wrath may descend in the form of curses and calamities. Thus causing hurt and pain to the friends of Allah is such a thing, which can cause a person to lose his faith and come to a bad ending without Imaan. May Allah cause that person to depart from this world before he raises objections and criticizes the Saints. That will be best for him.

Now I wish to make this quite clear: When one studies the Quraan and Hadeeth, as it should be studied, one comes to the conclusion that reliance on Allah alone is better for all those persons in whom the true qualities of tawakkal are found. For them, it is much better to have tawakkal. Of the stages of Sainthood, this position is indeed a very high one. Rasulullah Sallallahu Alayhi Wasallam himself used to be one who had complete reliance on Allah and this stage of tawakkal is indeed so much more meritorious than to obtain sustenance through hard work. Whoever Allah had granted insight and true understanding, can obviously see these blessings.

Because this is but a short booklet we cannot now go into all the details of this aspect. Insha-Allah it shall be dealt with in detail in a special book at a suitable time. It is, however, a great injustice that some people who are deprived of righteous deeds ridicule others who are more fortunate. How are those critics going to face Allah on the Day of Judgement when they had harassed His friends?

Apart form the benefit of tawakkal that have already been mentioned, there are many other Deeni benefits of tawakkal. We should also note that those Saintly souls who put their trust in Allah, are most of the time involved in educating the masses and seeing to their spiritual welfare. They are those in the service of the community. Hence the community should reciprocate by being responsible for their minimum basic needs. This is a right that is due to them; so if they accept that which is their rightful due, why should they be criticised? After all, do we complain when others claim what is due to them by any legal or other forceful means? Those who are chosen by Allah, do not do it in that unpleasant manner. In fact, they only really accept gifts, which in any case are due to them, in a gracious manner and mostly after being begged to accept.

Gifts, accepted without humiliation, and in such a way that a person retains his independence and without strings attached, is permissible and acceptable, especially in cases where the giver will be greatly slighted if the gifts should be refused. In truth, the real mutawakkal earns his living with honour. Their faith is only in Allah and they do not look towards man for solutions to their needs. On the other hand, if there are any who have the intention of being served materially by their fellow-men, or who make all sorts of clever plans to rob or deceive others by hypocrisy or pseudo piety, then I wish to exclude them from this category. We are only discussing the true ones, who rely for their living only on Allah.

Let me repeat once more: It is a grave sin to look down upon Saintly beings. When we do that, their reputations are not harmed. In fact, they are being benefited, because on the Day of Qiyaamah the Saintly ones will be given the good deeds of the mocker. So, in fact, destruction and harm comes to the critics o a great loss here and in the Hereafter.

The Shariat does not give permission to everybody to resort to absolute reliance on Allah. It is no easy task to adhere to all the conditions for such reliance. The conditions are very stringent and these people who abide by it, are so few, that we may say that they are non-existent. Is it not true that the best things in life are scarce? We greatly thank Allah Ta'ala that this section was dealt with easily and explained without much effort. May Allah grant all of us the ability to act according to the Sunnat and His will. Aameen.

Rasulullah Sallallahu Alayhi Wasallam is reported to have said. "Verily Allah is pure and does not accept anything, except that which is pure." Allah is endowed with all the attributes of perfection and free from all faults. He only accepts that which is pure and Halaal and Haraam wealth is not acceptable to Him. Some Ulama have stated that it is irreligious, blasphemous and sacrilege to give Haraam things in Allah's path, while hoping thereby to earn reward from Allah.
Allah commanded the believers with the same things with which He commanded His messengers. He says:
He also says: "0 ye who believe eat of the good (Halaal) things and do righteous deeds."

In a Hadeeth, Rasulullah Sallallahu Alayhi Wasallam mentions how a man on a long journey (possibly to Haj or in search of knowledge) with dishevelled hair and covered with dust from the effects of the journey, lifts up his hands towards the sky in prayer. He calls upon Allah: "0 My Sustainer! 0 My Sustainer." This man repeatedly beseeches Allah to have mercy on him and grant him that which he strives for. However, his food is Haraam. His drink and clothes are of Haraam. In other words, he is covered in Haraam, and he has been reared and nourished on Haraam. So how can his prayers ever be answered?

When a person has, during his childhood days, been fed on Haraam foods by his parents, during his adulthood acquires Halaal provisions for his food, drink and clothes, he does not fall under the same ruling. In such a case, the sin of feeding the family on Haraam only falls on the parents. How can the duaa of these persons (the parents) ever be accepted?

Here we see a man's duaa being rejected because of Haraam earnings in spite of all the difficulties he undertakes. His duaa will never be answered and if at sometime or other he should receive that which he desires, it will not be because of his prayer being answered, but because such things had been destined for him as also is the case of the unbelievers. When we speak about duas being accepted, we actually mean that Allah looks upon His servants with Mercy and because of that Mercy the servant acquires his longed for object, and in addition receives a reward for his supplication. Such is the case of those who are the steadfast followers of Shariat and beg of Allah their desired objects.

From all this, we learn that there is indeed great barakat (blessings) in the consuming of Halaal food and that it has great influence and effect on our lives and activities. Through the eating of Halaal, one is strengthened for the performance of righteousness, and the limbs obey the intellect. Imam Gazali Rahmatullah Alayh relates the story of a very great saint, Hazrat Suhail Rahmatullah Alayh who used to say: "When a person consumes haraam food, his limbs refuse to follow his mind." In other words, the brain will command the body to perform righteous deeds and the body will refuse.

This, however, is something which can only be seen by the Saintly ones whose heart and insight have become enlightened. As for those whose hearts are blackened through sin and evil, they will continue to sin and satisfy their base desires and yet they will not even feel its bad effects.
We beg of Allah to grant us beauty and purity in our hearts, light in our inner selves and proper insight, Aameen.

Abdullah bin Mubarak Rahmatullah Alayh who was a student of Imaam Abu Haneefa Rahmatullah Atayh, said: "To return one dirham that has reached me unlawfully, either by way of a gift or any other way, to its owner is better for me than to give six hundred thousand as charity."

This saying is sufficient to indicate how much one should be careful of such wealth, in which there is doubt regarding its being Halaal or Haraam. It is a great pity that people do not refrain from unlawful earnings, taking all forms of earnings to be the same. The Saintly Elders considered doubtful goods to be very, very bad. It is the duty of all to avoid Haraam wealth. Great precautions should be taken against it because such things cause numerous evils in a person and even lead to his destruction.
Rasulullah Sallallahu Alayhi Wasallam is reported to have said:
"The Halaal things are clear and the Haraam things are clear, and between them there are the doubtful things." The doubtful things are those about which a person is undecided as to its being Halaal or Haraam. From some points of view, a thing may appear to be Halaal, whereas from other points, it may appear Haraam.

Many people do not know (the doubtful things) and there are a few who know. They are those great, pious Ulama who practice conscientiously, upon their knowledge.

Hence, whoever abstained from such things, has saved his Deen and saved himself from the punishment of hell, and saved his reputation from attacks by the critics. Everyone who acts against the Deen is surely criticised and branded. Thus it is the duty of every rational person to protect his honour, respect and good name.

Whoever does not abstain from and gets involved with doubtful things will definitely also fall into Haraam. When a person allows himself to fall into small sinful acts, the process is bound to accelerate until (Allah forbid) he finally destroys himself. Similarly, if a person does not abstain from doubtful things and just accepts any form of goods coming to him, he will soon find himself consuming Haraam. Therefore, one should always makes one's self a prisoner of the laws of Shariat and never allow one's self any freedom.

.It is permissible, yet Makrooh to consume such doubtful things where we do not know how much Halaal or Haraam it contains. Because there is the possibility of falling into Haraam in the future, it is best to avoid all doubtful things. This is the gist of this matter.

The Hadeeth further illustrates a person who goes towards doubtful things: "Like a shepherd who herds his animals in the surrounding pastures which the king had fixed for the grazing of his own herd. Soon the herds will start grazing inside the (prohibited) pastures." When this type of grazing takes place, there is the possibility that one out of two things may happen. Either it is going to become wellnigh impossible for the animal to graze around a certain prohibited area without* entering it or the herdsman himself will become so audacious that he will not exercise necessary precaution. Similar is the case with one's self. Initially, where through being in contact with doubtful things there is the possibility of falling immediately into Haraam. At other times, such courage will be shown that one will after a time fall into Haraam.

In this Hadeeth we have merely a simile. It should be noted that it is not permissible for any landowners to reserve for themselves the grazing rights on naturally grown pastures.

My brothers and sisters in Islam, please remember; Every king has his own restrictions. Be aware that Allah's restrictions are what He has prohibited. Whoever falls into the sin of breaking His laws, is guilty of treachery. Treachery against one's ruler is treason. Because Allah is the Most High King, treason against Him is considered the highest form of treason which deserves the severest punishment.

Note also that in the body of man there is a piece of flesh. If this piece of flesh is sound, (having no spiritual or physical defects) the whole body is healthy. And when this piece of flesh is diseased, the body is diseased. Be aware, it is the heart. The heart is the ruler of the body and its health means health for the whole body. This heart can only be healthy if there is obedience to Allah's will. Through sin the heart goes blind.
To sum up, the attainment of righteousness is dependant upon the health and purity of the heart, and purity of the heart depends on Halaal sustenance. Hence, we see the reason for stressing the importance of Halaal food.

Rasulullah Sallallahu Alayhi Wasallam said: "May Allah destroy the Jews. The fats of sheep and cow were made unlawful to them. But they melted down the fats and sold it (and devoured the received amounts)."
In others words, they devised a plan whereby they did not actually consume the fats, but consumed the money derived therefrom. They then claimed that they were not actually eating fats. In fact, they had been strictly forbidden to derive any benefit from fats and this included the money obtained from it.
Today the same applies to some people dealing in interest. They make all sorts of plans, which in fact boils down to their making use of interest. They should know that Allah the Knower of the Seen and the Unseen, knows all the niyats and they should by all means avoid such plots and plans.

Rasulullah Sallallahu Alayhi Wasallam also said: "Never will a person give in charity of the wealth that he earned in a Haraam manner which will be accepted (by Allah as a righteous deed); And never will a man spend of such wealth and find blessings (barakat) therein; And never will a man leave thereof for his next of kin after his death except that it shall be something to send towards hell."

This means when a person earns Haraam and gives thereof as charity, it will not be accepted of him and he will receive nothing as reward. In fact, some Ulama have stated that it is an act of Kufr (infidelity) to expect reward out of Haraam possessions. These Ulama also state that should a poor person know that the money given to him comes from Haraam sources and still makes duaa for the giver, then he also falls under the same judgement. When such wealth is used in any other way then too, it shall carry no blessings. And when such wealth is left as inheritance, it becomes something through which one goes to hell. Here on earth, the heirs will eat and enjoy and there, the testator will burn in hell. Is it not a fact then, that Haraam possessions only bring harm and have no benefits whatsoever?

Allah never dispels evil with evil. Since it is disallowed and sinful to give Haraam wealth as charity, therefore, one's other sins cannot be forgiven by this means. Evil is only eradicated by righteousness. For this reason, Halaal wealth in charity does bring about forgiveness of sins, when the charitable act is performed according to the tenets of Shariat.
Rasulullah Sallallahu Alayhi Wasallam said: "The flesh which had been nourished (on the body of anyone) out of Haraam earnings, will never enter Jannat. And for such flesh, hell is the rightful place."

This means that he who devours Haraam provisions will never enter Jannat without first having been punished. This also does not mean that he will, like the unbelievers, never enter Jannat. If he died in faith, while having been consumer of Haraam, he will first be punished in hell for his sins and thereafter enter Jannat. And if he should repent before death overtakes him, and gives to everyone their rightful things that were due to them, then Allah will forgive this sin and hopefully, he shall be saved from the punishment that is mentioned in the Hadeeth.

Rasulullah Sallallahu Alayhi Wasallam said: "No one will be truly Allah-fearing until he leaves aside that in which there is fear (of being Haraam) in favour of that thing in which there is no possibility of being Haraam."
This means that a certain thing may be completely Halaal, while another thing may be permissible. However, because of performing this lawful act, there may be the possibility of somehow or the other falling into sin. For this reason, a person stays away from such Halaal, even though partaking in such Halaal is not sinful in itself. This is because that which leads to evil, is also evil.

There is no sin to partake of luscious and delicious foods and to wear expensive and smart clothes. However, through the excessive enjoyment of pleasurable things there is the possibility of sin. Hence, the truly Allah-fearing, striving for perfect righteousness, will surely even refrain from such permissible things.

Another example is this: It is Makrooh to consume food wherein there is doubt. Should a person partake thereof, there exists the* possibility that soon one may find oneself so beyond control that one may even begin to consume Haraam. Hence, such foods should be avoided.
Sayyedatina Ayesha Radial lahu anha reports that Sayyedena Abubaker Radiallahu anhu had a slave who used to pay him ghiraaj viz., a fixed amount that a slave had to pay to his master from all his earnings for the rest of his life). Sayyedena Abubaker Radiallahu anhu used to eat his share of the slave's earnings.

One day the slave brought some foodstuff which Hazrat Abubaker Radiallahu anhu ate, whereupon the slave asked him:
"Do you know what you have eaten (and from where it has come)?" Hazrat Abubaker Radiallahu anhu replied: "What is it that I have eaten?" The slave said: "Once, in the days of ignorance, (prior to Islam) I told a certain man his fortune according to the rules of fortune-tellers. I did not know this art very well. In fact, I deceived him. Thereafter he again met me and in return for what I had told him, he gave me this which you have now eaten."
Hazrat Abubaker Radiallahu anhu put his finger into his throat and vomited in order to take out all that which he had in his stomach. Hazrat Abubaker Radiallahu anhu took precaution not to leave any of the Haraam in his stomach, because it was impossible to take out that Haraam portion of the food only. This is the taqwa of Hazrat Abubaker Radiallahu anhu. Even if he did not vomit, it would have been no sin.

Note: The things uttered by fortune-tellers are very often complete untruthful fabrications and occasionally they are correct.
Such utterings cannot be relied upon. Hence Muslims are not allowed to believe these fortune-tellers.

Rasulullah Sallallahu Alayhi Wasallam said: "When a person buys a piece of cloth for ten dirhams of which one dirham is of Haraam source, Allah will not accept his Salaah as long as this cloth remain on his body."

Even though the Fard duty will be considered discharged, he will not receive the full reward of Salaah. The same applies to his other acts of righteousness. We should truly fear Allah. Just think how unsatisfactorily and few are the Salaah performed by most of us. How is it to see even those weakly performed Salaah going wasted like that?
What answer are we going to give on the Day of Qiyaamat? How are we going to bear the painful punishement of the Hereafter?

Rasulullah Sallallahu Alayhi Wasallam said: "I have indeed commanded you of (all) every thing that I know of that will bring you nearer to Jannat and draw you away from hell, and I have indeed prohibited you from everything that I know of that will bring you near to hell and draw you away from Jannat."

The Rasul Sallallahu Alayhi Wasallam informs us here that he had prohibited us from the doing of such deed that would lead us to hell and away from Jannat. He said: "And verily the Angel Jibreel Alayhis Salaam had revealed to me that no soul shall ever pass away until it had fully taken possession of the full sustenance due to him, even though it may be delayed. So fear Allah and be moderate in your search for sustenance, and do not allow the delay in such sustenance to drive you to seek it through sinning against Allah. For verily, never is that sustenance which is with Allah (or anything else) attained through sin against Him."
Rasulullah Sallallahu Alayhi Wasallam said: "Verily out of ten parts of sustenance, nine parts lie in business (trade)." This means that one should choose trade as a means of income, because it is a major and blessed source of income."

Rasulullah Sallallahu Alayhi Wasallam said: "May Allah keep safely that believer, who is a hardworking tradesman, who cares not what clothes he wears."

Here mention is made of the tradesman and craftsman, who, because of the nature of his work, wears soiled clothing. He does not have time nor the opportunity to be dressed well. However, when a person is not forced to do so by the nature of his work, he should at all times be simple and clean in his dress and appearance.

Rasulullah Sallallahu Alayhi Wasallam said: "It has not been revealed to me that I should amass wealth, or that I should be of those who are traders. On the contrary, it has been revealed to me to celebrate and declare the glory of Allah and to praise Him. (i.e. to make tasbeeh and say Subhanallah Wabihamdih) and to be of those who prostrate before Allah (Salaah) and to be of those who worship Him. So worship your Allah till death overtakes you."

Sub-hanallah! What a grand position of honour for those who are considerate and generous when buying, selling or seeking or reclaiming credit. Rasulullah Sallallahu Alayhi Wasallam made a special duaa for them and his duaa is accepted without doubt. That is not all. If it had been the only consequence it would have been more than enough. Apart from that, the trader, will of cause also be rewarded for his generosity and consideration.
Hence, it is advisable that all traders apply this principle in their business. Not only do they gain the duaa of Rasulullah Sallallahu Alayhi Wasallam; they also please their customers and thus see their business flourish. Customers will return time and again and offer duaa for them. No doubt, when a person follows Shariat, he enjoys almost royal existence, with ease and comfort. Can anyone be more fortunate than he who gets the blessings of both worlds, while at the same time also being-the beloved of all and respected by all?

Rasulullah Sallallahu Alayhi Wasallam said: "Refrain from swearing oaths excessively when selling." It is possible than one of the sworn oaths may turn out to be untrue and then you will be without baraka (blessings) and Allah's name would have been used with disrespect. However, if it is done sometimes, there will be no harm.

Some traders are fond of swearing oaths in order that their goods may be sold. It is normally done so that clients may get confidence in the goods. Through this uncalled-for act, the goods become devoid of blessings, which in turn cause harm here and in the Hereafter.

Rasulullah Sallallahu Alayhi Wasallam said: "Indeed the trader who, in both word and deed, is honest and trustworthy will on the Day of Qiyaamah arise with the Prophets of Allah and the righteous elders, and the martyrs." In other words, he will be among the great saints of Allah who had, in each and every word and deed of theirs, been most truthful and had made the object of their lives the obedience of Allah. They will also be among the martyrs of Islam who had been saved from the fire of hell.
The Hadeeth states that "they will be with" those saintly people. This does not mean that they will be granted the same rank and position as the saints. It denotes a special kind of holiness like that which is normally attained through being continuously in the company of pious men.

For example: A person invited a pious man to have a meal with him and to come in the company of his disciples. It stands to reason that the host will entertain the pious person and also his disciples in the same place and with the same food. Of course, all will realize that the rank and position of the saintly man, in the mind and heart of the host, will not be the same as that of the disciples, although they are seated together. However, because of being in the company of the elder and because of being seated together, the disciples will have also attained this great honour.
To be in the company of Rasulultah Sallallahu Alayhi Wasallam is indeed an exceptionally high honour. If there is no possibility of sitting down to eat with him, and even if that honour cannot now be attained, then only to be able to look upon his holy and shining countenance is, in itself, a tremendous honour. Even to be in his proximity is a great blessing. Hence, all Muslims should definitely try to become worthy recipients of this sacred duaa.

Rasulullah Sallallahu Alayhi Wasallam said: "0 you people who trade, verily trade is such a thing wherein there is much vain talk and oaths are taken. So mix it with Sadaqah (charity)."

This means unnecessary talks and oaths are undesirable. Therefore, give Sadaqah, so that it is a recompense for these unintentional pronouncements. It will also remove the pollution which may have entered the heart.

Rasulullah Sallallahu Alayhi Wasallam said: "On the Day of Qiyaamat the traders will be raised as wilful transgressors and sinners, except those who feared (Allah), and spoke the truth, (and who does not commit sins during his business dealing).