Bilal Philips – The Best in Islam #04 – Business Part 2 of 3

			Salam alaykum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh Allah's peace and blessings beyond each and every one of
you. I'd like to welcome you to another episode of our series, the best in Islam. And in this
series, we look at various statements from revelation from the texts of revelation found in the
Quran and the Sunnah, what God has stated and what His Messenger has stated, may God's peace and
blessings be upon him. And these concepts are these instructions. Words of guidance refer to various
aspects of human life pointing out for us from the Islamic perspective, what in fact, is the best in
our previous episode on business because this was the next heading that we're looking at various
		

			texts from revelation concerning.
		

			We looked at two verses from the Quran, which addressed basic principles in business dealings. In
this episode, we'll be looking at the Hadith, Narrated by Abu boda Eben Nia, who quoted Prophet
Muhammad Sallallahu wasallam God's peace and blessings be upon him as saying, after the little CASB
bear on my broader while I'm alone Rajamouli be Eddie, the best earnings are from a blessed sale,
and the product of a man's own hands. This was narrated by Imam Achmed in his McNab and is
authentic. So this hadith or the statement of the prophets, Allah wa sallam, in which he begins with
what we should seek in terms of our business dealings, a blessed sail, bear on my brother, what is a
		

			bear on Labrador, it should have two conditions fulfilled. One, what is being sold, should itself be
halal,
		

			beneficial to people. And we spoke earlier about the tendency for business to engage in deception in
order to maximize profits. However, Islamic business seeks to benefit people, as the prophet may
God's peace and blessings be upon him, it said
		

			that the best of people are those most beneficial to people. So the issue which is most important is
that of benefit. So when we trade whenever whatever we're doing, it should be what is in fact
beneficial to human society, to the members of society. So we are concerned, or we should be
concerned about the product we're selling. We don't just say, Okay, I have a company, and I'm
bringing whatever is on the market.
		

			To the people, we may know that some elements of what is on the market is not beneficial. It's in
fact harmful, potentially harmful. As a true Muslim businessman,
		

			one who seeks the pleasure of God in doing his or her business, the product should matter. It does
matter. If what I have to sell is really not good for people. It's really a waste of their money,
etc. Then it is better not to sell it. So we choose our products. Well, one level is that it's not
beneficial. The other level is that it is haram. We have some Muslim businessmen I've met in
different parts of the world who may have variety stores or restaurants or grocery stores etc. And
they will sell pork products or they may sell alcohol and they will give the excuse that if we don't
sell these products, then the non Muslims won't come. We're living in a non Muslim country. Most of
		

			our customers are non Muslims, so they won't come to our store.
		

			or restaurant or whatever if we don't offer these things which are offered in all of the other
restaurants and stores, etc. So they compromise and they end up selling, what is haram, that
forbidden product which they have sold, that is cursed by Allah, the money they earn is cursed by
Allah. So
		

			as a business person, we have to be concerned about our product, the Islamic Bank, when
		

			a business person brings a product
		

			that he or she wishes to market or to develop, or whatever, the Islamic bank will be concerned about
that product, is it in fact beneficial to people, halal, etc. If it's not,
		

			they will not
		

			partner with that
		

			business person.
		

			If it were, in another case, in the conventional bank, the conventional bank doesn't care. As long
as your credit is good, we will give you the money
		

			because we will get our
		

			benefits through the interest no matter what. So we don't care whether your product is harmful to
society, or useless or whatever it is irrelevant to us. So this is one of the fundamental
differences between the conventional bank and the Islamic Bank, because it's a business we think
bank, but bank is business. So business, the excuse, which is oftentimes given for Muslim business
people in non Muslim lands, that is that the non Muslims would not come to their restaurants or to
their grocery stores, or to their businesses, unless they were selling these products, which they
are normally able to get from the non Muslim restaurants, grocery stores, supermarkets, etc. So
		

			their business would not succeed. They feel it is a necessity in order to gain success in their
business. However, the bottom line is that, yes, maybe their business is flourishing. But every
item, which is forbidden, which they sell, is cursed by Allah, the money that they're gaining from
it is no good. It doesn't really benefit that it will harm them in the end, because it's an evil
deed. So this is not an acceptable
		

			option. Whether you are successful, or whether you are borderline, you're just getting by
		

			this should not be determined by halal and haram. You should be in halal.
		

			And I remember in case when I visited Hong Kong before, one of the sisters there from Sri Lanka, she
had a restaurant and she was selling alcohol in there. And I advised her you know, don't your
cooking is good. The people love your recipes, etc. To unique restaurant, it will be enough, but
you're not selling it. That is not a selling point for your restaurant. And surely enough, when she
banned the alcohol, she stopped selling the alcohol in the place. The business continued to thrive.
It didn't go down. It was not a failure because she didn't sell alcohol. So, we should not think
that our risk our provision is dependent on people to the degree that we would sell what is haram in
		

			order to gain profits. So on one hand the product of the sale for that sale to be mob rule a blessed
sale the product itself must be halal.
		

			Secondly, the
		

			product should also be sold in a way which is free from deception. away in which no
		

			manipulation, no fake material use no
		

			trickery used in order
		

			to gain that sale. This is why Prophet Muhammad wa sallam forbade the swearing by Allah in a sale
		

			People will say Wallahi by God, by Allah. This is a good product, using the name of God in order to
try to convince the buyer that this was the real deal. This is forbidden in Islam and I'm allowed to
sell products in that way. Because in many cases people will be lying to people,
		

			trickery and deception. So, for that sale to be a blessed sale, it must be free from all of the
various forms of deception.
		

			And as I mentioned earlier,
		

			the issue of deception, where Muslim traders put aside this principle of sale by deception and
became honest traders. They won the hearts of the populations they had been trading with for
centuries. They won their hearts to Islam.
		

			And places like Indonesia, became
		

			Muslim lands where we now have over 200 million Muslims. The largest Muslim country in the world is
Indonesia, where Islam came through trade through honest trade. So with that, we're going to take a
short break and come back to follow up with our look at the best forms of business. Salam aleikum wa
rahmatullah
		

			As Salam alaykum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh.
		

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			Slav alikoum I'd like to welcome you back to our episode on business, the best of business. We began
the episode looking at the Hadith of the Prophet may God's peace and blessings be upon him with
regards to the best sale. He described that best sale as one
		

			which was blessed by Allah, blessed by Allah we said because the product which was being sold
		

			It was halal. And because no deception was used in the selling of that product. The Prophet SAW
Salem went on to say, Oh, am I gradually Brd
		

			and the product of a man's own hands, a man or woman, where they sell what they have produced
		

			is best if we're able to produce because society depends on products, nobody provides for himself or
herself for all of their needs. We need beds to sleep on, we need houses to live in, we need cars to
be transported, etc. If one can
		

			earn one's living by one's own hands, meaning through your own efforts, rather than merely the
efforts of others, then
		

			your earning is considered best in Islam,
		

			the private the small businesses, but they may call cottage industries etc. Islam encourages that,
		

			of course, the capitalist system promotes the mega stores, which absorb all of these small
businesses and provide products which are now controlled of controlled price, there is no market
supply demand issue operating anymore. When the mega store takes over, they fix the price, and
people are obliged to pay that price. So they start to manipulate and to exploit the community. And
that's why Islam prefers the small business people. Because the market trends supply and demand will
operate. And people will have options in terms of what they're going to get, what they're going to
purchase and all these kinds of things, their options available. And so, many people are able to
		

			benefit, you know, all the people who are producers are in the societies. So, many more people
benefit, when you go to the mega store now, which absorbs all those little stores, a lot of people
go out to work,
		

			the numbers are reduced, the products are controlled, the people are manipulated, their interests,
their desires, their feelings are manipulated through
		

			advertisement, etcetera, etcetera. So, the work of the man with his own hands is something highly
valued from the Islamic perspective that he seeks to provide himself and that work of hand should be
respected. The fact that the province wa sallam had said the best earnings are from a blessed sale
and the product of a man's own hands. This tells us also to respect the
		

			what may be called
		

			hand labor or labor. On that basic level in the society, what tends to happen is that those people
who are laborers, who are digging ditches,
		

			paving roads, building buildings, these people are among the lowest paid as a society, they are
looked down upon, especially in the Third World Of course, in the first world countries know a
person who is a garbage collector is paid quite handsomely person who is a builder, paid quite
handsomely, bricklayer paid very handsomely. But in the third world, that labor is not valued.
		

			It's not given its proper value. Such people are looked down upon from the Islamic perspective, they
are supposed to be looked up, we should teach our children to respect such people. And the Prophet
may God's peace and blessings be upon him said that Islam respects them, that their earnings are
looked at as the best, far better than those who sit in offices just signing papers and giving
instructions here and there. No, it is not to say that the person who is a manager or supervisor
etc. Who doesn't engage in work of his own hands, is of no value. No, of course they're important.
		

			And in fact, you know, they're the ones who make the whole project or company business function
effectively. But from the view of Islam, those who do the hard work, are looked at as being more
blessed. And they are ones who, of course, will tend not to look down on people, those who tend to
be in the upper echelons of business, etc, they tend to look down on such people. And this is what
also reduces the blessing in the work that they do. So this work of the common person in the
society, it should be respected. And this is what the prophet made us peace and blessings be upon
him is stressing here, that that man's effort with his own hands, and especially in fields of
		

			agriculture, and these kinds of things, of course, when it says his own hands, of course, he might
be driving a tractor, right? It doesn't necessarily mean that he literally has to take his hand and
do everything he does, you know, he has to cut the, the plants by hand, it's such a no, if he's
driving the machine, which cuts the plants, etc, then that's still considered to be the work of his
hands, the people who are providing for the society as a whole, they should be respected, respected
by the members of the society, regardless of what level of society they come from, the government
should respect them, the society as a whole should hold them in a position of honor, because they
		

			are the ones who are maintaining the society, you know, recognition of people's country
contributions is important. You know, so much so that the Prophet Muhammad SAW sent them and said,
Man, lamb, Yosh, Quran, Aslam, escuela, whoever doesn't thank people who are not grateful to people,
I'm not grateful to God to Allah. So when we speak about the work of the person with their hands,
what we're talking about is being grateful for their efforts. respecting them is part of showing
gratitude to the work that they're doing. And wherever we have that kind of humility, to show
gratitude to them. Then, of course, Allah blesses that type of society, a society, which respects
		

			its hard working members, and the job that they're doing for the benefit of the society as a whole.
So, as the Prophet sallallahu Sallam had said, the best earnings are from the blessed sale. And we
said, that blessed sale is one which is free from haram products. What is being sold is halal, first
and foremost. Secondly, the what is being sold is in fact beneficial to people. Not only is it
halal, but it should be beneficial and not harmful to them.
		

			And not useless products where they have been manipulated by the entertainment media, advertisement,
etc. They've been tricked into buying things which are really of no benefit to them.
		

			This is something which is disliked. It's not a blessed sale, it may not be haram, because people
are still choosing to buy it, but it is not blessed, and the work of the laborer. The laborers work
should be honored, it should be respected,
		

			that should be praised in the society, through the government channels, through the educational
field, etc. People should grow up respecting the hard labor or people who work with their hands.
They should not be looked down upon.
		

			And they should be given fair pay for their work. That is something essential for society to be
productive, and to be morally sound
		

			where respect is lost, then people are cheated. They're not being paid their fair wages, etc.
		

			Simply because they belong to that class of hard laborers. They're exploited and cheated by the big
managers and big companies etc. This represents the crumbling of the character
		

			or, or the morality of the society. So, Prophet Muhammad wa sallam gave us this guidance to
understand what is in fact, beneficial and good for society with regards to business. With that, we
are going to end this episode, and we still have some more words of guidance, gems of advice from
the Prophet, may God's peace and blessings be upon him with regards to business, and what in fact is
the best from the Islamic perspective as to business in general. So, we bid you farewell. And hope
to see you in our coming episode. Salaam Alaikum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh barakato