I was chatting to a friend of mine a few days ago who popped by to visit us at the pharmacy. I did not see him in ages and so we were doing a bit of a catching up session. He hails from a Portuguese background and his dad is quite a wealthy successful businessman. Currently he resides on his dads property in a little apartment that he pays rent for. His dad now wants him to leave the apartment and find himself his own home. When I heard this I was like What, why do you have to move. Your dad has so many apartments why cant he just allow you to stay in one for free. Mr R. was like no way. Its the right thing to do. My dad is teaching me responsibility and along with that he is pushing me to work harder and persevere in my career. If I work harder, I earn better and move myself up in life. If someone just gives me things in my plate I never worked for it, Hence I will never understand the value of it and so I will never appreciate what I have. Mr. R is one hundred percent correct. Unfortunately in my culture and society the men out there have this notion that if my dad has it all I will automatically gain as well. What belongs to dad will eventually be mine. Why do I need to work hard, persevere and grow in life. This kind of mentality has also lead to many divorces within our Muslim communities. The women of the home works hard to earn a living whilst the husband is still financially dependent on his family. Naturally if someone is spoon fed their entire lives, they wouldnt wanna work. The family of course is to be blamed for bringing up a young man in this manner. In Islam work is given special importance to the extent that it is considered as an act of worship in itself. Although some people believe that they are not obliged to work because they dedicate themselves to worshiping God, this is actually a wrong perception of the concept of worship. The Muslim scholar Imam Al-Ghazali mentioned in his book Ihyaa’ `Ulum Ad-Deen (Revival of the Religious Sciences) that Jesus (peace and blessings be upon him) once saw a man who had completely devoted himself to worship. When he asked him how he got his daily bread, the man replied that his brother, who worked, provided him with food. Jesus then told him, “That brother of yours is more religious than you are” (The Book of Provision, Chapter 1). Al-Ghazali also mentions the Prophet’s Companion `Umar ibn Al-Khattab, who used to stress this point further by telling people, “Never should anyone of you think that du`aa’ (supplication) for sustenance without work will avail him, for heaven never rains gold nor silver” (The Book of Provision, Chapter 1).
Posted on: Thu, 19 Jun 2014 11:09:30 +0000
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