 What does Islam say about the employer-employee relationship? How has Islam sought to protect the rights of the worker? So on the first level, you see that Islam protects the rights of the worker by encouraging contracts. By encouraging contracts. And at the very least, there should be a verbal contract. You know, brothers and sisters, there are some people they don't value verbal contracts. If it's not in writing, he thinks he can get away with it. As if it has no bearing on the relationship. The only reason why your wife is Halal for you is because of a verbal contract. Don't underestimate a verbal contract. If you want to marry a woman and you stay silent and you just write, the woman writes a and you write, it doesn't apply. It has to be verbal. So at the very least, between an employer and an employee, even if it's someone in the community, there has to be a contract. Verbal and what's better is a written contract. Number two is when you have someone working for you. You have to be humane. You know, there are some people there was one center that wanted me to be a resident of the world and they said in the contract, sheikh, would you have to work minimum of 40 hours a week, seven days a week. Seven days a week. Believe me, I've experienced this with some communities. Seven days a week as if they want to squeeze you. They want to enslave you. Seven days a week for minimum 40 hours, no chance of overtime. It's like, am I applying to work with Faraon or who am I applying to work with you? No chance of rest, no days off. Fatima Tuzzahra, alaihi salam, she had a servant by the name of Fidhah. What does she say to Fidhah? Fatima Tuzzahra, alaihi salam, if I want to use modern terms, she was the employer of Fidhah. What does she say? I work one day and then you work the next day. She gave what? She gave Fidhah, time to rest. She treated her humanely with compassion. Lady Fatima understood that you cannot work people day and night. Even though she is the daughter of Muhammad ibn Abdullah, she still exchanges shifts with her servant. This is the adal, this is justice. Allah in the Holy Quran says, la yukallifu allahu nafsin illa was'aha. You shouldn't burden people with a burden that they cannot bear. There's a hadith from the Holy Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa alayla wa sallam, Muhammad wa alayhi wa sallam. Where he speaks to Muslims in Medina who are employers. So these are Sahaba that had other Muslims working for them. What does the Prophet say? He says that these employees are your brothers. Don't forget that. These are your brothers in faith. And even if they're not Muslims, as Amir al-Mu'mineen says, they're your equals in creation. Rasulullah says, Allah has placed your employees under your care. Meaning what? That Allah has placed their wrist in your hands. This is an amana. If your brother is under you, meaning he's your employee, feed him the same food that you would eat. Meaning what? Treat him as you would want to be treated as an employee. And then the Holy Prophet says, wa la tukallifu humma yaghlibuhu. Do not impose upon them job duties that are beyond their capacity. Fa inkallaftumu humfa a'inuhum. Rasulullah says, if you have an employee and you give them a job to do and you realize that they cannot do it on their own, help them. Assist them. So on one level, Islam protects the worker by ensuring that there's a contract in place. That there is adequate rest given to the worker. Number three, Islam emphasizes the importance of compensating people fairly and in a timely fashion. Rasulullah, sallallahu alaihi wa alaihi, and keep in mind this is 14 centuries ago. Rasulullah says, u'utul ajira ajrahu qabla ayyajifah araqah. Give the worker his compensation before his sweat dries, before the sweat dries. Meaning don't withhold payment from people. Don't make people chase you to be given their haq. Now this is of course metaphorical. There are some jobs where you're not sweating. That doesn't mean that you delay payment. But the Holy Prophet here is talking about taking this matter seriously. That when someone fulfills a job, don't say that insha'Allah I'll see you on eid al-gadeer. I'll pay you. When I do the muahad I'll pay you. And you keep on delaying it, delaying it. If you die before that money is dispensed, guess who you're going to have to face on the day of judgment? You might very well have to pay that person not in dollars in Hassanah. And on the day of judgment, a hadith tells us even a mother will come to her child begging for one Hassanah and the child will deny the mother. Imam al-Ridha al-Salam in addition to paying people on time, the Imam al-Salam was once visiting one of his companions and he saw that his companion had workers, they were working in the field. The Imam al-Salam he says to the man that, did you assign their wages? The man says, they're happy with whatever I give them. We have a lot of people like that. Whatever I give them, they don't have their papers. I just call immigration and they'll accept anything from it. He says to the Imam that whatever I give them they will be happy. Imam al-Ridha al-Salam he says, he says to this man, listen. The Imam says, listen, if you bring anyone, if you employ anyone and you do not assign them a wage and you give them three times what that person would normally receive for that work, they will still think that you short change them. If you don't assign the wage from the beginning. But the Imam says, if you assign the wage from the beginning and you don't give the person extra, you give him exactly what you promised him, he will thank Allah and he will respect you. Which shows you that when you hire people, don't just say, oh inshallah give me whatever. You have to assign the wages to avoid conflict. Now, how about the employer? How should the employer behave with the employee? You know, there was a a Gallup study done two years ago that was looking at how happy people feel in the workplace. How happy do you think people are at work? They found that in the United States 70% of employees feel disengaged. They're not happy at work. They're just itching to go home and leave. They hate their job. 80% of employees around the world are not happy at work. 80%. They feel disengaged, disenchanted. What's the problem? Business experts, they looked into this issue and they conducted many studies to experiment. What makes an employee happy? One of the main factors is what? Autonomy. When people are given autonomy, when they're not micromanaged, that's when they feel happier at work and they actually perform better. They actually perform better. You know, the Holy Prophet was also an employer. You know, we think of him as the messenger of God, the spiritual teacher. But Rasulullah was also what? He was an employer. Do you want to hear the testimony of someone who worked as an employee with the Prophet for the Prophet for 10 years? There was a man by the name of Anis ibn Malik. Anis ibn Malik was a servant of the Prophet. He worked under the Prophet. The Prophet was his employer for 10 years. Anis ibn Malik says he says I worked for the Prophet. I served him for 10 years. The Prophet never in those 10 years used any abusive language. He never spoke condescendingly to me. Rasulullah never told me do this, do that, move this, move that. Meaning what? Rasulullah didn't micromanage. Rasulullah gave Anis ibn Malik autonomy. He gave him some general guidelines but he wasn't breathing over his neck. He gave him autonomy.