Earning money or sin??? A religious view on making money
It was a Friday sermon at a Mosque near my home and unusually the topic of the day's sermon was focussing on the current affairs of the region on protests happening for banning alcohol and correlated the news with the Islamic teaching on strict ban on alcohol.
I was enjoying the speech as the speaker (Imam) was giving random examples from incidents happening in the state on how, people professing different faiths have united to fight against the socio-economical impacts of alcohol and made us feel proud that Islam has made alcohol Haram (prohibited)several hundred years ago knowing its ill effects.Everything was going fine until the Imam's speech drifted slightly and hit me indirectly ( he does not know who I am) when he said that it's becoming a trend these days that young Muslim boys & girls are joining hotel & catering studies and after finishing their studies they start working for hotels where their main jobs include arranging/assigning rooms for couples ( who may not be married), serving alcohol, cooking pork products and all these are strictly prohibited according to the religion. He also added that the income from such sources is haram and muslims must refrain from involving in these profession.
This has raised few questions in my mind.
1. All my earnings till date from the day I started working came from businesses related to all those prohibited points mentioned above though I don't drink or eat pork products. I have toiled my way up in the hospitality profession working average of 14 hours a day, doing hard physical labour,sacrificing the luxuries of staying home on festivals,staying awake overnights,waiting for city buses on cold nights/early mornings,faced a worst case being punched on my face by a ruffian for doing my duty.So,everything's waste now and I have earned only SINS all these years??
2. What about the economies of the those Muslim countries where the major share of revenues to the government comes from the hospitality industry (involved in all the prohibited points mentioned) and those funds are used for welfare program for the citizens (Educating,providing medical assistance,even building Mosques)- Are they Sinners?? and are all those citizens sinners??
3. How about citizens of Muslim majority countries with a bigger percentage of their nationals working in hotels to earn their bread e.g.; The Republic of Maldives. Are they all sinners?
I am always proud of being a part of hospitality sector and am continuously recommending different hospitality related studies to people who are not in a situation to spare big sum of money for higher education and looking for an economical option so that they can start earning soon.Now by doing this , I am again accumulating sin?
My opinion on this is, any earning that comes from hard work without harming others, within the legal system of the land is acceptable otherwise, not only working in hotels but working in a banking institution, Insurance sector, tourism, even in a supermarket selling non- halal products will all be haram. Human beings are not entitled to decide whether another fellow human is a sinner or not!
I don't see any land except perhaps Saudi Arabia where a Muslim would get a chance to earn a 99.99 % halal income and is not possible anywhere else.
I was enjoying the speech as the speaker (Imam) was giving random examples from incidents happening in the state on how, people professing different faiths have united to fight against the socio-economical impacts of alcohol and made us feel proud that Islam has made alcohol Haram (prohibited)several hundred years ago knowing its ill effects.Everything was going fine until the Imam's speech drifted slightly and hit me indirectly ( he does not know who I am) when he said that it's becoming a trend these days that young Muslim boys & girls are joining hotel & catering studies and after finishing their studies they start working for hotels where their main jobs include arranging/assigning rooms for couples ( who may not be married), serving alcohol, cooking pork products and all these are strictly prohibited according to the religion. He also added that the income from such sources is haram and muslims must refrain from involving in these profession.
This has raised few questions in my mind.
1. All my earnings till date from the day I started working came from businesses related to all those prohibited points mentioned above though I don't drink or eat pork products. I have toiled my way up in the hospitality profession working average of 14 hours a day, doing hard physical labour,sacrificing the luxuries of staying home on festivals,staying awake overnights,waiting for city buses on cold nights/early mornings,faced a worst case being punched on my face by a ruffian for doing my duty.So,everything's waste now and I have earned only SINS all these years??
2. What about the economies of the those Muslim countries where the major share of revenues to the government comes from the hospitality industry (involved in all the prohibited points mentioned) and those funds are used for welfare program for the citizens (Educating,providing medical assistance,even building Mosques)- Are they Sinners?? and are all those citizens sinners??
3. How about citizens of Muslim majority countries with a bigger percentage of their nationals working in hotels to earn their bread e.g.; The Republic of Maldives. Are they all sinners?
I am always proud of being a part of hospitality sector and am continuously recommending different hospitality related studies to people who are not in a situation to spare big sum of money for higher education and looking for an economical option so that they can start earning soon.Now by doing this , I am again accumulating sin?
My opinion on this is, any earning that comes from hard work without harming others, within the legal system of the land is acceptable otherwise, not only working in hotels but working in a banking institution, Insurance sector, tourism, even in a supermarket selling non- halal products will all be haram. Human beings are not entitled to decide whether another fellow human is a sinner or not!
I don't see any land except perhaps Saudi Arabia where a Muslim would get a chance to earn a 99.99 % halal income and is not possible anywhere else.
You have already given the answer in the example. Yes its right that lot of people has wrong concept about hospitality industry.even i also faced that. we should make an awareness or tell people what this industry is all about. Any job can be illegal or haram if that cuz people harm.
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