Sahih al-Bukhari: Book 37: Hiring

The Prophet ﷺ said, “The honest treasurer who gives willingly what he is ordered to give, is one of the two charitable persons, (the second being the owner).”

I went to the Prophet ﷺ with two men from Ash-ari tribe. I said (to the Prophet ﷺ), “I do not know that they want employment.” The Prophet ﷺ said, “No, we do not appoint for our jobs anybody who demands it earnestly.”

The Prophet ﷺ said, “Allah did not send any prophet but shepherded sheep.” His companions asked him, “Did you do the same?” The Prophet ﷺ replied, “Yes, I used to shepherd the sheep of the people of Makkah for some Qirats.”

The Prophet ﷺ and Abu Bakr employed a (pagan) man from the tribe of Bani Ad-Dail and the tribe of Bani ‘Abu bin ‘Adi as a guide. He was an expert guide and he broke the oath contract which he had to abide by with the tribe of Al-‘Asi bin Wail and he was on the religion of Quraish pagans. The Prophet ﷺ and Abu Bakr had confidence in him and gave him their riding camels and told him to bring them to the Cave of Thaur after three days. So, he brought them their two riding camels after three days and both of them (The Prophet ﷺ and Abu Bakr) set out accompanied by ‘Amir bin Fuhaira and the Dili guide who guided them below Makkah along the road leading to the sea-shore.

(the wife of the Prophet ﷺ) Allah’s Messenger ﷺ and Abu Bakr hired a man from the tribe of Bani-Ad-Dil as an expert guide who was a pagan (follower of the religion of the pagans of Quraish). The Prophet ﷺ and Abu Bakr gave him their two riding camels and took a promise from him to bring their riding camels in the morning of the third day to the Cave of Thaur.

I fought in Jaish-al-Usra (Ghazwa of Tabuk) along with the Prophet ﷺ and in my opinion that was the best of my deeds. Then I had an employee, who quarrel led with someone and one of the them bit and cut the other’s finger and caused his own tooth to fall out. He then went to the Prophet ﷺ (with a complaint) but the Prophet ﷺ cancelled the suit and said to the complainant, “Did you expect him to let his finger in your mouth so that you might snap and cut it (as does a stallion camel)?”

A man bit the hand of another man and caused his own tooth to fall out, but Abu Bakr judged that he had no right for compensation (for the broken tooth).

Allah’s Messenger ﷺ said, “Both of them (Moses and Al-Khadir) proceeded on till they reached a wall which was about to fall.” Sa’d said, “(Al-Khadir pointed) with his hands (towards the wall) and then raised his hands and the wall became straightened up.” Ya’la said, “I think Said said, ‘He (Khadir) passed his hand over it and it was straightened up.” (Moses said to him), “if you had wanted, you could have taken wages for it.” Said said, “Wages with which to buy food . “

The Prophet ﷺ said, “Your example and the example of the people of the two Scriptures (i.e. Jews and Christians) is like the example of a man who employed some laborers and asked them, ‘Who will work for me from morning till midday for one Qirat?’ The Jews accepted and carried out the work. He then asked, Who will work for me from midday up to the ‘Asr prayer for one Qirat?’ The Christians accepted and fulfilled the work. He then said, ‘Who will work for me from the ‘Asr till sunset for two Qirats?’ You, Muslims have accepted the offer. The Jews and the Christians got angry and said, ‘Why should we work more and get lesser wages?’ (Allah) said, ‘Have I with-held part of your right?’ They replied in the negative. He said, ‘It is My Blessing, I bestow upon whomever I wish .’

Allah’s Messenger ﷺ said, “Your example and the example of Jews and Christians is like the example of a man who employed some laborers to whom he said, ‘Who will work for me up to midday for one Qirat each?’ The Jews carried out the work for one Qirat each; and then the Christians carried out the work up to the ‘Asr prayer for one Qirat each; and now you Muslims are working from the ‘Asr prayer up to sunset for two Qirats each. The Jews and Christians got angry and said, ‘We work more and are paid less.’ The employer (Allah) asked them, ‘Have I usurped some of your right?’ They replied in the negative. He said, ‘That is My Blessing, I bestow upon whomever I wish.’ “

The Prophet ﷺ said, “Allah said, ‘I will be an opponent to three types of people on the Day of Resurrection:

1. One who makes a covenant in My Name, but proves treacherous;

2. One who sells a free person and eats his price; and

3. One who employs a laborer and takes full work from him but does not pay him for his lab our.’ “

The Prophet ﷺ said, “The example of Muslims, Jews and Christians is like the example of a man who employed laborers to work for him from morning till night for specific wages. They worked till midday and then said, ‘We do not need your money which you have fixed for us and let whatever we have done be annulled.’ The man said to them, ‘Don’t quit the work, but complete the rest of it and take your full wages.’ But they refused and went away. The man employed another batch after them and said to them, ‘Complete the rest of the day and yours will be the wages I had fixed for the first batch.’ So, they worked till the time of ‘Asr prayer. Then they said, “Let what we have done be annulled and keep the wages you have promised us for yourself.’ The man said to them, ‘Complete the rest of the work, as only a little of the day remains,’ but they refused. Thereafter he employed another batch to work for the rest of the day and they worked for the rest of the day till the sunset, and they received the wages of the two former batches. So, that was the example of those people (Muslims) and the example of this light (guidance) which they have accepted willingly.

I heard Allah’s Messenger ﷺ saying, “Three men from among those who were before you, set out together till they reached a cave at night and entered it. A big rock rolled down the mountain and closed the mouth of the cave. They said (to each other), Nothing could save you Tom this rock but to invoke Allah by giving referenda to the righteous deed which you have done (for Allah’s sake only).’ So, one of them said, ‘O Allah! I had old parents and I never provided my family (wife, children etc.) with milk before them. One day, by chance I was delayed, and I came late (at night) while they had slept. I milked the sheep for them and took the milk to them, but I found them sleeping. I disliked to provide my family with the milk before them. I waited for them and the bowl of milk was in my hand and I kept on waiting for them to get up till the day dawned. Then they got up and drank the milk. O Allah! If I did that for Your Sake only, please relieve us from our critical situation caused by this rock.’ So, the rock shifted a little but they could not get out.”

The Prophet ﷺ added, “The second man said, ‘O Allah! I had a cousin who was the dearest of all people to me and I wanted to have sexual relations with her but she refused. Later she had a hard time in a famine year and she came to me and I gave her one-hundred-and-twenty Dinars on the condition that she would not resist my desire, and she agreed. When I was about to fulfill my desire, she said: It is illegal for you to outrage my chastity except by legitimate marriage. So, I thought it a sin to have sexual intercourse with her and left her though she was the dearest of all the people to me, and also I left the gold I had given her. O Allah! If I did that for Your Sake only, please relieve us from the present calamity.’ So, the rock shifted a little more but still they could not get out from there.”

The Prophet ﷺ added, “Then the third man said, ‘O Allah! I employed few laborers and I paid them their wages with the exception of one man who did not take his wages and went away. I invested his wages and I got much property thereby. (Then after some time) he came and said to me: O Allah’s slave! Pay me my wages. I said to him: All the camels, cows, sheep and slaves you see, are yours. He said: O Allah’s slave! Don’t mock at me. I said: I am not mocking at you. So, he took all the herd and drove them away and left nothing. O Allah! If I did that for Your Sake only, please relieve us from the present suffering.’ So, that rock shifted completely and they got out walking.

Whenever Allah’s Messenger ﷺ ordered us to give in charity we would go to the market and work as porters to earn a Mudd (two hand-fulls) (of foodstuff) but now some of us have one-hundred thousand Dirhams or Diners. (The sub-narrator) Shaqiq said, “I think Abu Mas’ud meant himself by saying (some of us) .

Ibn ‘Abbas said, “The Prophet ﷺ forbade the meeting of caravans (on the way) and ordained that no townsman is permitted to sell things on behalf of a bedouin.” I asked Ibn ‘Abbas, “What is the meaning of his saying, ‘No townsman is permitted to sell things on behalf of a bedouin.’ ” He replied, “He should not work as a broker for him.”

I was a blacksmith and did some work for Al-‘As bin Wail. When he owed me some money for my work, I went to him to ask for that amount. He said, “I will not pay you unless you disbelieve in Muhammad ﷺ.” I said, “By Allah! I will never do that till you die and be resurrected.” He said, “Will I be dead and then resurrected after my death?” I said, “Yes.” He said, “There I will have property and offspring and then I will pay you your due.” Then Allah revealed. ‘Have you seen him who disbelieved in Our signs, and yet says: I will be given property and offspring?’ (19.77)

Some of the companions of the Prophet ﷺ went on a journey till they reached some of the ‘Arab tribes (at night). They asked the latter to treat them as their guests but they refused. The chief of that tribe was then bitten by a snake (or stung by a scorpion) and they tried their best to cure him but in vain. Some of them said (to the others), “Nothing has benefited him, will you go to the people who resided here at night, it may be that some of them might possess something (as treatment),” They went to the group of the companions (of the Prophet ﷺ ) and said, “Our chief has been bitten by a snake (or stung by a scorpion) and we have tried everything but he has not benefitted. Have you got anything (useful)?” One of them replied, “Yes, by Allah! I can recite a Ruqya, but as you have refused to accept us as your guests, I will not recite the Ruqya for you unless you fix for us some wages for it.” They agrees to pay them a flock of sheep. One of them then went and recited (Suratul-Fatiha): ‘All the praises are for the Lord of the Worlds’ and puffed over the chief who became all right as if he was released from a chain, and got up and started walking, showing no signs of sickness.

They paid them what they agreed to pay. Some of them (i.e. the companions) then suggested to divide their earnings among themselves, but the one who performed the recitation said, “Do not divide them till we go to the Prophet ﷺ and narrate the whole story to him, and wait for his order.” So, they went to Allah’s Messenger ﷺ and narrated the story. Allah’s Messenger ﷺ asked, “How did you come to know that Surat-ul-Fatiha was recited as Ruqya?” Then he added, “You have done the right thing. Divide (what you have earned) and assign a share for me as well.” The Prophet ﷺ smiled thereupon.

When Abu Taiba cupped the Prophet ﷺ and the Prophet ﷺ ordered that he be paid one or two Sas of foodstuff and he interceded with his masters to reduce his taxes.

When the Prophet ﷺ was cupped, he paid the man who cupped him his wages.

When the Prophet ﷺ was cupped, he paid the man who cupped him his wages. If it had been undesirable he would not have paid him.

The Prophet ﷺ used to get cupped and would never withhold the wages of any person .

The Prophet ﷺ sent for a slave who had the profession of cupping, and he cupped him. The Prophet ﷺ ordered that he be paid one or two Sas, or one or two Mudds of foodstuff, and appealed to his masters to reduce his taxes:

Allah’s Messenger ﷺ regarded illegal the price of a dog, the earnings of a prostitute, and the charges taken by a soothsayer.

The Prophet ﷺ prohibited the earnings of slave girls (through prostitution).

The Prophet ﷺ forbade taking a price for animal copulation.

“Allah’s Messenger ﷺ gave the land of Khaibar to the Jews to work on and cultivate and take half of its yield. Ibn ‘Umar added, “The land used to be rented for a certain portion (of its yield).” Nafi mentioned the amount of the portion but I forgot it.

2286. Rafi’ bin Khadij said, “The Prophet ﷺ forbade renting farms.” Narrated ‘Ubaid-Ullah Nafi’ said: Ibn ‘Umar said: (The contract of Khaibar continued) till ‘Umar evacuated the Jews (from Khaibar).