Second Sermon

In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful

Activating the Private Sector and the Challenge of Civilizations

Seeking earnings is sort of worship

According to an authentic tradition, Imam al-Sadiq is reported as recounting the following account:

Muhammad ibn al-Munkadir used to say: I never thought that ‘Ali ibn al-Hussein would leave a successor as excellent as he was until I saw his son, Muhammad (al-Baqir). I wanted to give him a lesson, but he gave me one. On a hot day, I went to Medina where I saw Imam al-Baqir leaning on two slaves due to corpulence. I said to my self, “A great man of Quraysh working at this hour of day in search of the material world! I will certainly give him an advice.” I approached and saluted. While he was gasping, he greeted me back. Sweat was pouring from his head and face because of hot weather. I said, “May Allah improve your affairs! A great man of Quraysh is seeking worldly provisions at this time of the day! What will happen if death overtakes you in this situation?” Taking his hands off the shoulders of the two slaves and leaning against the wall, he said, “If death overtakes me while I am in this situation, I will be in a state of obedience to God by which I can preserve my value from people and you. I am afraid of death only when I am committing a sin!” I said, “May God bless you! You are thoroughly right. I intended to give you advice but you gave me one!”()

Seeking earnings is a sort of worship and a sort of obedience to the Almighty as long as it is intended to meet the needs of one’s dependants, abstain from getting what is illegal to gain, dispense with what others possess, and get big opportunities to obey the Almighty through such charitable acts like helping the needy and establishing aid organizations. This is one of the unquestionable facts in the teachings of Islam, which are represented most obviously in the teachings of the Ahl al-Bayt.

Business and Free Professions are the Best Means of Gains

Let us now acquaint ourselves with the most essential ways of seeking earnings and gaining livelihood in the light of the traditions that have been reported from the Ahl al-Bayt.

A deep review of the traditions of the Ahl al-Bayt with regard to the sources of seeking earnings and gaining livelihood demonstrates that the Holy Imams have encouraged on working in commerce and business more than any other profession or occupation. In this regard, they are reported to have said:

Nine tenths of sustenance lie in commerce.

Imam al-Sadiq is likewise reported to have said that commerce increases rational faculties. This is because doing business brings on experience, skills, wisdom, maturity, and familiarity with the conditions, morals, and behaviors of people.

The Holy Imams have also declared commerce to be the dignity of man. According to an authentic report, Imam al-Sadiq said to one of his servants, “O servant of God, watch over your dignity… it is to go to marts and honor yourself therein.”

They have also warned against the bad consequences of retiring from business. Al-Fudeil ibn Yasar has reported that he, once, informed Imam al-Sadiq that he had quitted business. The Imam answered, “What for have you done so? Are you too weak to continue? Thus do your properties evaporate. Do not retire from business; rather, you must seek from the graces of God.”

About a man who retired from business, Imam al-Sadiq said, “This man should have known that the Holy Messenger purchased articles of trade from a commercial caravan that had come from Sham (currently Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, and Jordan) and did business in it that he could settle his debts.”

A number of the companions of the Holy Imams possessed corporations like what is presently called joint-stock companies that invest money (i.e. expend money in something from which a return or profit is expected). Bureid al-‘Ajali, a great companion of Imam al-Baqir and Imam al-Sadiq, is reported to have asked his son-in-law Muhammad ibn Muslim, one of the most versed companions of Imam al-Baqir and Imam al-Sadiq in jurisprudence, to ask Imam al-Sadiq’s opinion about a matter that he had determined to do, “Many deposits and funds have been entrusted with me and I am restless because of them. I would like now to forsake all worldly affairs and give these back to their owners.” However, the Imam’s answer came in the negative.

According to reports, the reason for the rise of the Waqifa sect was that when Imam Musa al-Kazhim way martyred, he left behind him very much money in the hands of those whom he had appointed as custodians. They therefore refused to confess the Imamate of his son, Imam al-Rida, and denied the death of Imam al-Kazhim. For instance, Ziyad ibn Marwan al-Qandi had seventy thousand Dinars and Ali ibn Abi-Hamzah thirty thousand.

The event of Ali ibn Imsaeel ibn Ja‘far al-Sadiq informing against his uncle, Imam al-Kazhim, to Harun, the Abbasid ruler, stands as proof on the very much money the Imam had possessed. Informing against his uncle, Ali said to the Abbasid ruler, “One instance of his extensive wealth is related to when he had bought a land called al-Bashariyah. When they brought the money, the seller said, ‘I do not want these coins. Give me other coins.’ Then the Imam ordered that the coins be returned to his treasury, and thirty-thousand Dinars of the same weight and type that the seller wanted be brought for him.”

According to a number of presumptions, these big sums of money were the profits of some investments the Imam directed his companions to work in, but not religious financial rights. The following are some of these presumptions:

1. Traditions reveal that the Holy Imams suspended receiving any religious dues up to the age of Imam al-Jawad, except in a very few cases, because they had to practice taqiyah (the practice of concealing one's belief and foregoing ordinary religious duties when under threat of death or injury to oneself or one's fellow Muslims) as a result of the harsh political repressions they had to undergo and the strict tracking, attacks, and housebreakings to which they were exposed by the ruling authorities.

Other traditions convey that Imam al-Kazhim in particular and the descendants of Abu-Talib in general lived in harsh poverty during the reign of the Abbasid dynasty. In one of the summons and interrogations of Imam al-Kazhim by the Abbasid ruler, the Imam was interrogated about many issues one of which was the claim that the religious taxes of the Shi‘ah (i.e. the khumus duty) were brought to him. Denying this false accusation, the Imam said:

“Amir al-Mu'minin has already had an idea about the harsh poverty we are in, the contending of many enemies against us, and that we have been deprived of our right; i.e. the khumus duty that the Book of God has decided for us, by the past generations. As a result, we have been living in harshness, we are forbidden to receive alms while God has decided the khumus duty for us as compensation, and we have therefore had to accept the presents.”()

According to another report, the Abbasid ruler, Harun, presented some gifts and money to Imam al-Kazhim who said:

“By God I swear this: Had it not been for that I only intend to help financially the bachelors from the descendants of Abu-Talib get married by using these presents and money so that the progeny would not be cut off, I would have never accepted this gift.”

2. Imam al-Kazhim spent a big period of his Imamate in the prisons of the ‘Abbasid rulers—a period of about fourteen years. This would not give him opportunity to meet the publics and receive religious taxes from them.

3. The aforementioned tradition about the big sums of money Imam al-Kazhim possessed entails that these moneys were kept with his companions and they were custodians on them. This means that they were in charge of supervising and investing these moneys as they saw proper.

In conclusion, the big sums of money the Imam deposited with his companions did not come from gifts and small religious taxes he used to receive; rather, they were the outcomes of a huge financial corporation he established out of presents and donations and then developed them for his followers so that they would meet their financial needs, dispense with the tyrannical ruling authorities, and fend off their evils.

Activating the Private Sector: The Only Solution to Unemployment

Today, we are suffering a big problem; namely, unemployment and the increasing number of the jobless. Unfortunately, the majority of these jobless individuals hold university degrees. This problem leads to many bad consequences at the social, psychological, economical, cultural, and even security levels. However, this topic is not dedicated to mentioning these bad consequences. It is strange that the government is unable to embrace all those who can work in its offices and to retain the services of these jobless individuals. Today, those employed by the government have amounted to 2.5 million persons not to mention the retirees and others. This number is in reality incompatible with the extent of the governmental foundations. The result then is flaccidity, disguised unemployment, and overload on the state balance. Iraq is probably the one and only country whose employment balance is four times as much as its investment balance.

It goes without saying that the solution to this problem is one of the missions of the government, which is thus required to create fields of employing the jobless. One of the most important of these fields is to activate the private sector and to support the agricultural, industrial, and animal breeding projects. Although this partial solution has its own problems, pains, and hindrances, let us discuss the points of this problem that lie under our responsibility, since the overwhelming majority of the jobless individuals concentrate all their attentions on how to get a governmental job, while they blocked against themselves the thinking of finding other opportunities within the private sector or the so-called free occupations. Although I know for sure that there are many difficulties facing those who want to develop such free occupations, it seems necessary for all of us to think, put plans, discuss, and study these options and then begin working within the first available opportunity through helping each other according to what we are able to do. Once we do so, we will find blessings and discover that “Nine tenths of sustenance lie in commerce (i.e. free business)” and investment.

If I want to demonstrate deeply and expansively the necessity and the advantages of activating the private sector, I must say that there are many serious problems and challenges to face in this regard.

One of these problems is the fact that there are currently millions of people who are orphans, widows, handicapped, sick, unable to afford marriage, and in urgent need for housing units, and it is a collective responsibility to help them and remove their sufferings. All charities and organizations of civil society depend upon the money that is dedicated to them, and once they spend these allowances, they fail to take any action. Of course, by no manner of means can this solve the problem. If these organizations remain consuming, they will definitely fail to do their duties, while if they think of self-sufficiency and economization through engaging in economical actions, they will be able to meet the majority of their needs.

Another problem is that the more Iraq becomes secured and stable the more foreign companies come to work in it and pull the rug out from under the feet of Iraqi people gradually. In actual fact, this has already begun when the foreign employees spread in this country. In this regard, a few weeks ago, some foreign mass media informed that the Iraqi government asked the government of the Philippines to raise the ban against summoning employers in Iraq. If the Iraqi people do not solve this problem and have the ability to compete, they will not find for themselves a place on their own homeland, God forbid!

Activating the Private Sector and Challenge of Civilizations

Following the course of activating the private sector will bring about fortunes in this world and the Next World, since it will achieve the following outcomes:

1. The private sector will incorporate the Iraqi manpower and eradicate unemployment to a great extent.

2. Activating the private sector is considered a big contribution to flourishing, constructing, and developing the country. As a general economical fact, the contribution of the private sector to the economy of the government is not less important than the role of the public sector that is directly run by the government, taking into consideration the fact that Iraq has just begun a new start after decades of wars, destructions, massacres, and deliberate demolition.

3. Activating the private sector is a step towards amending the financial and administrative corruption, which is the chief concern of the Iraqi government and the result of having all the contracting works of construction, building, and supplying in the hands of corrupt businessmen and subsidiary companies. The solution can be thus found when the proper bodies take their places in such projects and undertake this mission.

4. The orientation in new Iraq is going towards free economy and on an imminent day, Iraq will be a field for the competition of international companies—a competition that carries with it many ethical, cultural, social, and economical consequences. Therefore, the people of this country must be ready enough to fill this gap in such an amount that deters all such negative consequences and results of openness that is necessitated by the so-called globalization. This competition does not come to being in that instant; rather, it requires collective and collaborating efforts.

5. People in general have surplus sums of money, which are too little to produce anything, such one or two million Dinars. The owners of these sums of money desire to invest them in useful projects. The solution is then the establishment of joint-stock companies that gather these moneys and employ them in projects whose profits are enjoyed by everyone. Unfortunately, because such owners intend not to freeze their money, they are entrapped by the illusive and swindling companies, like those depending upon the web marketing. It is therefore our responsibility to create substitute companies.

6. The present global financial crisis, which has lasted for months, and the criticism and disapproval to which capitalism is now being exposed have made experts study carefully the Islamic plan of economy and management of money. This economical view of Islam has been the one and only solution that saves from this crisis. One of the essential bodies of this economical view of Islam is the usury-free banks. In order that these banks convince the customers and provide them with profits, they are inevitably required to create opportunities of investment of these moneys before receiving them from their owners. Accordingly, the first step towards establishing such Islamic banks is to found investment companies and develop them in order to be able to employ these moneys. Such a blessed step will then be a means in the clash of civilizations the others have launched against us.

7. Some governmental jobs, both civil and military, entail practicing prejudice, injustice, and violation of religious prohibitions, since an official in such governmental jobs cannot violate the orders and regulations; otherwise, he/she will be dismissed. Thus, such officials change into a tool of injustice against which the Holy Imams, besides the Holy Quran, have warned and declared the painful outcome of helping the oppressors practice prejudice against people. Then, it is better for the faithful people to keep themselves away from such offices and seek legally-gotten earnings from other sources.

8. It is well known for everybody that economy is the sinew of life, and he who controls over economy and has an effective role in it, will have similar role on the other fields of life, including the political, social, and even doctrinal. On the strength of this fact, the Holy Imams of the Ahl al-Bayt have planned for the economical independence of their followers from the ruling regimes so that they would maintain their identity and peculiarities and avoid melting in these regimes. Having taken notice of this powerful element in the Ahl al-Bayt School, the ruling authorities worked towards drying up the financial resources of the followers of the Ahl al-Bayt and confiscating their properties. In brief, economical independence was the means that kept their freedom and dignity.

9. In most cases, the salaries received by the governmental officials, except those who enjoy special ranks, are too little to meet the essential requirements of life not to mention the requirements of respectable life. Therefore, a governmental official has to choose one of two options: either to live the minimum necessary to support life or to direct towards dishonest means of earnings. As for working in the private sector, it opens wide horizons of earnings and revenues, by the grace of God.

The famous epistle of Imam ‘Ali to Malik al-Ashtar when appointed as the ruler of Egypt comprises paragraphs showing the Imam’s very much care for activating the private sector. Having referred to the classes of the society, such as soldiers, judges, employees, and clerks, the Imam said:

“The prosperity of this whole set-up depends upon the traders and industrialists. They act as a medium between the consumers and the suppliers. They collect the requirements of the society. They exert to provide goods. They open up shops, markets, and trading centers. Thus providing the consumers with their necessities, they relieve the citizens of the need of running after their requisites of life.”()

Undoubtedly, not every individual can work proficiently in commerce, industry, and the like occupations, since “each individual is given access to the purpose he/she has been created for” in the word of a Prophetic tradition. The project under discussion, which calls for an expansive renaissance in the private sector, is mainly forwarded to those who have efficiency and sagacity to undertake the mission of embarking upon this sector, and to the financiers and influential people to help their brothers in the stage of establishment. My purpose behind saying these words is to raise the spirits of enthusiasm and ambition and to warn those who are able to work not to content themselves with the routine jobs of the government, because all the tyrannical regimes, especially Saddam’s, has killed all spirits of ambition and frustrated all determinations in the inner selves of the Iraqis to the degree that all of them have accepted to live in a state less than the minimum and shun yearning for a respectable level of living, which we are asked to beseech the Almighty for. Unfortunately, this state can be seen more clearly with the Iraqi people who lived inside Iraq than those who had opportunities to have a look at the other countries.

In the sermon of the last ‘Id al-Fitr (Lesser Bairam), I have mentioned that this blessed movement (i.e. activating the private sector) is one of the positive significances of expecting and paving the way for the advent of Imam al-Mahdi.

O Allah, please forgive the believing men and women and the Muslim men and women, both the living and the dead, and join us with them in bliss and happiness. Verily, You respond to prayers, in the name of Muhammad and his immaculate Household.

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