The Ways Of Making A Living

Livelihood (ma’ash) means the desire for sustenance and the effort to obtain it. It is a maf’al formation from ‘aysh’ or ’life’.

The idea is that ‘aysh “life” is obtained only by making a living. It is called “the place of life”.

Sustenance and profit may be obtained in various ways.

1. Through imposts and taxation

This is by taking them away from others.

2. Through hunting

This is obtained from wild animals.

3. Through agriculture

This is obtained from domesticated animals or from plants

4. Through Craft

This is obtained through human labor applied to specific materials. Examples are:

• writing
• carpentry
• tailoring
• weaving
• horsemanship

5. Through Professions and activities

This is labor applied to nonspecific materials.

5. Through Commerce

This is profit from merchandise and its use in barter. Merchants can make such profit either by traveling around with (the merchandise) in (various) countries, or by hoarding it and observing the market fluctuations which affect it.

These are the different ways of making a living.

Certain thorough men of letters and philosophers, such as al-Hariri and others, had this in mind when they said=

“A living is made by (exercising) political power (imarah), through commerce, agriculture, or the crafts.”

The exercise of political power is not a natural way of making a living.

Chapter 2 mentioned tax collection.

Agriculture, the crafts, and commerce, on the other hand, are natural ways of making a living.

Agriculture is prior to all the other (ways of making a living) by its very nature, since it is something simple and innately natural. It needs no speculation or (theoretical) knowledge. Therefore, (invention) of it is ascribed to Adam, the father of mankind.

He is said to have taught and practiced agriculture. This indicates that it is the oldest way of making a living and the one most closely related to nature. The crafts are secondary and posterior to agriculture. They are composite and scientific. Thinking and speculation is applied to them. Therefore, as a rule, crafts exist only among sedentary peoples.

Sedentary culture is posterior to Bedouin life, and secondary to it. In this sense, their (invention) was ascribed to Idris, 19 the second father of mankind. He is said to have invented them with the help of divine revelation for the human beings to come after him.Commerce is a natural way of making profits. However, most of its practices and methods are tricky and designed to obtain the (profit) margin between purchase prices and sales prices.

This surplus makes it possible to earn a profit. Therefore, the law permits cunning in commerce, since (commerce) contains an element of gambling.

It does not, however, mean taking away the property of others without giving anything in return. Therefore, it is legal.