Theme: Business Etiquette in Islam
Allah’s messenger (ﷺ) said:
“Whoever has the following four (characteristics) will be a pure hypocrite and whoever has one of the following four characteristics will have one characteristic of hypocrisy unless and until he gives it up.
- Whenever he is entrusted, he betrays.
- Whenever he speaks, he tells a lie.
- Whenever he makes a covenant, he proves treacherous.
- Whenever he quarrels, he behaves in a very imprudent, evil and insulting manner.”
Narrated by Abdullah bin ‘Amr bin Al-‘As رضي الله عنهما
(Source: Sahih Bukhari, hadith No. 34 | Sahih Muslim, hadith No. 117)
Numerous Quranic verses emphasize the importance of the hadith above and enjoin us to stay faithful to our words, promises and contracts. Allah SWT said in surah al-Maidah, verse 1: “O you who believe, honour your contracts”, and in surah as-Saf, verse 3: “it is most loathsome in the sight of Allah that you profess what you do not practice”.
Currently, in our local context, we unfortunately observe a divergence in this virtue in multiple fronts through the rise of e-commerce related scams. Especially during Covid-19, where online transactions rose, e-commerce scams in Singapore rose by 73.8% (The Straits Times).
As a Muslim,the ambassador of our religion, we should always be honest in any form of our dealings. This includes delivering the product as it is marketed, being transparent in the contract without hidden charges, always striving for goodness in our dealings, etc.
May Allah prevent us from being among the hypocrites and bless us to be among those who listen to what is said and follow the best of it.
