The Holy Prophet himself was an indefatigable worker. While he passed half the night, and even two-thirds of it, praying to God, he was doing every kind of work in the day time. No work was too low for him. He would milk his own goats, patch his own clothes and mend his own shoes. In person he would dust his home and assist his wife in her household duties. In person he would do shopping, not only for his own household but also for his neighbours and friends. He worked like a labourer in the construction of the mosque. Again, when a ditch was being dug around Madīnah to fortify it against a heavy attack, he was seen at work among the rank and file. He never despised any work, however humble, notwithstanding the dignity of his position as Holy Prophet, as generalissimo and as king. He thus demonstrated through his personal example that every kind of work dignified man, and that a man’s calling, whether high or low, did not constitute the criterion of his status. “No one eats better food than that which he eats out of the work of his own hand”, he is reported to have said (Bu. 34:15). In his other sayings he has made clear that every work was honourable in comparison with asking for charity. His Companions followed his example and the most honourable of them did not disdain even the work of a porter.

The relations between a labourer and his employer were those of two contracting parties on a term of equality. The Holy Prophet laid down a general law relating to contracts: “Muslims shall be bound by the conditions which they make” (Bu. 37:14). The master and the servant were considered two contracting parties, and the master was bound as much by the terms of the contract as the servant. This was made clear by the Holy Prophet: “Allāh says, there are three persons whose adversary in dispute I shall be on the Day of Resurrection: a person who makes a promise in My name and then acts unfaithfully, a person who sells a free person then devours his price and a person who employs a servant and receives fully the labour due from him, then does not pay his remuneration” (Bu. 34:106).

The employees of the State, its collectors and executive officers and judges, were all included in the category of servants. They were entitled to a remuneration but they could not accept any gift from the public. Even those who taught the Holy Qur’ān were entitled to remuneration: “The most worthy of things for which you take a