Social Law
4. Respect For
Property
We must respect property –
ours and other people’s. Even if we are rich and we can afford anything
we want, we are obliged to use properly and care for our property. This is why…
i.
All things that we possess are gifts from
Allah (S.W.A). He overlooked someone and instead gave us the gift that may be in our possession. To misuse it would be being
ungrateful, and Allah (S.W.A) loves not the ungrateful ones.
ii.
All material in the world is exhaustible.
If we misuse it today, we may enter tomorrow with nothing. Here is Allah’s guidance to us regarding the proper use of
property. He speaks:
”It is He (Allah) who produces gardens with trellises and without,
and dates, and tilth with produce of all kinds, and olives and pomegranates similar (in kind) and different (in variety):
Eat of their fruit in their season but render the dues that are proper on the day that the harvest is gathered. But waste
not by excess; for Allah loves not the wasters. (6:141)”
“Oh children of Adam; wear your beautiful apparels
at every time and place of prayer; eat and drink; but waste not by excess, for Allah loves not the wasters. (7:31)”
iii.
Misappropriation of property not
belonging to us is called stealing. Stealing is a great sin. It is severely punished
for those who do it out of habit. This is how habitual thieves can expiate the sin of stealing; Allah (S.W.A) decrees
”As
to the thief, male or female, cut off his or her hands: a punishment by way of example, from Allah, for their crime: and Allah
is exalted in power, full of wisdom. (5:38)”
“But if the thief repents
after his crime, and amends his conduct, Allah turns to him in forgiveness; for Allah is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful (5:39).”
For
people who steal out of habit the punishment is really stiff. To avoid punishment
in the hereafter and here in this world, let us consider stealing a plague and keep far away from it.
