The Messenger of Allah (May peace and blessings of Allah be upon Him), was a hard working man. Though a Messenger of Allah He mingled Himself with the people and practice their daily activities. He never looked low upon any type of job as long as it was decent, even if people minimized it.

He has worked as a shepherd for the people of Makkah, He looked after their sheep and goats. This was the type of work that Allah the Highest has subjected all His Messengers, as the Prophet (May peace and blessings of Allah be upon Him) says: "Allah never sent a Prophet unless he was a shepherd. Then His companions said: what about you, were you a shepherd? He said: oh yes, I was looking after the cattle of the people of Makkah on payment".

Those cattle did not belong to the Prophet (May peace and blessings of Allah be upon Him), He was just a simple worker and was paid for the service. Though some people looked low upon such jobs, He did not, because He had the belief that Allah will not set Him for a worthless job. And it was a way of preparing Him for a great task that was to shoulder the responsibility of the prophethood and the delivery of  Allah's message.

It is worth noting that, to labour for somebody and get paid in the beginning of ones life is not humiliating. That is why Prophet Musa (May peace of Allah be upon Him) had worked  as Allah said:

(قال إني أريد أن أُنكحك إحدى ابنتي هاتين على أن تأجرني ثمان حجج)

"Indeed, I wish to wed you one of these, my two daughters, on (the condition) that you serve me for eight years".

            That is why professional education always start preparing somebody at an early stage on simple and easy professions in order to open his mind and brain to pave his way of life, because one can be a full grown man without the know how of doing business.

            In His educational method, the Prophetic (May peace and blessings of Allah be upon Him), encourages the learning of professions as He directs one of His companions who was begging to earn his leaving how to stop that, and engage himself in working to earn his daily bread. As reported by Anas bin Malik that a man from the ansar (indigenous of Medina) came to the Prophet (May peace and blessings of Allah be upon Him) to beg. The Prophet said to him: "don't you have anything in your house?" He said: o yes we do. A smooth cloth we spread some of it and cover some, and a container we use for drinking water. The Prophet said: "bring them to me" he brought them to the Prophet and He asked the other companions (may Allah be pleased with them) "who can buy these things?". A man said: I can take them for a dirham, then He said repeatedly: "who can twofold a dirham?" another man said: I can take them for two dirham. Then prophet accepted and gave one dirham to the man and said: "take one dirham and buy food for your family, and buy with the other dirham an adz (an instrument use to cut wood) and He said to him: go fetch wood and sell it, and don't come here for fifteen days". The man went and started cutting  and selling wood, he came to the prophet with ten dirham, he bought some cloths; some food. Then the Messenger of Allah (May peace and blessings of Allah be upon Him): "this is better than you come in the Day of judgement with a dot on your face to show that you were a beg, and begging is permitted only for three people: somebody with a miserable poverty, somebody with a terrified loss, or with a painful blood".

            The Prophet (May peace and blessings of Allah be upon Him) was well-known for his virtues, good conduct and moral behaviours since His childhood. As was called the trustworthy and the honest. That is why Khadija the daughter of khuwailid (may Allah be pleased with her) sent Him together with her servant (maisarat) to Sharm to trade for her, a trip which the Prophet accepted and went for it..

            This is a clear indication, that the more someone is well behaved the more he succeed in life. Because it is the good characters of the Prophet that pushed Khadija to hand over her money to Him. This teaches us that one of the prime conditions of seeking wealth is to possess noble characters which made Khadija to give Him more what she used to give to the other traders. So the more we behaved well the success will come our way.

            The Messenger of Allah (May peace and blessings of Allah be upon Him) never scorned with any kind of job even when the master was a woman. Again it is better for master to look for honest and trustworthy worker and let him or her also be very kind to them in term of payment or other dealings, as good payment always secure good and faithful workers.

            We can also learn from this that it is better for a woman to employ honest people to do her business instead of her doing it directly, so that she will put herself in problems as you Khadija in the era of the ignorant she did not do her business by herself but she employed somebody to do it for her.

            This is how Allah the Great prepared his messenger to look over cattle or to do business for Khadija before He sent Him to deliver His message.

            This shows that it is better for a man to work hard for his leaving as the future is in the Hand of Allah the Most Great.

            It also teaches somebody many things that were not known its consequences in the future. How many people have learned petty jobs, and with time they became popular and wealthy. The precedent works one do in his early stages of life teach him many lessons and considerations, and its educate him how to prepare himself for the future more than the person who never practiced such professions and who look low upon such job.

Written by: Pr. Dr. Khalid H. Hazimi

Translated by: Chernor Ibrahim Bah.