Seadet-i Ebediyye - Endless Bliss Fifth Fascicle

husbands. A (married) woman has two duties: Conjugal duty; and
not to go out without her husband’s permission and/or without
covering herself in a measure prescribed by Islam. Hence, neither
housework nor outdoor work or earning money has been enjoined
on the woman. Everything she needs has to be earned and brought
to her by her husband if she is married, by her father if she is not
married, or by her rich next of kin if she does not have a father or
if she is poor. A woman without anyone to support her is to be
cared for by the State’s charity coffers termed Beyt-ul-mâl. In
Islam the struggle for living, i.e. earning money, is not a duty
shared between a married couple. A man can never force his wife
to work in the field, in a factory, or elsewhere. If a woman wants
to work and her husband allows her, she may work at a job for
women without mixing with men. What she earns, however, is her
personal property. The man cannot force her to share it with him.
Nor can he oppress her to buy her own needs. Islam’s conferring
so much latitude on the woman, and saving her from being a slave
or a plaything in the hands of men, shows how highly Allâhu ta’âlâ
values her.
Earning money should not cause a person to commit harâms or
to miss any prayer of namâz, men and women alike. Rizq, which
was foreordained in the eternal past, never changes. That very rizq
reaches everybody, by way of halâl to those who wish to get it
through halâl, and by way of harâm to those who want to earn it
by committing harâms. The ignorant are wrong to say, for
instance, “In this time my daughter will starve if she does not
work,” or “My son will lose his job if he does not practise usury.”
The statement that one should not earn by committing harâms
should not be construed as “One should sit idly and not work at
all.” It means that one should work and earn by way of halâl. Not
only will a person who earns by way of harâm have committed
many harâms, but also his earnings will provide him no benefits.
His earnings will either be spent for medical treatments or judicial
procedures or go into the possession of his enemies, not to
mention the likelihood that they will be squandered for
committing harâms, and thereby he will end up in perdition. A
person whose earnings are dubious should give and take presents
and receive loans, and spend what he thereby obtains (in buying
his needs). Things that are obtained by exchange of gifts and by
loaning are halâl.
The following passage has been cited from the final part of the
booklet entitled Bey’ ve Şirâ Risâlesi: “An orphan boy’s labour
– 297 –