Mu' meneen Brothers and Sisters,

As Salaam Aleikum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh. (May Allah's Peace, Mercy and Blessings be upon all of you)

 

One of our brothers/sisters has asked this question:

Dear brother Burhan.

 
I am facing a small problem with my earnings. I am working in a company where i am not being paid as per the contract which i had signed with them before joing the duties ( in my own country ) I have asked them many time for being underpaid but they are not listening me. I am helpless as i am working outside my country and if i go to court or other legal advice it will need a lot of money which i cannot afford.

Now from the last month i am handling the Cash, so i thought that i can benefit from this and get the remaining part of my salalry or dues without being noticed.

 
But i am not sure whether this will be right or wrong.

But this is the last option which is with me, please guide me according to sunnah and Quran.

 

(There may be some grammatical and spelling errors in the above statement. The forum does not change anything from questions, comments and statements received from our readers for circulation in confidentiality.)

 

Answer:

 

Steal money for unpaid salary

In the name of Allah, We praise Him, seek His help and ask for His forgiveness. Whoever Allah guides none can misguide, and whoever He allows to fall astray, none can guide them aright. We bear witness that there is none worthy of worship but Allah Alone, and we bear witness that Muhammad (saws) is His slave-servant and the seal of His Messengers.

 

Allah Says in the Holy Quran Chapter 4 Surah Nisaa verse 135:

135     O ye who believe! Stand out firmly for justice as witnesses to Allah even as against yourselves or your parents or your kin and whether it be (against) rich or poor: for Allah can best protect both.  Follow not the lusts (of your hearts) lest ye swerve and if ye distort (justice) or decline to do justice verily Allah is well-acquainted with all that ye do.

 

Respected brother, if your employer is not paying you your lawful dues according to the contract he made with you, you are well within your rights to pursue every lawful and legal means available to you to make sure that your employer fulfills his contract.  Respected brother, rest assured that even if your employer somehow gets away with his injustice and his oppression in the life of this short and transitory world, never ever will he be able to get away without paying you your full and due retribution in the Presence of the Lord Most High on that Inevitable and Tumultuous Day of Judgment….and that too in the ‘currency’ of the Hereafter (ie. deeds)!

 

Just because your employer has chosen to usurp your lawful rights, does not give you a right to usurp the rights that are due from you to your employer! 

 

Allah Says in the Holy Quran Chapter 2 Surah Baqarah verse 177:

177    It is not righteousness that ye turn your faces toward East or West; but righteousness is to believe in Allah, and the Last Day, and the Angels, and the Book, and the Messengers; to spend of your substance out of love for Him for your kin, for orphans, for the needy, for the wayfarer, for those who ask, and for the ransom of slaves; to be steadfast in prayer and practice regular charity; to fulfill the trusts which ye have made; and to be firm and patient in pain (or suffering) and adversity, and throughout all periods of panic.  Such are the people of Truth, the Allah-fearing.

 

Respected brother, if perchance you have been entrusted with the cash, it is your duty that you fulfill your trust with total and absolute honesty.  If Allah forbid, you were to betray the trust and take something from the cash entrusted to you for yourself, not only would it be considered theft in the sight of the law of the land, but also in the Sight of the Lord Most Majestic, Most Supreme. 

 

Whatever written of Truth and benefit is only due to Allah’s Assistance and Guidance, and whatever of error is of me alone.  Allah Alone Knows Best and He is the Only Source of Strength.

 

Your brother and well wisher in Islam,

 

 

Burhan