Kayfa yuaddi al-muwazzaf al-amanah
- Author died
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- Editions
- al-Dar al-Hadithah
Kayfa yuaddi al-muwazzaf al-amanah (How the Employee Fulfills the Trust) is a concise treatise by the Saudi hadith scholar Abd al-Muhsin al-Abbad addressing the ethical obligations and religious duties incumbent upon employees and workers in discharging professional responsibilities .
Purpose and Scope
Al-Abbad composed the work as an advisory epistle to guide civil servants and employees toward sincerity of intention, diligence in their daily labor, and the conscientious fulfillment of their assigned tasks . Grounding the discussion in Islamic jurisprudence and ethics, he argues that performing professional duties with devotion not only discharges an employee's contractual liability in this world but also yields spiritual reward in the Hereafter when accompanied by the intention to seek God's pleasure .
Structure and Content
The treatise is organized into thematic sections centered on scriptural proofs and practical administrative ethics:
- Scriptural Foundations of Trust: The author cites key Quranic passages commanding the return of trusts and prohibiting breach of faith, such as verses from Surat an-Nisa, Surat al-Anfal, and Surat al-Ahzab, accompanied by exegesis from Ibn Kathir . He also adduces prophetic traditions warning against the loss of integrity, classifying betrayal as a mark of hypocrisy, and cautioning that placing unqualified people in authority signifies the squandering of trust .
- Preservation of Working Hours: The work stresses that the official working hours belong exclusively to the employer and cannot be diverted to personal pursuits or unrelated interests . To illustrate this principle, al-Abbad cites the counsel of the scholar al-Mu'ammar ibn Ali al-Baghdadi (d. 507 AH) to the Seljuk vizier Nizam al-Mulk—recorded in Ibn Rajab's Dhayl Tabaqat al-Hanabila—which states that a public official has effectively sold his time for a compensation and holds no right to dispose of working hours according to his own preference .
- Criteria for Hiring and Dismissal: Drawing on the Quranic stories of Moses and Joseph, the text identifies competence and trustworthiness (al-quwwah wa-l-amanah) as the foundational qualifications for appointment, while incapacity and dishonesty constitute legitimate grounds for dismissal . He notes that when the Caliph Umar ibn al-Khattab removed Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas from Kufa to avert civil discord, he explicitly affirmed that his removal was not due to any incompetence or betrayal .
- Leadership and Workplace Conduct: The treatise highlights the responsibility of senior managers to act as role models for their subordinates in punctuality and discipline . It instructs employees to treat members of the public with the benevolence they would wish for themselves .
- Fairness in Public Service: Al-Abbad mandates serving petitioners strictly on a first-come, first-served basis . He supports this principle using Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani's deduction from hadith, and cites an incident from Lisan al-Mizan where the scholar al-Tabari refused to prioritize the vizier al-Fadl ibn Ja'far ibn al-Furat over an ordinary student who had arrived earlier .
- Prohibition of Bribes and Gifts: The final portion warns against illicit financial gain, asserting that gifts given to employees constitute unlawful misappropriation (ghulul) . The author cites hadiths such as the account of Ibn al-Lutbiyya and relates the statement of the governor Iyad ibn Ghanm recorded in Ibn al-Jawzi's Sifat al-Safwah regarding his absolute refusal to betray public funds .
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