In the pre-modern world, the Muslim attitude and understanding of work, a career or an economic pursuit, its purpose and criteria of success is dependent on the metaphysical conceptions of man and happiness in Islam—abandoning such understanding would entail great practical repercussions: the economic pursuit would render man, his society and the environment in a state of disorder as opposed to a harmonious condition which we call justice (‘adl).
The nature of man (insan, progeny of Adam) understood in the worldview of Islam is that he is both physical and spiritual (i.e. possesses a soul or al-ruh), in which the physical is embedded in and serves the spiritual—unlike the conceptions held by modern day psychologists and neuroscientists that have gradually dismissed the soul from discussions on human nature, which seems to be embraced consciously or unconsciously by many educated Muslim in various fields.
This understanding of human nature is part and parcel of a metaphysical worldview that regards the proper places of things in the order of reality as a condition of justice (‘adl). With regards to man, to be just to himself means allow the rational soul (al-nafs al-natiqah) to rule over the animal soul (al-nafs al-hayawaniyyah) within one’s self to arrive at his original state (fitra) which has made a primordial covenant with his Creator (Holy Qur’an, 7: 172). So for instance, if a subordinate produces a praiseworthy work, but due credit is not given, or when one blames a subordinate for one’s own mistakes, it is in reality a failure of the self to rule the rational soul over the animal soul.
The implication of such understanding of human nature is that the meaning of happiness is linked to a certain state of the soul (as indicated in the Quranic term al-sa’adah) that arrives at tranquillity (nafs al-mutmainnah)—achieved through the right kind of knowledge, spiritual discipline and moral excellence. This means for example, even if a Muslim performs all the obligatory worship, yet prefers to avoid doing his own work responsibilities and instead lies, cheats and manipulates others just to ascend the corporate ladder, he in fact cause injustice to himself for betraying his soul’s covenant with God and will not experience this deeper degree of happiness.
Within this framework, a man who is true to his nature (fitrah) would voluntarily limit his material desire through the inculcation of adab (right action) or cultivation of virtues to achieve happiness. This is in contradiction to the psychological assumption of modern economics for instance, wherein man has “unlimited wants”, which assumes man is restricted to his physical self and materialistic ambition without a higher spiritual aspiration, and lives only to realize his immediate sensual bodily desires. It is not necessary for instance, for a Muslim to covet luxury goods but instead one should allocate any surplus wealth to meet the pressing needs of family or the community.
Thus traditionally in pre-modern Muslim societies, most work espoused by its inhabitants are expressions of such understanding of man and happiness, whose aim is to realize the spiritual directive to overcome the self, to seek one’s perfection and closeness to God rather than simply worldly gain—basically leading a life as per the statement of Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him: “Love for others what you love for yourself.”
This was the rationale for the Muslims’ classification for pursuing knowledge into the Fard Ayn (individual obligation) and Fard Kifaya (communal obligation), as not only reflecting the dual nature of man, but also to ensure a harmonious condition in the world (‘adl) whereby each human—as a custodian of God in this world (khalifa)—will be able to cooperate towards the sufficing the needs of the community instead of sufficing merely for one’s personal needs and interests.
A truly educated Muslim would not merely pursue a work or a profession just for the sake of earning a higher income, but would take into account whether it would enhance the common good in the community, heeding the prophetic wisdom: “The best of work is that which brings most benefit to people.” A true Muslim scholar in the past would for instance, opt for a place that can give him the best opportunity to clarify confusion in the community—there shouldn’t exist a dichotomy between doing good and earning a living.
Therefore the proper way of thinking with regards to work, a career or an economic pursuit should be, by way of questioning: What can I do to return the trusts given by God, in order to restore the proper places of things? Or: How can I be part of the solution to the problems in my community with whatever gifts (either in terms of potentiality, wealth or status) God has granted me? Or: How can my pursuit of personal good enhance the common good?
Such line of thinking serves to not only address a host of economic, financial and organisational issues emerging from modern assumptions about man and happiness, but more importantly serves to make man realize his need to liberate himself from his animalistic self and be true to his self that covenanted with God. By so doing, he will realise his higher and truer spiritual aspiration in which he finds his true self and place in the larger order of creation and being, and ultimately to return to his ontological point of origin.
To return to such praiseworthy line of thinking and acting, which would have positive implications to the way we understand and organize our economy, the most urgent task is to develop a critical mass of educated Muslims with a grasp of the metaphysical worldview of Islam as exemplified in the works of past Muslim metaphysicians such as al-Ghazzali (d.1111) and rearticulated for instance, in the works of contemporary Muslim thinker, Syed Muhammad Naquib al-Attas such as in his Meaning and Experience of Happiness in Islam (ISTAC, 1993), Nature of Man and the Psychology of Human Soul (ISTAC, 1990) and On Justice and the Nature of Man (IBFIM, 2015).