It is permissible to be contracted to undertake every lawful (Halal) form of work. Examples are hiring for the purpose of trading, farming, industry (manufacturing), serving and deputation. In judicial matters one may be hired to convey the response of a claimant or defendant, collect the evidence and deliver it to the judge, claim rights or settle disputes among people. Also one can be hired for drilling wells, building, driving cars and aeroplanes, printing books, copying the Mushaf, and carrying passengers, among other lawful works.

Hiring could be for a specific job, or for doing work of a specific description. If hiring is contracted for a particular job for a certain employee, for example if Khalid hired Mohammed to sew a particular dress or to drive a particular car, then Mohammed should do the work and He is not allowed at all to authorise another person to do the job on his behalf. If Mohammed became sick or was incapable of doing the work, no other person is allowed to do it instead of Him because the employee had been designated. If the particular dress was destroyed or the specified car had broken down, Mohammed would not be obliged to work on other than those two, because the type of work had been defined.

However, if hiring was contracted over something which is described in one’s responsibility, or a described type of employee, or a certain job, the rule is different. In these cases, the employee can do the work and He is allowed to delegate a person to do the job on his behalf. If He becomes sick or is unable to do the work, He is bound to delegate a person to do the job instead of him. He is also under duty to drive any car or sew any dress provided by the employer as long the contract describes such work. This is because the definition was not for the work itself, but is for its type, so any work on anything is binding as long as it is of the same type as the contract specified. In this case its definition would be by description and not by naming it specifically, leaving the choice for the employee to perform anything of the contracted type.

Defining the type of work includes describing the worker who will do the job so as to demonstrate the nature of his effort, such as an engineer. Its description also includes the work, which has to be performed. This explains the nature of the effort spent in it, such as in the example of drilling a well. Defining the work by such description is similar to defining it by naming it. It is, therefore, acceptable to define the work by describing it or to define it by specifically naming it. It is enough to be due in one’s responsibility, though unseen, as if it is present and tangible. So, just as it is allowed to hire a named engineer, specifically defined, it is allowed to hire an engineer of a certain description. Similarly it is permissible to hire a tailor to sew a specific shirt and it is also allowed to hire a person to sew a shirt of a certain description.

If a person accepted to do some work, He is allowed to give it to another person with a lesser wage and thus profit by the difference. This is because He is allowed to hire others to do the work for any wage.What business people, like tailors and carpenters, do in terms of hiring workers to work for them, and what contractors do in terms of hiring people to do work they themselves have been contracted to perform, are all allowed, regardless of what they pay their employees. This is still hiring whether for performing specific works or for a certain period. All such workers are a type of private labour, which is lawful in Shar’a.

For a person to hire workers on condition that He takes a part of their wages, or appoints himself as a supervisor over them in return for a part of their wages, is not allowed. This is because He would have then usurped a part of the wages assigned to them. Abu Dawud narrated from Abu S’aid al-Khudri that the Prophet (pbuh) (pbuh) said: “Beware of the apportionment. “We said: ‘O Messenger of Allah, what is the apportionment?’ He said: “A thing agreed among people, but a part is reduced of it.’” In another narration from Ataa, the Prophet (pbuh) (pbuh) said: “That a person is in control over a group of people so He takes from their shares.” So if a contractor made an agreement with a person so as to bring Him one hundred workers each for one dinar a day, and He gave each of them less than one dinar, this would not be allowed. The amount which He contracted for, is considered a defined wage for every one of them. If He deducted from it He would have taken from their rights. If however, He was contracted to bring one hundred workers without mentioning their wages, then the person is allowed to give them less than the contracted amount because He would have not reduced their assigned wages.

It is also a condition to define the type of work in such a manner that it becomes known, so that hiring is concluded over a known thing. This is because hiring for unknown work is invalid. So if a person told a worker that He had been hired to carry some particular boxes of goods to Egypt for ten dinars, then the hiring is valid (lawful). It is valid also if He said He had been hired to carry them for one dinar per ton, or if He had been hired to carry them, one ton for one dinar, and anything over that would be calculated. This will be valid as long as He used words that indicated that He should carry them all. But if He said to carry them, one ton for one dinar, and whatever is extra is to be calculated accordingly, meaning whatever extra was carried of the remaining ones, this is not valid, because some of the contracted matter is unknown. However, if He asked Him to carry every ton for one dinar, this is valid, just as if He had hired Him to draw for Him water, every metre for one pence, which is allowed. So it is a condition that hiring be about a known thing. If however ignorance is involved, the hiring becomes invalid.