If you can earn even a couple of extra dollars beyond your salary, it can be a huge support. However, conditions apply—never take what isn’t yours, never deceive others, never accept anything through unjust means, and never invite curses upon yourself. Earn honestly, or walk away. If your salary isn’t enough, it’s better to resign than to engage in unethical income.
Your rightful sustenance is destined for you elsewhere. If you’re working for a salary below your worth, you are doing injustice to yourself. If you think your income is insufficient and, as a result, resort to unethical earnings, then you are engaging in a forbidden act. Every bit of illicit income is adding weight to your record of deeds.
Comparing salaries with the cost of living, surviving on wages alone isn’t always easy. However, you accepted the job knowing the terms. If you genuinely struggle, demand a fair wage through legal means. Most people involved in bribery and corruption aren’t driven by necessity but by greed. Those who are truly desperate and engage in wrongdoing are very few in society.
Even in desperation, there are limits. Unless your life is at stake, earning even a single penny through illicit means is a sin—it’s the father of all sins. You cannot define what is halal (permissible) and haram (forbidden) based on your own interpretations. The laws of ethics and faith clearly distinguish between right and wrong.
Who convinced people that dishonest earnings lead to a better life? Those who believe they can raise good children, have a happy spouse, or maintain good health while living off illicit wealth are deluded. Honesty has a fragrance, a strength. The honest may be sidelined by society or face opposition from the corrupt, but honesty never truly perishes—it never suffers ultimate defeat.
If you earn by blocking someone’s progress, deceiving others, or taking unlawful gains, that money will eventually be spent in ways you never intended. Meanwhile, the debt of a corrupt person remains unpaid—one that even repentance cannot erase. If those who were wronged do not forgive, neither does the Creator. Many powerful and wealthy individuals have died without receiving forgiveness from those they harmed.
Earn through your skills and spend within your means. Those who once fall into the trap of illicit money often never return to the path of light. They become obsessed with accumulating wealth and building financial empires, but in the end, they can’t truly enjoy it. Their ill-gotten wealth doesn’t even benefit them; instead, it often paves the way for their heirs’ downfall.
Those who have engaged in financial misconduct, looted the rights of the poor, or denied others their due will never truly prosper. They will never be happy. Those who seize power through unjust means or engage in unethical earnings plant seeds of sin that continue to bear fruit even after they are gone. They may have believed that wealth was their success, but a bitter fate awaits them. Everyone will reap what they sow. Sin spares no one—not even one’s own parents or children.
The idea that wealth alone brings happiness is a flawed belief created by materialistic minds. Yes, wealth can contribute to happiness, but only if it is entirely lawful. Where there is even a trace of illegitimate income, there is no real peace or contentment. Earn according to your needs, but don’t be blinded by greed.
Even if it’s just two extra dollars—if it comes from an unjust source, don’t touch it. Sustenance is a serious matter. Do not taint it with anything that can turn even the purest into poison. Let it be little, but let it be honest. The service for which you receive a salary cannot be sold to another source or destination—that is unacceptable. Pray that everything you earn, consume, and think about remains pure.
