Businesses and Undelivered Promises
June 7, 2008 · Reading Time: 4min 27sec · Print This Article
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“Best Deals” , “Guaranteed Success” , “Act Now and…” , “Sign Up and Win…” : common catch phrases especially in terms of running your own enterprise. However the fun, excitement and romance dies away when you suddenly realize you are running short of resources, when suddenly the organization cannot support its own promises.
When suddenly, you can’t deliver.
However the problem doesn’t just stop there if you are a Muslim. We as believers are commanded to deliver trusts.
“Allah commands you to return to their owners the things you hold on trust,” [W4:57; H4:58]
Is it also any surprise that we sometimes don’t think first, plan well, and ponder on whether we really can deliver given our resources, or are we often driven by our desires for profit and say with our tongues promises by deceit since it’s based on capabilities not there?
“We offered the Trust to the heavens, the earth and the mountains, but they refused to take it on and shrank from it. But man took it on. He is indeed wrongdoing and ignorant.” [33:72]
Regardless if you are in business or otherwise, take promises seriously. I feel it’s especially more pertinent if you’re in business, cause therein money is involved. If you have made extravagant promises, organized contests in which participants signed up for an incentive which is still undelivered, or any other, spent some 5 minutes, read comfortably, and take heed in the following Hadith:
Abu Khubayb ‘Abdullah ibn az-Zubayr said, “When az-Zubayr stood awaiting the Battle of the Camel, he called me over and I went to his side. He said, ‘O my son, no one will be killed today except someone wronging or someone wronged. I think that I will be killed today as one of the wronged. One of my greatest concerns is my debts. Do you think that any of our property will remain after out debts are settled?’ He said, ‘O my son! Sell our property and pay my debts!.’ Then he willed a third, and a third of it was for his sons, i.e. the sons of ‘Abdullah ibn az-Zubayr. He said, ‘A third of the third. If anything is left over of our property after paying the debts, then a third of it is for your children.’ (Hisham said, “Some of the sons of ‘Abdullah were the same age as the sons of az-Zubayr: Khubayb and ‘Abbad. At that time he had nine sons and nine daughters.”)” ‘Abdullah said, “My father began to order me concerning his debt and say, ‘O my son, if you are unable to settle any of it, then ask my Master for help in doing it.” He said, “By Allah, I did not know what he meant so I said, ‘O my father, who is your Master?’ He said, ‘Allah.’” He said, “Whenever I ran into a difficulty regarding his debt I said, ‘O Master of az-Zubayr! Pay his debt for him!’ and He would settle it. Az-Zubayr, may Allah be pleased with him, was killed without leaving a dinar or a dirham, but only two pieces of land, one of which was al-Ghaba, and eleven houses in Madina, two in Basra, one in Kufa, and one in Egypt.” He said, “The debt that he owed resulted from people bringing him money to leave in his keeping. Az-Zubayr would say, ‘No, let it rather be a loan, for otherwise I fear that it might get lost.’ He was never appointed to a government post of any kind nor to the collection of land-tax (kharaj) nor anything else. What he had came only from expeditions with the Prophet, or with Abu Bakr, ‘Umar and ‘Uthman.”
‘Abdullah ibn az-Zubayr said, “When I worked out the debt he owed, I found it to be two million and two hundred thousand.” Hakim ibn Hizam met ‘Abdullah ibn az-Zubayr and said, “Nephew, how large a debt does my brother have?” I concealed it and said, “A hundred thousand.” Hakim said, “By Allah, I do not think that your property will cover this amount.” ‘Abdullah said, “What would you think if it were two million and two hundred thousand?” He said, “I do not think you will be able to pay this. If you are unable to cover any of it, then ask me for help.”
He said, “Az-Zubayr had purchased al-Ghaba for one hundred and seventy thousand, and ‘Abdullah sold it for one million and six hundred thousand. Then he stood up and said, ‘Anyone who is owed anything by az-Zubayr should come to us at al-Ghaba.’ ‘Abdullah ibn Ja’far came to him, and az-Zubayr owed him four hundred thousand. He said to ‘Abdullah. ‘If you like, I will forgo it.’ ‘Abdullah said, ‘No.’ He said, ‘If you like, you can delay payment if you want to.’ ‘Abdullah said, ‘No.’” He said, “He said, ‘So allocate me a piece of land.’ ‘Abdullah said, ‘You can have from here to there.’ ‘Abdullah sold some of it and paid his debts in full and there remained four and a half shares of the land. He went to Mu’awiya while ‘Amr ibn ‘Uthman, al-Mundhir ibn az-Zubayr and Ibn Zam’a were with him. Mu’awiya said, ‘How much have you valued al-Ghaba at?’ He said, ‘Each share at a hundred thousand.’ He said, ‘How much remains?’ He said, ‘Four and half shares.’ Al-Mundhir ibn az-Zubayr said, ‘I will take a share for a hundred thousand.’ ‘Amr ibn ‘Uthman said, ‘I will take a share for a hundred thousand.’ Ibn Zam’a said, ‘I will take a share for a hundred thousad.’ Mu’awiya said, ‘How much remains?’ He said, ‘A share and a half.’ He said, ‘I will take them for one hundred and fifty thousand.’”
He said, “‘Abdullah ibn Ja’far later sold his share to Mu’awiya for sixty thousand. When Ibn az-Zubayr finishing settling his debts, the sons of az-Zubayr said, ‘Distribute our inheritance between us.’ He said, ‘No, by Allah, I will not distribute it until I have made this announcement for four years during the hajj festival: ‘Anyone who has a debt owed him by az-Zubayr should come to us and we will settle it.’” He said, “He announced that every year at the festival and when the four years were up, he distributed it between them. Az-Zubayr had four wives and after the prescribed third was removed, each wife got a million and two hundred thousand. So the total amount of his property was fifty million and two hundred thousand.” [al-Bukhari]
InsyaAllah may we have character like az-Zubayr when it comes to delivering trusts.
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