Idleness

When I see a man and his personality pleases me, that personality is diminished in my eyes when I come to know that he does no work.

The same tradition has been recorded by Ibn Jauzi in his book, “Talbees-e-Iblees”, in which Mohammad bin Asim says, “I came to know that when Umar saw any young individual and he liked him, he would ask him, ‘Do you have a job?’ If his answer were in the negative, he would become less important in his eyes.” The reality is that remaining idle is the worst thing for any individual. It swallows up all his good qualities. Although an unemployed individual seems to be alive, in reality, he is lifeless. He can have no delicate feelings whatsoever. And it is such feelings which make a man a man in the real sense.

One way in which a person remains jobless is when he shirks hard work or is unable to find a job which does not entail hard work, and he just fritters away his time waiting for the form of employment of his choice.

Another form of idleness derives from a person inheriting wealth, or his having other sources of income for which he has made no personal effort, for example, the interest on money deposited in a bank, or the rent from a property which he receives every month. All these sources of income give rise to idleness and that is fatal for a person, no matter how well settled he may appear to be.

Every person must have a purpose in life. Every person ought to find some lawful activity for himself and must keep himself busy in his work. One who does not have any such occupation does not have a life. You will very seldom find a jobless person who is of a high intellectual calibre.