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What are the rulings on unemployment in Islamic Sharia, and what is your advice to unemployed youth and officials to confront this phenomenon?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

Unemployment is a social problem that requires concerted efforts to solve. Young people who are able to work are advised to strive and earn a lawful living, for the best earning is through manual labor, as the prophets, companions, and scholars used to work with their hands. Those who are unemployed should become independent of people and seek help from Allah alone, for whoever is afflicted by poverty and submits it to Allah, Allah will guarantee their provision. The Prophet urged working and not begging from people. Workers must cultivate faith and trustworthiness, feel the responsibility of developing the earth, and be keen on lawful earnings. Officials must care for the unemployed and needy and provide them with job opportunities, as Umar ibn al-Khattab and Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz did in providing for people's needs and enriching them. Capital owners and community leaders should help the unemployed by interceding, lending, providing job opportunities, and training them.

Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026

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