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What are the sayings of scholars, especially the Shafi'is and Hanbalis, regarding a private employee who benefits from his work time for himself and earns money, and does this include every benefit, even if it does not come through work, such as receiving a gift or purchasing something that benefits him during work hours, and does the employer have a share in that?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

A private employee is one whose benefit is measured by time, as the employer exclusively possesses his service throughout the rental period. Therefore, he is not permitted to work for anyone other than his employer except with his permission, nor for himself except with explicit or customary permission. Excluded from this are usual meal times, and the time for purchasing food if it cannot be prepared beforehand or if someone else cannot be delegated to do it. If the private employee works for someone other than his employer without permission and causes harm to him, then the employee is liable for the value of the harm caused to the employer. Some say he is liable for the wages he received from the other party. As for gifts, a private employee is not permitted to accept them if they are for his work, except with the permission of whoever has the authority to grant permission, because they are among the forbidden gifts to workers.

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

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