Investment of Unpaid Wages

Salim b. ‘Abdullah reported his father narrating: I heard the Messenger of Allah (Sall Allah-o-alaihe wa sallam) saying: “Whoever of you can, should become like the one who had a faraq (measure) of rice.”  They (people) said: “Who is one who had a faraq of rice, O Messenger of Allah?” He mentioned the tradition of the people (who were trapped) in the cave by falling of the rock on it. Then they said to one another: “Recall best of your deeds.” And the third one said: “O Allah! You know I hired a labourer for a measure (faraq) of rice, when evening befell I offered him his wages, he refused to accept it and went away.  I invested that on his behalf until I gathered on his account a cow and its calves.  Subsequently, he met me and said: Give me my wages. I asked him: Go towards that cow and its calves and get that. He went to that (herd) and drove it away.”

Source: Economic Teachings of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him): A Select Anthology of Hadith Literature on Economics, Muhammad Akram Khan. Republished with permission.