ANSWERED: Seeking employment overseas

[Abdur_Rahman]

Please can any of the mufti and/or talibul ilm please share

As I know brothers (in American) who are seeking employment overseas, would it be wrong for those brothers to call it "Hijrah", because the employment can be a short stay. For the brothers that I know they're trying to go to the Arabian Penninsula to leave the USA. They know that the penninsula is not a utopia, and it's not perfect but the situation of going to darul-islam and leaving darul-kufr is being strongly desired. Furthermore you cannot become a citizen in Saudia unless you've lived there for 10 yrs. and knowing the lugha, and basically giving back to the kingdom (example, if you're a computer nerd or something like that, you can offer the kingdom your job expertise and be a vital part of their economy).

Furthermore could I advise them to also look into Indonesia (the most saturated amount of muslims), Pakistan, Egypt, Morroco etc. Also I personally know some who work in kingdom to teach english (TEFL, CEFL english certificates), and I don't wanna follow what the everday crowd is doing.

Please help

[eat-halal guy]

This would all depend on the person’s intention. The first hadith in Buhkari states, “"The reward of deeds depends upon the intentions and every person will get the reward according to what he has intended. So whoever emigrated for worldly benefits or for a woman to marry, his emigration was for what he emigrated for." Therefore if the person’s intention is purely ‘for Allah’, then he will be rewarded accordingly. But, if his intention is purely for employment, then he will not be rewarded. If his intention is mixed, for Allah and employment, then he will be rewarded ( ), but not to the extent a person with total conviction for Allah.

Would the going to a Muslim country for employment for a specific time be called Hijrah? This would also depend on his intention. If he intends to come back, even if he has a chance to prolong his stay or even become a citizen, then surely this would not be counted as hijrah, due to his intention of coming back. However, if he makes the intention before going that I intend to do whatever it takes to stay there or make the firm intention of not retuning; then this could be labeled as hijrah.

Migration to any Muslim county could be labeled as a person doing hijrah. Ibn Hajr in his commentary of Sahih Bukhari, Fath-ul Bari, defines hijrah as leaving darul-kufr for darul-islam. Therefore yes, migrating to Indonesia would be defined as hijrah.

(Answer by final year `Alim class students at Al-Rashid Islamic Insitute, with guidance from their teachers)

Allah knows best.

Wassalam,
Ziad