The representative of the supreme religious authority, Sheikh Abdul-Mahdi al-Karbalai, dealt with the professional career between the patriotic, legal and moral entitlements, and the reality of the situation.
Al-Karbalai said in the Friday’s sermon held at the holy shrine of Imam Hussein "pbuh" on August 16, 2019, that "Everyone is assigned to perform a particular job, task, or service," adding "Work is one of the social, economic, and educational necessities of life, as it is also a principle for human quest to the ranks that fit it well, in addition to being a platform for development, prosperity, pride, dignity and happiness sought by individual and society alike, besides being a basis for the worthiness of man and the colonization of earth, which can be found in the Holy Quran that its verses have repeatedly linked faith with work."
"Professional career has a sensitive and important role in achieving the basic and essential needs in life, such as medical and education services, as well as its role in achieving prosperity, comfort and development for individual and society," he added, noting that "The perfection of work requires a number of principles that must be observed and adhered to by the individuals, whether those individuals were of the religious kind or not."
He pointed out that "The first one of these principles is the love to work felt by individual," indicating that "Work is considered to have a high Islamic religious value, while considered by some as a patriotic principle contributes to prosperity and development, as well as to achieve dignity, comfort and sovereignty for the people and country, or as a moral value by others, however, some deal with it as a material mean to achieve material goals related to the self-needs of the individual, entity, or political party."
The representative of the supreme religious authority explained that "When professional career is dealt with as a divine, faith and religious principle, and to be loved as the God and His Prophet and Imams do, then it should be treated as a principle with the highest goals such as serving people. Moreover, while dealing with it according to the material part, then it would be no motivation for hard work, perfection and investing the energies to accomplish it."
"Some countries do not believe in a particular religion, but they have advanced, prospered and had a great position among other countries, which can be simply explained as how these countries see work as a supreme value, and represents a patriotic and moral principle away from material aspects," al-Karbalai noted, pointing out that "Sincerity in work is one of the most important principles and represents the basic characteristic that God Almighty has chosen the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him and his household), other prophets and Imams, for," indicating that "Sincerity is dedicated sometimes to God Almighty by those who believe in him, and sometimes for the homeland and people. It is one of the basics for differentiation between people, as well as being as an important principle to invest mental and physical energies to reach the best results."
He explained that "The third principle can be seen in work ethics," noting that "When the employee provides a certain service, then they serve a human being not an object, for example, the doctor treats the human patient, the teacher educates the human student, and the employee serves the human citizen, which stressed the need to provide the service with the ethics of a sophisticated human, not like the production of a senseless machine."
"The fourth principle stipulates that work is a trust given to man, and any service or function performed by man, represents the assignment of an obligated or desirable duty," he stressed, pointing out that "The trust offered to the heavens and earth was represented the assignment of work, not as an honor, but if it was performed perfectly, then its perfection would be an honor for the trustee".
Sheikh Abdul-Mahdi al-Karbalai concluded that "The fifth principle is to abide by rights and duties," saying "There is work, a worker and an employer, and that the perfection of universe and its system is based on rights and duties, in addition that it is rightful for any person to claim their rights, but at the same time, they are required to perform duties assigned to them."
