The ruling on an employee engaging in trade if his job prohibits it

The questioner : Honorable Shaykh, you mentioned in

The Shaykh : that the system does not obtain.

The questioner : The employee is permitted to engage in trade, but Honorable Shaykh, some people’s salaries are not sufficient for them. Should they burden themselves with debts, or should they engage in the trade that Allah the Exalted has made permissible?

The Shaykh : I say: Do not burden yourself with debts. And do not engage in trade. If he sees that trade is better for him than the job, let him leave the job. If he sees that the job is better for him than trade, let him leave the trade. As for his saying “that Allah has made permissible,” we say: Yes, Allah has made trade permissible, there is no doubt in this. But the One who made trade permissible has also made it obligatory to fulfill the contract. He said: If the employee knows that if he enters the job he will be prevented from trade, then he has entered under a condition that he must fulfill, unless the one who set the condition drops it, meaning unless the government drops it. This phrase, which he intended to use to make the matter of trade for the employee seem light by saying “that Allah has made permissible,” we must know that the Shari'ah qualifies some of it with some of it. Absolute hadiths come. Absolute hadiths come.
They must be qualified, and there are many of them. Read the saying of Allah the Exalted regarding the prohibited in marriage; after mentioning the prohibited, He said: If someone were to say that this verse indicates that it is permissible for a woman to marry without a guardian, permissible to marry without consent, permissible to marry without witnesses, because that is what is in this verse—does this statement hold or does it not hold? It does not hold. So His saying “And Allah has made lawful the sale” is absolute, and it is carried to other texts, which is the obligation to fulfill the contract. So you have now entered with the government as an employee: you have what employees have, and you are bound by what employees are bound by. But someone might say: We see among the senior employees those who practice buying and selling. And they are more than us by millions of dirhams. So what is the matter with us, the small ones, that we are not able to buy and sell?
And the answer to this is that we say: The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: Meaning you will find those who take precedence over you among the rulers. But be patient until you meet me at the Pond. See, the benefit of patience is that a person meets the Messenger of Allah at the Pond. This is equal to the entire world. And in the hadith of 'Ubadah ibn al-Samt, he said: “Taking precedence over us.” And what does “taking precedence” mean? It means taking precedence over us, meaning those who command us take precedence over us. It is obligatory for us to listen and obey, even if there is taking precedence over you. We uphold Allah with the right that is theirs, and we ask Allah to guide them to perform the right that is upon them. This is their duty. As for arguing with something that is not a proof with Allah, this does not benefit the person. Yes.