Much of the work that engineers do involves decoration that reaches the level of extravagance and waste. Do they sin by doing this work?

The questioner : Let's stay with this hadith, please.

The Shaykh: Go ahead.

The questioner : In our consulting work, we engineers, we might be committing a sin.

The Shaykh : Yes, without a doubt.

The questioner : A lot of the work we do involves decoration.

The Shaykh : There is no doubt that we pass through some neighborhoods where, every day, we see the design of these houses. I say, by Allah, these people have money; instead of spending it to solve the problems of the poor and the needy, they put it into stones. Every house has a different look, every design is different. What is this? This is undoubtedly included in the saying of Allah, the Exalted: they are the brothers of the devils, and mostly so.
The student : .

The Shaykh: Yes.
The student : .

The Shaykh Well done. And mostly, these people do not fulfill the obligation of paying zakah on the wealth they hoard. This is mostly the case. Yes, because Satan is the manifest enemy of man. So he beautifies for them the spending of this accumulated wealth in one way or another, but he chooses for them the way that contradicts the Shari'ah of Allah, Mighty and Majestic.

The questioner : So, does that mean we are supposed to refuse to work in our field?

The Shaykh: Not just this.

The questioner : Yes.

The Shaykh : Not only that; you are supposed to be guiding them.

The questioner : We try, but the owner does not respond to you.

The Shaykh : If he does not respond, you have thrown the responsibility off yourself. Do you have an obligation now? Yes, you have two obligations. The first is that you do not cooperate with this extravagant, wasteful person. The second obligation is that you remind him of his duties. First, build, my brother, a building that has no objection to being strong and solid, so you do not need to patch and repair it every day, and so on. Yes, there is no objection to it being spacious to the extent of your need for it. If the reminder benefits, remind him by his saying, peace and blessings be upon him: So, elevating the building and multiplying the rooms without need for them is undoubtedly from the work of Satan. So your first obligation is not to cooperate in drawing up a plan that helps him in his waste. Your second obligation is that you advise him and remind him that we, as a Muslim people, have obligations. These obligations require us to spend our money and place it in its proper places according to the Shari'ah, including helping these poor and needy people. If he does not respond to you, you are not in a position to force him. But in return, he is not in a position to force you to be dragged along to draw up a plan for him that, if he implements it, would be a sin. So if you are not in a position to control him, he should not be in a position to control you, at least.

The questioner : The contractor who builds...

The Shaykh : Without a doubt.

The questioner : Talk about this contractor. I build schools.

Another questioner : You stopped.

Another questioner : Our Shaykh, reconciling this topic with the topic of the three things of happiness, one of which is a spacious house.

The Shaykh : Of course, a spacious house is not outside the scope of need.

The questioner : Of course, people's needs differ...

The Shaykh : Yes, without a doubt they differ. Now, I am giving you an example from my house, not as an example to be followed in all aspects, no. But my house differs from your house in many ways. I have a height of 4 meters, and I had a disagreement with what do you call it? The concrete contractor. I disagreed with him because when we started agreeing with him, part of the agreement was that he said: "My brother, we calculate empty and full, so the price is the same." I showed him that this is gambling, which is not permissible.

The questioner: Hehehe.

The Shaykh : Hehe, correct, engineer, or not? Hehe. That is one thing. The second thing, he said, "We take a fee for pouring the column from three meters to four meters, such and such dinars." Of course, the time is far, but what prevails in my memory is three and a half dinars at that time. I also said to him, "This is not permissible by the Shari'ah. Do you want to say that three meters is like four meters for the same price? Either you are wronged by the meter you added, or I am wronged. One of the two." He said, "What? The custom among us is..." as they say, "Can the perfumer fix what time has broken?" This custom, as soon as I say, "This is empty and full," no, the important thing is that I agreed with him. When we got to the planning, we told him, "I want all the columns to be four meters high for me, because I want ventilation here." Peace be upon you, do you understand? I want ventilation. This low ceiling does not provide sufficient ventilation. He said, "As you wish, in the calculation." Hehe, by Allah, it is something strange. He said, "I will not give you the columns at three meters for three and a half dinars." I said to him, "Why? Did you not request this and calculate for us and tell us, 'My brother, this is not permissible by the Shari'ah'? Either you are the wrongdoer and I am the wronged, or I am the wrongdoer and you are the wronged. We told you in advance. Why have you now returned from what we agreed upon?" He said, "I did not think that all the columns would need to be this height." I said to him, "Therefore, you must adhere to the Shari'ah. Every meter has its calculation." In conclusion, I have now built a building that, when people see it, the height is truly unusual. The known buildings today, especially those that remind us, as they say, of the modern era, are like sardine cans.

The questioner : Just barely.

The Shaykh : Hehe, just barely. The important thing is...

The questioner : The truth is upon them.

The Shaykh : The point is that I aimed for benefit and utility, not for boasting, nor for the decoration of the building, nor for anything else. So, according to need, a person builds. There is absolutely no objection. So spaciousness, if we suppose now, if we suppose due to the corruption of the times and the mixing of young men with young women and boys with girls, and so on, the owner of the house wants to build a courtyard in the house so that the children, whether male or female, do not have to go out to the parks, which are a mixed bag, as we say in Sham. There is no objection; the need dictates this. And so on. The important thing is, as al-Mughirah ibn Shu'bah (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) forbade idle talk, excessive questioning, and the wasting of money." There is no doubt that this is wasting money in the way that many buildings are built today. Good.
Other than that?