Work Ethic from Qur’anic Maqasid Approach: An Introduction and Preliminary Theoretical Development

Abstract

The Purpose of this paper is to introduce the concept of work ethics, which is explored through Qur’anic approach of the maqasid . The study of work ethic in the maqasid perspective is an ongoing effort to construct the Qur’anic concept of work ethic. While the theories of work ethic are widely available in various disciplines, in the discipline of Psychology, the analysis of Islamic work ethic remains a desideratum. This is due to the fact, that the specialist literature regarding management and organizational psychology rarely deals with this topic on a systematic basis. The concept of Islamic work ethic which is widely cited and used in organizational research studies is normally reduced to critical evaluation of the sources. This is due to a number of reasons among which the main is the lack of anthological basis. Moreover, in many works on Islamic work ethic the verses of the Holy Qur’an do not significantly well reflect the concept of work ethic. It is also important to stress that Holy Qur’an has its own view on the phenomenon of work. In its essence the latter is never separated from life. This fact invites to introduce the maqasid approach. The reasons are as follows: 1). It provides a systematic philosophical basis (ontology, epistemology and axiology) of conceptual development based on the Holy ‘.Holy Qur’an. The maqasid approach sees creation (human being and other creations in their entirety) as created with a purpose ( maqasid , in Arabic; or maksud , in Indonesian). Within the “frame of purpose of the creation,” the construct of ethic is developed 2). The maqasid approach goes about the understanding of the Qur’anic verses related to specific area in a comprehensive and systematic manner, by looking into its semantics from the original Arabic word, and then examined its relationship with other related verses of the Holy Book. 3). The Holy Qur’an is in fact also a system of ethics; as such it comprises ethical principles related to work within the framework of the purpose of creation and life.