How to treat underage servants

23-1-2013 | IslamWeb

Question:

Salam. I wanted to ask about the rights of servants within Islam. Are children under the age of puberty allowed to be kept as servants and if so, how do the people who keep them have to treat them? Aren't education and kind treatment obligatory? If one's parents do not give proper treatment to the servants, how should the children react? Jazakallah

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Answer:

All perfect praise be to Allaah, the Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His Slave and Messenger.

Among the rights of the servants and the etiquettes of dealing with them in general is to be kind to them and not overburden them with something which they could not bear, and helping them in what might be difficult for them and giving them their wages and not being unjust to them or wronging them without any right.

On the other hand, hiring a boy who has not reached the age of distinction is not allowed and some jurists have reported a consensus on this issue. As regards hiring a boy who has reached the age of distinction, then some jurists have permitted it without any conditions and some of them prohibited it, and some others conditioned taking the permission of the boy's guardian. In case one hires them, one should be kind and gentle to them but it is not an obligation on the one who hired a boy to educate him. If he does so, then this is an act by which one gets closer to Allaah and an act of kindness.

In case the parents mistreat the servants, then one should advise them in a wise manner and good admonition and he should remind them that being kind to the servants is a great door of goodness, and that being unjust to them and wronging them is a great door of evil. For more benefit, please refer to Fatwa 1962.

Allaah Knows best.