1. Narrations on work, trade, and its etiquette from Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him)
1. Isbaat ibn Salim recounts: Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him) inquired about the circumstances of Ma'ath, the canvas seller.
It was reported: He has abandoned trade.
His Eminence reiterated three times: He has acted devilishly because whoever forsakes trade, buying, and selling has lost two-thirds of his intellect.
2. Nine-tenth of income comes from trade.
3. Two-thirds of intellect lies in trade.
4. Abandoning trade diminishes intellect.
5. God Almighty detests those who sell their goods by swearing.
6. Any hoarding that harms people and raises prices has no goodness or blessing in it.
7. Whoever engages in trade becomes self-sufficient from the wealth of people and what they possess.
8. Whoever seeks the world to maintain their dignity among people, provide for their family's well-being, and assist their neighbor, when meeting God, their face shines like the full moon.
9. Do not abandon trade, for if you do, you will become degraded and humiliated.
10. Trade so that God may bless you.
11. Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him) recited this verse:
37. By men whom neither traffic nor merchandise can divert from the Remembrance of Allah, nor from regular Prayer, nor from the practice of regular Charity. (Surah Nur, Verse 37)
Then the Imam said: Storytellers falsely attribute this verse to those who do not trade. They lie because this verse praises those engaged in trade but did not neglect the timely prayers.
12. Ibn Azafar says: My father passed away, and Imam Sadiq's (peace be upon him) money was with him.
His Eminence wrote me a letter and prayed for me.
Then it was mentioned that I gave "Abu Muhammad" one thousand and eight hundred dinars.
I had given this money to him for the sake of trade; pay the money to Umar ibn Yazid.
I looked in my father's notebook and saw that it was written that one thousand and seven hundred dinars from Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him) are with me, with which I traded, and it yielded a profit of one hundred dinars, and Abdullah ibn Sinnan and Umar ibn Yazid are aware of this matter.
13. Trade enhances intellect.
14. Ammar Sabbati says: I asked Abu Abdullah, Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): a person can engage in trade but if he hires himself to another, he gives him as much as he would have earned from the trade.
He said: He should not hire himself to another, rather, he should seek sustenance from Almighty God and engage in trade himself; because if he hires himself to another, he becomes an obstacle to his own sustenance.
15. One who strives to provide for his family is like a warrior in the path of God.
16. Regarding God-fearing and righteous merchants, God says: "Men who neither trade nor traffic distract from the remembrance of Allah.
17. Anyone who deceives a believer in trade is not from us.
18. Abdullah, the servant of Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him), says: The Imam told me: Preserve your dignity.
I asked, "How should I preserve my dignity?"
He said: Be present in the markets from the beginning of the day, maintain the dignity of your soul, and do not become a hireling.
19. Even if you become independent of worldly wealth, do not give up trade to attain the grace and generosity of God.
20. God admits three people into paradise without any reckoning: a just ruler, an honest merchant, and an old man who has spent his life in obedience to God.
21. The trustworthy, honest, and Muslim merchant will join the martyrs on the Day of Judgment.
22. The honest merchant will be under the shade of God's throne on the Day of Judgment.
Those interested in the sources of these narrations can easily access them through a simple internet search.
2. Nagging and complaining within meetings
In a few instances, we see individuals attending meetings, engaging in gossip and disruptions, and then leaving.
Upon investigation, some of them are not Aradi traders.
Others, upon scrutiny, are observed to have had no exposure to Business School, podcasts, Business and Integrity School, news websites, or participation in comments.
Our biggest problem lies with these individuals.
They aim to profit from trading superficially and quickly.
They have invested money but are unwilling to learn.
They only cherish the financial aspect of trading and nothing else.
Other Aradi traders should step in whenever they encounter such behavior and assist in preventing these individuals from tarnishing the Arad environment with negative attitudes.
Arad has created this space for your growth and mutual progress, not to speak against Arad.
Hence, in such situations, fellow Aradi traders who love Arad should not hesitate to defend it, so these individuals become discouraged and refrain from creating a negative atmosphere again.
3. Be fair in rating.
One of the bitter phenomena within Arad is the presence of individuals who want to portray Arad as flawless and immaculate, exaggerating and glorifying its virtues.
Arad's experience has shown that all these individuals will eventually become opponents of Arad because they will find a flaw somewhere in Arad, and in their eyes, the whole sanctity of Arad will collapse, leading them to switch sides.
Consider Arad as 19 for yourself.
Give a negative score of 1 for a part of Arad that is not important wherever it may be, and when you see an error or flaw, let it count as just that 1 negative point.
Then tell yourself, "Arad is 19."
Now, what about me?
With the same scrutiny and insight that you rated Arad, give yourself a score.
Those who want to condemn Arad, if they honestly assess themselves with the same scrutiny, their score will not even reach twenty-five hundredths.
When I see that I can't even score myself a 2, why should I expect Arad to be 20?
Imam alone is infallible, and we all have faults.
The important thing is that we are constantly working on fixing our flaws and making today better than yesterday.