Honesty in Working (Self-Management)

Oleh : KH Abdullah Gymnastiar


"My beloved brothers and sisters, may Allah give us the pleasure of self-esteem more than the pleasure of wealth, or high managerial position and rank. As we can see there are people who have precious cars, precious houses, but their personalities show no precious self-esteem."


In the name of Allah the beneficient the Mercyful. Praise be to Allah the cherisier and sustainer of the worlds. Allah send your mercy on Muhammad an his poterity as you sent your mercy on Ibrahim and his postertity you are the most praised the most glorious.

Alhamdulillaahirabbil ‘aalamiin, Allahuma shalli ‘ala Muhammad wa ‘ala aalihi washahbihii ajmai’iin. Allahumma shalli ‘alaa muhammad wa’ala ali muhammag kamaa shallaita ‘ala ibraahiim wa ‘alaa ali Ibrahim fil ‘aalamiina innaka hamiidum majiid.

My beloved brothers and sisters, may Allah give us the pleasure of self-esteem more than the pleasure of wealth, or high managerial position and rank. As we can see there are people who have precious cars, precious houses, but their personalities show no precious self-esteem. Therefore, it is not enough if we work hard just for the sake of wealth. Our wealth, however, had been determined a long time ago before we were born. One thing that we have to think about is how to make our bustle of working life becomes our good deeds.

When we look at the life in this world, we are supposed to work as hard as we can. We must remember that we possibly leave this world tomorrow. Muhammad PBUH (Peace and Blessings be Upon Him), the Messenger of Allah, once mentioned that the smartest man is he who thinks of his coming death most and prepares himself to face it. In that case, we have to keep our intention straight and do it our best. Insya Allah, we will reach happiness in both in this world and the hereafter.




In working, even though there are so many rules that prevail, and without involving our hearts, still we will find a lot of problems. The Messenger taught the concept of “Al Amin” more than 14 centuries ago. After faith, our first priority is the credibility in developing ourselves. A commitment will rise as the effect. That was what the Messenger did in proselytizing. His credibility was so admirable that many people were interested in Islam, and then committed to it.

According to what the Messenger said, at least there are three characteristics of a credible man, as follows:
The First, Muhammad PBUH was honest and well trusted all his life until he died. An honest man is he who is free, not afraid of anyone, and feels free to say or do anything right. Meanwhile, someone who tells many lies feels like living in a prison. Also in business, possessing working capital is not the main thing. The most important thing is to have honesty. If we are honest, Insya Allah, many people will trust their capital to us.

The Second, a credible man is someone who is skillful. He satisfies people with the quality of his work. The Messenger him self was the credible man too, who satisfied everybody with the quality of his work, kept his promises, and, also, was an honest and committed man. We should always improve our knowledge about the jobs we are doing, so that the quality of our good deeds we perform will also improved.

The third, the goodness in credibility can be reached if we are creative and are good at innovation. Time keeps changing, people move forward. If we do not change, or move slowly, we will be left behind by more creative and innovative people. Moreover, everybody surely loves new things. For these reasons, we must as strongly as possible develop ourselves; keep studying, so we can be creative and innovative for the sake of humankind. Only Allah who know the cause. Wallahuu’alam bis shawab.


Translated by Dedy Sugandi, SE.
Edited by Zahid Ali & Drs. Azda Zunaedy
Final editing by Avianto