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Iktisab (earning a livelihood)

الاكتساب

Iktisab means seeking livelihood and earning property by lawful means; unlike kasb it requires effort. 1 It is obligatory on a capable person in need, a sunna for one who has enough, and obligatory for one without subsistence or one whose upkeep is due. 2 Women and children who are not fit to earn are not required to work. 2 Earning through what is forbidden, such as selling wine, is not allowed. 23

Depth

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Era
The Prophetic Era
Region
Global / Diaspora
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The poor and the worker

Definition

Iktisab means seeking livelihood and gaining property in general; the jurists add that it is gaining property by lawful means. 1 Kasb differs in that iktisab requires effort, while kasb can be had without effort, as through inheritance. 1

Ruling

Iktisab is obligatory on a capable person in need, since through it a person meets what is due in upkeep: himself, his wife, his young children, poor parents, and jihad. 2 Ibn Muflih divides its ruling by the earner's situation: it is a sunna for one who has enough, permitted for more wealth and status, and obligatory for someone without subsistence or with a debt, a vow or an expiation. 2 Al-Mawardi held that seeking earnings only as far as one's needs is the best of the seekers' conditions. 2

Who is not required to earn

  • A woman is not required to earn for herself or others; her upkeep, if she is poor, is due from others. 2
  • A child not fit to earn is not required; fitness includes the physical and mental ability to tell lawful from unlawful, and the Muwatta' carries a report from Uthman on this. 2

Ways of earning

Iktisab requires work, and the work must be lawful; earning by serving wine to drinkers is not allowed. Lowly trades are disliked, with conditions set out under ihtiraf. 23

People and things also explored

Agriculture in Islam· Ajr al-mithl (customary wage)· Basic needs· Spending in the way of God (infaq)· Natural and unnatural economic activity· Economic scarcity· Capitalism as criticised by Qa'dat· Seeking bounty in the land (sa'y fi al-ard)

Sources

  1. al-Mawsu'a al-Fiqhiyya al-Kuwaitiyya, Noor-Book copy (file named v3) , p.3234
  2. al-Mawsu'a al-Fiqhiyya al-Kuwaitiyya, Noor-Book copy (file named v3) , p.3235
  3. al-Mawsu'a al-Fiqhiyya al-Kuwaitiyya, Noor-Book copy (file named v3) , p.3236
Cite this page

islam.museum contributors. “Iktisab (earning a livelihood)”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/concept/iktisab/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Last updated 2026-10-23.

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Ideas

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Agriculture in Islam

Al-Maraghi presents agriculture as the oldest livelihood, after Ibn Khaldun, the simplest and closest to nature (pp. 27-28). Islam encourages it as the source of people's and animals' food and forbids farming usurped land (p. 28). Reviving dead land gives title, and a tract left unworked for three years may pass to another who works it, subject to the ruler's permission in practice (p. 29). The book warns against withholding surplus water and tells the Zubayr water dispute (pp. 29-30). Sharecropping is called muzara'a (p. 30).