The meaning of trade is given as follows: «التجاره: التصرف فی رأس المال طلبا للربح»—the use of capital in pursuit of profit and gain.
Trade, then, is the management of capital and its cultivation for profit and gain—a kind of farming with capital. Capital should not lie idle. It may take many forms: financial, intellectual, scholarly, social, physical, technical, industrial, and more.
The hadith cited above does not rule out other forms of trade, nor does it restrict trade to buying and selling. Rather, trade has a broader meaning and encompasses many activities, including industry and production, where knowledge, skill and wealth are brought together as capital.
Several Quranic verses make particular mention of the many benefits of industry:
الحدید : 25 لقد أرسلنا رسلنا بالبینات و أنزلنا معهم الکتاب و المیزان لیقوم الناس بالقسط و أنزلنا الحدید فیه بأس شدید و منافع للناس و لیعلم الله من ینصره و رسله بالغیب إن الله قوی عزیز
“We sent Our messengers with clear proofs, and sent down with them the Book and the Balance, so that people might uphold justice. And We sent down iron, in which there is great strength and many benefits for people, so that God may make known who supports Him and His messengers unseen. Surely God is Strong, Almighty.”
سبأ : 11 أن اعمل سابغات و قدر فی السرد و اعملوا صالحا إنی بما تعملون بصیر
“Make coats of mail, ample and well-fitted, and make the links in due proportion. And do good works; surely I see all that you do.”
**Beautiful hadiths on industry and agriculture**
عن أبی عبد الله ع أن أمیر المؤمنین ع قال: أوحى الله عز و جل إلى داود ع أنک نعم العبد لو لا أنک تأکل من بیت المال و لا تعمل بیدک شیئا قال فبکى داود ع أربعین صباحا فأوحى الله عز و جل إلى الحدید أن لن لعبدی داود فألان الله عز و جل له الحدید فکان یعمل کل یوم درعا فیبیعها بألف درهم فعمل ثلاثمائه و ستین درعا فباعها بثلاثمائه و ستین ألفا و استغنى عن بیت المال.
الکافی (ط - الإسلامیه)، ج5، ص: 74
Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said that God, the Almighty, revealed to David (peace be upon him): “You would be an excellent servant if only you did not live on the public treasury and would work with your own hands…”
David wept for forty days. Then God revealed to the iron: “Be gentle in the hands of My servant David.” God made the iron pliable for him, and David began making a coat of mail each day, which he sold for a thousand dirhams. He made three hundred and sixty coats and sold them for three hundred and sixty thousand dirhams, becoming self-sufficient and no longer dependent on the public treasury.
قال قال رسول الله ص تمسحوا بالأرض فإنها أمکم و هی بکم بره
The Messenger of God (peace be upon him) said: “Rub your hands on the earth, for it is your mother, and it is kind to you.”