It comes with a job description that you've to do something that goes against your ethics. It's not necessarily something immoral but it does place you in an ethical dilemma, what would you do?

~ Resign

~ Perform the task as you've signed a contract to fullfil the job requirements when you were recruited.

~ Wait to be fired.

And why did you choose that option?

Note: Be realistic.

If it is wrong religiously speaking, I would refuse to do it and explain that I can't because of my personal beliefs. They can then fire me if they choose to, or I'd resign if they insist on me doing it.

If it's just something I am not comfortable doing but it's not haram, then I'll do it.

I will surely resign and also make others aware of those points which I find unethical.

You might live with you self for a while if you do something you find unethical but you will surelly suffer. If not in 5 years then in 50. But you will!

Yeah I think I would do the same as libellula - like if it was something that involved for example... alcohol, taking off the hijab if I wore it, privacy with a male for a long period of time... etc. Those things go against my religion so I would probably resign or argue it to death till I got fired .

I'd be like libby .. if its religiously haram then I wont do it no matter what .. and it also depends for how long I would do it .. like if its a one time thing, and I cant do anything about it I might let it pass one time if its not a religiously haram thing .. other wise, if its something going to happen frequently then I might resign.

But aren't most unethical things Haraam? :os

I'd be like libby .. if its religiously haram then I wont do it no matter what .. and it also depends for how long I would do it .. like if its a one time thing, and I cant do anything about it I might let it pass one time if its not a religiously haram thing .. other wise, if its something going to happen frequently then I might resign.

I think realistically, I'm more inclined to agree with you.

But aren't most unethical things Haraam? :os


Not necessarily. Sometimes within a cooperation you will have to lets say fire people for the comfort of the big sharks if a merger occurs or something of that sort. You might find that unethical but it's certainly not haram.

Well Lym, if its you who make the final decision on firing such people based on what you said, it is still a bad thing to do sa7?

Anyhow, I would usually make sure I am strong enough to do things at work I dont like. But if it is something that I find that goes against my religions, or even my conscious and ethics, regardless of it being "haraam" or not, I don't think I will accept to do such work.

In the example you gave Lym, I think I will be fine with firing employees as long as that benefits the company. That is not unethical to me! But I agree, its not fair :(

As expectedly, ethics differ from one person to the other I guess. I might find it unethical to fire people who've a family of 10 to suffer for no good reason but only to increase the profits of the millionaires. I might find it unethical to use cheap labor and exploit workers from 3rd world countries, but others might think too bad, that's just the way life is.

Without a doubt it will be a bad thing to do and your conscience will suffer as a result, but you've to support your family as well to survive because if you dont do what they say, you will be fired. Won't you do it in this case? I think I will :os

I agree Lym, it depends how one interprets ethics or conscious. I know, it can be really tough specially when you have a family to support.

But still I don't think I will be able to do something against my ethics, conscious or religion. But who knows, I might change when I start working and I have a family to support.

Thinking about it, I might try to find a political or middle solution. That way no one loses anything. But again, I plan to become a teacher one day inshaa'Allah, I don't see what unethical things I might have to do in a college or Univ.!? Anything in your mind? :os

Nope I think you might be safe. Other professions however are more prone to ethical dilemmas - I think!

Ok cool Lym, you made my day. I got worried there for a second :D

I feel bad for lawyers :p

I feel bad for lawyers :p

Me too :XD:

I'll contradict one of your thoughts, Lym. I would rather find it unethical to keep an employee 'just' because he/she has a huge family and this job is their only means of income. The weakest link goes and not necessarily to reflect larger paychecks for the higher tier. Same actually goes for 'cheap labor' or relocating large chunks of development to 3rd world countries, as long as they are not being 'exploited'. Its a win-win situation for both the consumers (think inexpensive and almost infinite amount of product) and the labor (means of income generally at par or better than low paying jobs in their own countries). Most of you use iPods which are actually made in warehouses in 3rd world countries... and clothes, pillows, sheets, curtains, rugs and so on. :)

I'd resign if faced with a truly unethical experience.

I'll contradict one of your thoughts, Lym. I would rather find it unethical to keep an employee 'just' because he/she has a huge family and this job is their only means of income.

That will not be the only reason he's working there. He should definitely be competent for his job. However, all I'm saying is if the only reason they were fired was because of cutting costs while it is much needed for him as opposed to the owners/shareholders.

I think poverty sometimes can be the root of all evil. If you fire this man with 10 children, they're more prone to committing crimes, they would not have an education. I think there is a run down of events that makes it more unethical in the long term. Not all companies are 'ethical' enough to return the profit into the community of a 3rd world country and even if they do, it's not enough to support them as the father did while he worked :rolleyes:

I'd be like libby .. if its religiously haram then I wont do it no matter what .. and it also depends for how long I would do it .. like if its a one time thing, and I cant do anything about it I might let it pass one time if its not a religiously haram thing .. other wise, if its something going to happen frequently then I might resign.

I agree with you! :D

i'd do it as long as it wont harm me or any1 else.... n if its far from relegious matters

I signed the contract at the first place, so i agreed from the begining!

unless later on i started to feel guilty or stuff like that then i will sure take the responsiblity of my action and take the consequnces which is Resigning or at some cases if my relationship with my boss was good then i will try to talk to him to hand it to some other person if it is possible and not bad to the business

If it's not against my religious beliefs then I'll do it though it depends on how frequent it is as arby mentioned.

based on the scenario, I have already signed the contract. Which means I already knew since the very beginning what responsibilities I had and which are the things I might have to do. Based on that if the task was something I can't do then I wouldn't of got the job in the first place. So since I already did then I will just do that task, despite what I feel about it.

There are always good and bad things that come with the job, so this scenario is quite expected if accepted from the very beginning. I would consider it weird when someone reconsiders about it even though they knew about it.

If it's against my beliefs then I'll definately resign. I don't want to live in doubts, it's not worth it!

Will resign of course !!

I wont resign, if I am the only provider in the family....

I will continue my job as long as I am enjoying it, being paid well & it isn't against the religion

Whether it is unethical or ethical varies from person to person. There are a lot of things that people find unethical, that I find perfectly fine. For instance, enviromentalists who think using oil, gas and coal as completely unethical, as it pollutes the environment, causes global warming, etc. While, I think, it's wonderful since it's what runs the world right now and makes us Arabs get educated and live in sky scrapers :XD: . Others who find it unethical to eat animals and are vegetarians, but I think its perfectly fine to be a carnivore. :alien: Others who will not get into banking and finance, coz they find it unethical since you are dealing with interest (riba), while I share the different view that by working in the conventional field, you can then develop shariah investment/islamic banking. Others who feel that lawyers defending the defendant/criminal as unethical, while I find it ethical since you are being fair to both parties by having lawyers for both. You get the picture.

So my answer would be : Perform the task as you've signed a contract to fullfil the job requirements when you were recruited. :flower: There is no wrong/right answer to these grey areas. They're both good and bad.

It comes with a job description

If the person knows before applying for the job that he is going to deal with such things, then why accept the job in the first place.

And I don't think an employee will be fired just because he refused to do something against his religion.

if it's written in the contract i wouldn't have accepted in the first place..but if it wasn't and it's something i'm extremely uncomfortable with...not necessary haram..i'd resign

i'd resign !

i dont think i can give in an enivronment that i dont feel comfertable with.

if it comes with the job i'd do it. Like my job right now, regardless of my personal opinions im required to follow procedure.
Unless its a serious ethical (or other) dilemma, i'd go through with it.