Muzffarnagar: A leading Islamic seminary
on Wednesday endorsed a fatwa issued by the Supreme Judicial Council
in Saudi Arabia against forcing labourers to work in the hot
summer sun.
Supporting the move, Deputy Vice Chancellor of
Darul-uloom Maulana Abdul Khalique Madrasi said that the fatwa
issued by a member of the Council was based on the Shariat
law.
Earlier, Ali bin Abbas Al Hakami, member of the Board
of Senior Ulema and member of the Supreme Judicial Council,
has said that forcing labourers to work in the hot summer sun
is forbidden in Islam and contradicts the basic objectives of
the Sharia law.
He also denounced those who give scant respect to this
basic philosophy of Islamic Sharia and force labourers to toil
in oppressive heat.
Al Hakami said Islam orders everyone to be kind and
considerate to labourers who are in the lowest strata of
society.
"If a worker is not strong enough to carry out a given
task, he should be provided with another worker to help him
rather than forcing him to do the work alone," he said in a
statement.
Thousands of foreign workers, including a large number
of Indians, work in Saudi Arabia and neighbouring countries
and have been the key component of the construction boom in
the region.
PTI
