Islam's Response to Contemporary Issues — Page 151
Socio-economic Peace 151 are under him and placed under his trust. In one of the traditions of the Holy Founder sa of Islam, we read: Each of you is like a shepherd to whom the sheep belong. He is entrusted with the responsibility of tending the sheep. You will be held answerable. 19 This tradition mentions the various relationships in which one can be in charge of other human beings e. g. master over servant; the wife who is the lady of the house and the father as head of the family who are both responsible for the entire family; and the employer who is responsible for the employees under him, and so on and so forth, and each time the Holy Prophet sa repeated: Remember you will be held responsible and answerable. An Example from Early Islam Once Umar ra , the Second Caliph in Islam, was passing through a street in a suburb of Medina at night. It was his custom to walk the streets incognito to see for himself at first hand what was happening to the people under his authority. He heard from a house the cries of children who seemed to be in some pain. His inquiry revealed that there were about three children sitting around a fire on which a kettle or pot was boiling and their mother was sitting by them. He enquired what had happened. She said: ‘My children were hungry. I have nothing to feed them. It is only to console them that I have put some