Only “Haram” Hirings
Muslim Finds Lawful Work Rare In Bay Area
Story by Christopher Patrick Nelson

I have been ill with bipolar disorder for the last fifteen years. This illness creates a chemical high I would compare to what I have heard described by drug users. As with many narcotics, during the high one becomes quite impulsive and one's judgement gets severely impaired. During the crash, one has very low energy and motivation, and desires sleep and/or death.   Work stops. School stops. Through no fault of the sick person, years pass without a job. (This is MY experience – other people have their own.) I embraced Islam at 21, and now at 30, the Muslim lifestyle (and the right medications) leave me much more stable, and I want to work. For the Muslim in the San Francisco Bay Area, however, lawful work according to our religion is hard to come by.

Many, many Muslim men and women in Silicon Valley work in the tech industry. This is because they went to Santa Clara University, San Jose State University, or Stanford, and earned Ph.D's – degrees. Although my IQ tester told me I was “70% superior” than average in high school, I was in a lockdown facility when most 16-year-olds were getting their first jobs. I was too busy crying (and crying and crying) for no reason at the age most people got their AA's from community college. So, a lot of the jobs I've looked for on the Internet are closed to me. That's okay – I really don't care if I make a lot of money at first or if it is a crappy job. Work is work, not play, and I need to start a work-history.   I don't have much work-history now. However, Islam does not just help stabilize one's life so that one works and pay taxes. This religion is not for one day a week, but for life. What that means is that every action has a ruling in the Shariah, (Sacred Law) either Mandatory, Recommended, Permissible, Disliked, or Unlawful. I look for work now and see a whole lot of occupations that fall into the unlawful.

Islam makes certain foods, like pork or alcohol, unlawful, or Haram, for me to eat or drink (unless I'm starving or dying of thirst.) There is a stereotype of Muslims who own liquor stores. Regardless of who does this, Islamic Law forbids me from selling something I know would harm me or others. That right there makes a lot of the unskilled restaurant-work off-limits to me.   If I work as a janitor, for say, United Defense, or the Lawrence Livermore Laboratories, I keep the workspace neat and clean for them so they can help murder Muslims for their oil. This, too, is forbidden – not to mention that nuclear weapons are INSANE. (Funny, how that metaphor came out, huh?) Anyway, the long and short of it is that I try to be a good person, and money is not evil, but in this area it is hard to get both that status and cash. Some people may not see a problem. “Do what you've got to do,” they may say. But an ethical occupation is not impossible to achieve. I try, I look, I keep on. I don't give up with the want-ads and I don't give up with my ethics. Peace be upon him, the Prophet Muhammad said one of the signs of the end of time is that people won't care where their money is coming from. We all need money, and I have my flaws, but when I was a kid, I always wanted to be one of the good guys. That's one of the things that's gotten me this far in the fight against my mental illness.