The auditorium was full to its capacity. Enthusiastic teenagers were all geared up to pick and choose the best career for themselves. Yes, it was the career councilors speaking eloquently to attract the students – with a couple of these sessions, and of course, with the associated peer pressure all around. Eighteen years old Fatimah, for instance, wants to take up a computer-related course, so that she gets a well-paying job after completion of her studies. Her sister, Farhana, wants to settle down with a good job before she could even think of marriage. Hena is an engineer, working for a top-notch company, and her dream is to go abroad for both studies and job –and this she wants to accomplish before she could choose a life-partner for herself.

Parents of these girls are speechless, since they have no say in the decisions of their highly qualified and well-earning daughters. Nevertheless, the Muslim daughters of this generation have to be guided and reminded about the stand of Islam on the matters of career and earnings of a woman.

It should be well-understood that the life of a Muslim is always governed by the laws of the Shari’ah, that is, the commands of Allah ta’ala. In an ideal Muslim household, women are never burdened with financial responsibility, unless there is a dire need for it.

The Qur’an and Sunnah of the Prophet have made the husband responsible for the maintenance of his wife: a duty which he should discharge cheerfully without frustrations or anger. This has to be done irrespective of whether his wife is rich or poor, minor or adult, healthy or sick.

Of the many responsibilities a husband bears, one is to shoulder the financial needs of the family in a generous, charitable way, so that his mate may be assured of security, and hence perform her role as mother and wife devotedly.

The twenty-first century is witnessing vast and rapid changes in the functioning of human society. Well-defined roles of men and women have been messed up, thus causing chaos and confusion in the family system.

Since people have failed to differentiate between wants and needs, the greed for money is ever increasing. Even though technological advancement is at its peak, nations are gripped with recession and economical downfall.

The United Nations and its allies think urging people to take up a defined career would solve the problem of economic crisis, and will revive the economy. And therefore, career guidance and counselling sessions have become more common now, than before.

Students who have just reached puberty and getting to know the world around them, are bombarded with career choice related information and assessments. At this very young age, most will not even know what they want for the rest of their lives.

Further, the upbringing, culture, religion, and the social system of every individual student differs. The blanket approach of attracting everyone towards a lucrative job is not a wise idea, because this can have a disastrous effect on the peaceful functioning of the communities.

The purpose of education – as a manifestation of perfection and good character present in the human– is lost, if the aim of education is only to provide the right career.

Strong nations and peaceful communities are not just the products of productive, diversified, and distributed workforce, but rather of responsible citizens with unity, tolerance and hard-working attitudes.