A Comparative Analysis of the Value and Status of Labor in Islam and Judaism

Today, the followers of divine religions hold that religious and human coexistence is contingent upon the dialogues among religious thinkers. Naturally, these dialogues are centered on the revealed books. One of the questions which can be searched in the Quran and the Bible is the issue of labor. Man has two dimensions: material and spiritual and their perfection can be realized through labor. The present paper tries to extract the moral status of labor from the main sources of Islam and Judaism including Quran, infallible Imam's traditions, the Bible and its authentic commentary and then analyze it. Islam condemns idleness and believes that God grants aid to those who carry the burden of responsiblity. According to Torah, God placed Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden to work there and preserve it.