Short answer
Yes, when you need it. Earning enough to support yourself and those you must provide for, and to pay your debts, is fard. Earning more to help relatives or give in charity is rewarded, and work done with a good intention counts as worship. Living off others while able to work is blameworthy.
Earning (kasb) to the level of sufficiency for oneself, one's dependants and one's debts is fard. Beyond that, earning to help relatives and the poor is mustahabb, and earning for pride and show is makruh. A husband and father must support his wife and children; a woman is not obliged to earn for the family.
The four schools agree on this.
Explanation
Islam does not see work as something worldly that competes with religion. Allah tells the believers that after the Friday prayer they should "disperse within the land and seek from the bounty of Allah" (62:10), and He made the earth "tame for you, so walk among its slopes and eat of His provision" (67:15).
The Prophet ﷺ said that no one eats better food than what he earns with his own hands, and that the Prophet Dawud ate from his own work. He said it is better for a man to take a rope, bring a bundle of firewood on his back and sell it than to ask people, who may give or refuse.
Hanafi jurists, following Imam Muhammad's book on earning, set out the levels:
- Fard: enough for your own needs, your wife and children, and parents who depend on you, and to pay debts.
- Mustahabb: more than that, to help relatives, the poor and good causes.
- Permissible: more again, for lawful comfort.
- Makruh: piling up wealth for pride and showing off, even from halal sources.
Relying on Allah (tawakkul) means working and then trusting Him for the result, not sitting at home waiting. Work becomes worship when it is halal, done honestly and with the intention of supporting your family and staying independent of others. It must not push out the fard prayers (62:9). For which jobs to avoid, see Which jobs are haram?, and for women and work, Are women allowed to work?
The evidence
Quran, Surah Al-Jumu'a 62:10
فَإِذَا قُضِيَتِ ٱلصَّلَوٰةُ فَٱنتَشِرُوا۟ فِى ٱلْأَرْضِ وَٱبْتَغُوا۟ مِن فَضْلِ ٱللَّهِ وَٱذْكُرُوا۟ ٱللَّهَ كَثِيرًۭا لَّعَلَّكُمْ تُفْلِحُونَ ﴿١٠﴾
And when the prayer has been concluded, disperse within the land and seek from the bounty of Allah, and remember Allah often that you may succeed.
Believers are told to go out and earn after prayer.
Quran, Surah Al-Mulk 67:15
هُوَ ٱلَّذِى جَعَلَ لَكُمُ ٱلْأَرْضَ ذَلُولًۭا فَٱمْشُوا۟ فِى مَنَاكِبِهَا وَكُلُوا۟ مِن رِّزْقِهِۦ ۖ وَإِلَيْهِ ٱلنُّشُورُ ﴿١٥﴾
It is He who made the earth tame for you - so walk among its slopes and eat of His provision - and to Him is the resurrection.
The earth is made for people to work in and earn from.
Sahih al-Bukhari 2072
Sahih... ما أكل أحد طعاما قط خيرا من أن يأكل من عمل يده ...
"No one has ever eaten better food than what he eats from the work of his own hands."
Earning by your own work is the best provision.
Sahih al-Bukhari 1471
Sahih... لأن يأخذ أحدكم حبله فيأتي بحزمة الحطب على ظهره ...
"For one of you to take his rope and bring a bundle of firewood on his back is better than asking people."
Any honest work is better than depending on others.
Where the ruling is recorded
- al-Fatawa al-Hindiyya, Kitab al-Karahiya, chapter on earning (al-kasb). Earning to sufficiency is fard; beyond it is mustahabb, permissible or makruh by intention.
- Kitab al-Kasb (Imam Muhammad al-Shaybani), Sections on the obligation of earning. The early Hanafi source for the duty to earn.
Checked by our team. For a more accurate answer to your own situation, consult a scholar. Quran translation by Sahih International. Hadith Arabic from the standard editions of the six books and the Muwatta, with gradings as recorded there; the English is our own rendering. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.