A servant is not getting her salary or food
Question

                I work as a servant for an Arab family, and for three months, since I started work and up till now, I have not received my wages, and I feel too shy to ask for them. Sometimes I feel brave and I ask them for my wages, and they tell me that they will give them to me, but I do not see anything. Is it part of Islam to delay wages? What is the ruling on this attitude? There is another matter: the family for whom I work are Muslims, but they do not give me any food; it is as if I am not present with them. When food is cooked, they eat it all, and if there is anything left over, they order me to put it in the fridge. Sometimes they give me something, and as I am in need of nourishment, I might eat a handful, and I might drink some juice, enough to make me able to move. It is what I am doing right or wrong?
Praise be to Allah.
      
      Respected sister 

    We 
    are grieved by your suffering and by the hardship and difficulties that you 
    are encountering in your work and your life with your employers. As you 
    asked about Islam in this situation that you are suffering, what does any of 
    that treatment have to do with Islam? What kind of Islam is there when the 
    employer eats his fill and the servant goes hungry? 

    
    Indeed, what kind of Islam is there when a person eats his fill and his 
    neighbour goes hungry? 

    
    Indeed, what kind of Islam is there when a person eats his fill and his 
    mount on which he works and the pets in his house go hungry, and he does not 
    feed them? 

    The 
    Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said: “Feed 
    them from what you eat, and clothe them from what you wear.” Narrated by 
    Muslim, 3007. 

    He 
    also said: “A slave is entitled to his food and clothing, and he should not 
    be burdened except with that which he can bear.”

    
    Narrated by Muslim, 1662 

    It 
    was narrated from Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) that the 
    Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said: “If the servant of 
    one of you prepares his food, let him make him sit down and eat with him, 
    and if he does not do that, then let him take a morsel; he should hand it to 
    him.”

    
    Narrated by Imam Ahmad in his Musnad, 12/292, no. 7338. The 
    commentators said: Its isnaad is saheeh according to the conditions of the 
    two shaykhs (al-Bukhaari and Muslim). 

    Our 
    advice to you is not to remain silent about your wrongful treatment, and to 
    ask for your wages openly and clearly; when doing that, you should use words 
    that are gentle and polite. What this family is doing of delaying your wages 
    and depriving you of food is the worst and most reprehensible type of 
    mistreatment, in which a rich person takes advantage of a poor worker and 
    delays giving him his wages and his dues for the longest possible time for 
    no reason but heedlessness or for the deliberate purpose of causing harm. 

    It 
    was narrated from Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) that the 
    Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said: “Allah, may He be 
    exalted, says: ‘There are three whose opponent I shall be on the Day of 
    Resurrection … [One of whom is] a man who hired a worker and availed himself 
    of his labour to the fullest extent, but did not give him his wages.’” 
    Narrated by al-Bukhaari, 2270. 

    It 
    was narrated from Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) from the 
    Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him), that he said: “The 
    Muslim is the brother of his fellow-Muslim. He does not wrong him, let him 
    down or despise him.”

    
    Narrated by Muslim in his Saheeh, 2564. 

    Woe 
    to those tyrannical people who exploit others and consume their wealth 
    unlawfully, when what they should do is treat them kindly and be generous 
    towards them over and above what they give them as wages, in order to help 
    them bear the costs of living in this world, and not merely give them their 
    rights.

    So 
    what do you think if they transgress against those rights and dues, and 
    consume them, or delay them with no justification? Allah, may He be 
    glorified and exalted, says (interpretation of the meaning): 

    “And 
    those who, when an oppressive wrong is done to them, they take revenge.

    The 
    recompense for an evil is an evil like thereof, but whoever forgives and 
    makes reconciliation, his reward is due from Allah. Verily, He likes not the 
    Zalimoon (oppressors, polytheists, and wrong-doers, etc.).

    And 
    indeed whosoever takes revenge after he has suffered wrong, for such there 
    is no way (of blame) against them.

    The 
    way (of blame) is only against those who oppress men and wrongly rebel in 
    the earth, for such there will be a painful torment.

    And 
    verily, whosoever shows patience and forgives that would truly be from the 
    things recommended by Allah.”

    [ash-Shoora 
    42:39-43]. 

    If 
    the contract under which you are working stipulates that the cost of your 
    food is to be borne by the people for whom you are working, or if the 
    general custom dictates that, in that case there is no blame on you for what 
    you eat or drink without the knowledge of the family for whom you are 
    working, because that is your right as agreed upon with them. 

    But 
    if the contract states that you are to bear the costs of your food and 
    drink, or this is the general custom, then the basic principle is that you 
    should supply your food at your own expense. 

    In 
    the event that you do not receive your wages or they are delayed, it is 
    permissible for you to eat (from their food) on a reasonable basis, in order 
    to meet your needs if you do not have any money with which you can buy 
    food. 

    And 
    Allah knows best.