Allah in the office: The limits of religious tolerance

Fa Abdul Fa Abdul Updated 6 years ago · Published on 10 Aug 2017 7:00AM · 5 Comments

A FRIEND of mine, Randy, was completely irritated by an incident which took place in his office recently. His colleague, a Muslim woman blasted a sermon session from her phone while everyone was busy doing their work at the office.

The sermon continued for at least an hour or so without any scrutiny from Randy’s officemates. According to Randy, everyone tolerated the sermon, Muslims and non-Muslims alike.

“I just don’t get it,” said Randy.

“Why are Muslims so self-centred and ignorant of others?

“Why do they have to bring religion into the office? What if I blasted some Buddhist chants?”

Randy’s annoyance reminded me of an incident which I had experienced myself a few months earlier.

Once, in the middle of a training session, a fellow participant’s phone started blasting the azan. Immediately, the non-Muslim trainer stopped the session.

“What is that sound?” he asked.

“Sorry, that is the call for prayer coming from my phone. It reminds me that it’s time for prayers,” she explained, still not switching off the application installed on her phone.

“Ah, does that mean you have to excuse yourself to go perform your prayers?”

“No. It’s okay, I can perform my prayers later.”

The trainer was surely dumbfounded by her answer like the rest of us. Why on earth would anyone disturb a training session with the sound of azan if they are not planning to perform prayers upon hearing the call to do so?

On second thought, why does any Muslim who is dedicated to perform daily prayers need any reminders? Shouldn’t the time for prayers be imprinted in their minds already?

Equally dumbfounding is a prayer recital conducted over the speakers at 8am and 4.45pm every day in an industrial plant in a northern state of Peninsula.

Anyway, I ended up sharing Randy’s story with my brother a few nights ago, only to have him share his own experience.

He was once called by his department head to discuss an ‘urgent matter’ – it turned out to be about a few of his staffs who have miniature deities on their office desks.

“Please inform your staffs to remove their miniature Gods and Goddesses statues from their cubicle. This is an office, not a temple,” lamented the Muslim head.

My brother obliged but before carrying out the orders, he pointed at the framed Quranic verses hanging on the wall in his department head’s office and asked, “Does that include the holy scriptures in your office? I could ask Samy to help me take them down.”

The head of department was clearly annoyed.

“You are too much. This is an Islamic country, let me remind you!” she said after a few moments of being gobsmacked.

“This could be an Islamic country, but this is an office. As you mentioned earlier, people should leave their religious matters at home,” said my brother in a cynical manner.

The head of department went silent and adjourned the brief meeting.

I was quite pleased with my brother’s story and am planning to share it with Randy – I think it is important for him to know that not all Muslims are ignorant and self-centred.

However, I believe it is not wrong to bring our faith into our workplace. After all, our faith is within us and goes where we go. However, no religion promotes ignorance and self-centredness. In fact, all religion emphasises the importance of mutual respect to everyone.

If a person is truly an individual of faith, they would not be blasting religious audio and disrupting an office environment in the first place.

Equally important, in my honest opinion, is to understand that tolerance is not all positive as we have been brainwashed to accept since childhood. Putting up with things we do not approve of is never a sign of strength; instead it is a sign of weakness.

It is high time we stop tolerating people who do not practise mutual respect. Whatever the consequences are, is it not better to be honest and upfront with the people we work with instead of grumbling behind their back? – August 10, 2017.

* Fa Abdul is a passionate storyteller and a resident agitator of the idiots in society. Well-known for her straight-talking sarcasm and occasional foul mouth, she juggles between her work as a writer, producer and director.

* This is the opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insight. Article may be edited for brevity and clarity.

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Comments

  • I am an UBER driver. Long before this I have installed religious icons and placed my Bible and prayer book in the car. It has been a practise for me and my family to do so since years ago. I come from Sabah and again, religious tolerence over there is much better than here in Peninsular Malaysia in general (although I must say that I have met several Muslims who are moderate). Ever since I work as an UBER driver while waiting for a permanent job offer since April, my experiences with having passangers of different cultural and religious backgrounds somehow INTERESTING. I have met a lot of Malays that have asked whether I am a Christian or not despite that there is a large-size cross hanging in front of them. As to whether their question was a polite way of reconfirming my faith or perhaps of not knowing how a cross looks like, I am not too sure. Regardless of that, none of them have asked me to bring down the cross for the sake of incoming Muslim passangers (or maybe others too) who might feel intimidated looking at the cross in the car. My faith is within me and it follows me everywhere. I do not feel ashamed to be a Christian and at the same time I do not have any intention to propagate my religion to random passangers. At the same time we all know that none of us can accommodate to everyone's needs as well. The key is to be opened to the environment and understand the current situation you are in. Imposing your faith to others will never secure you a place in Heaven. Hiding your faith however doesn't do justice to the faith itself. And yet again, without a mindful understanding towards the great diversity of society around us will make us feel scared of other faiths intruding our own comfort zones. Being afraid of seeing other faiths keeping alive by believers, is a sure sign of having great lack of faith in our own religion.

    Posted 6 years ago by Aizek Aizat · Reply

    • Aizek Aizat,

      I will bet that as soon as they find out you are from Sabah, your Muslim customers keep very quiet :)

      Posted 6 years ago by Musa Ng · Reply

  • I feel quite uncomfortable letting people know about my religious beliefs. Cos people look at me like, "If you are a _______, then why are you doing XYZ?" Eee, I feel embarrassed lah.... I prefer to practise it in the way I live my life, to the best of my abilities, and when no mood to be good, then lantak lah. Don't want to be like the people who bring a bad name to their religion through their own bad behaviour, while loudly beating their chests and proclaiming they are of such-and-such a religion. People who feel the need to show off their peity are anything but.

    Posted 6 years ago by Chin Tu Lan · Reply

    • *piety

      Posted 6 years ago by Chin Tu Lan · Reply

  • "...Fa Abdul is a passionate storyteller and a resident agitator of the idiots in society...."

    Fa Abdul is a bad bad bad grrrlll.

    '....and occasional foul mouth,...."

    A nice person like Fa Abdul? Swearing?

    No, you don't say!!

    Never heard her swear.

    Heheheheh!!

    Posted 6 years ago by Musa Ng · Reply