Etiquette in the Workplace – Islamic Self Help

History ready. I wasn't told what I was going to face in my workplace. But hamdulillah Today things are changing. Today our students are well informed. And today universities are taking special are putting in special focus to ensure that their students are industry ready. It's a competitive environment out there. You will be competing with people from different universities, with different qualifications with different skill sets. But these little little things that you've learned during your training sessions, your corporate connect sessions are going to become extremely handy for you when you start your work. And today, we want to learn about workplace etiquette, how we should

behave at workplace, what should be our way of communication and a host of other things. And in order to discuss all of this we have been joined by Sheikh is Mario Kamdar. For many of you who have been with the International Open University as staff members, or as students for many years, you will know who Sheikh is Mario Kamdar is Sheikh Ismail Kamdar is a graduate of traditional Island program talimogene And also holds a bachelor's in Islamic Studies. He has studied Islam in both traditional and modern settings, and has been a student of Islamic studies for over two decades. He served as a faculty manager at the International Open University for 10 years, from 2010 to 2020.

Right from its inception.

He currently heads the book publication department at the European Institute for Islamic research. His books are currently available in three different languages and has been sold across five continents in 25 different countries. It is an honor for me to invite Sheikh Ismail come the

chef Ismail A Salam aleikum wa rahmatullah. I would like you to start off your session with your initial presentation. BarakAllahu Li and thank you so much for joining us today.

While they come, Salam Rahmatullahi Wa Barakatuh hamdu Lillahi Rabbil Alameen wa salatu salam ala Nabina Karim to begin by praising Allah subhanho wa taala. And asking Allah to send his peace and blessings upon the final prophet, Muhammad, Abdullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam and all those who follow his way with righteousness until the end of time. Thank you so much, brother man school for hosting me today. It's it's a pleasure to be back here. And to be with the wonderful students and staff, I owe you once again. Hamdulillah, we have a very interesting topic today. And before I begin just in the chatbox, let me know if you can hear me clearly if the sound is clear, if the video is

clear, if my PowerPoint is clearly visible, right, and if all of that is fine, we will get started in Shaohua.

Okay, Hamdulillah.

So today's session is about workplace etiquette, or how a Muslim should behave in a in the workplace. And before we even get into that, I just want to clarify what is the actual Islamic position on work? Because we do have you some misunderstandings among some circles of Muslims regarding work. Some Muslims seem to think that the work will means sitting at home and waiting for your risk to fall in your lap.

No, some who frowned upon university education and normal jobs, and who seem to think that everybody should only do Islamic work. And this is completely wrong. Because in Islam,

work is considered a necessity, a basic human need, and specifically for men, right? The Islamic position is very traditional do that for men, providing for the family is what it is an obligation of one man. So if a man is wealthy, he doesn't need to work he can provide for his family from that wealth, but for the average man, because providing for his family is an obligation, because of that work also becomes an obligation. So in Islam, not only is work something that's considered a necessity, but for most men, it is something that is logically something that the obligatory that if a man is not working and providing for his family just out of laziness, and his family suffer

because of his laziness. He's actually committing a sin. He is committing a sin in neglecting his wife and his children and their rights. So work is something that is very honorable in Islam. It's very noble in Islam, and Islam does not ask us to sit around and wait for money. It completely frowns upon asking people for money, it encourages work and just to drive home this point, a beautiful story from the Sierra, that once a man came to the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam asking for money, and the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam took him

And I helped him get hold of an axe and directed him to go to the to the forest and to chop down some trees and sell some firewood. And he told him that the little bit of money you earn from this little bit of work from chopping, firewood and selling, It is more blessed and more beloved to Allah than anything you could have earned for asking of people. So from that hadith, we get the entire Islamic framework towards working, that work in Islam is considered a noble and honorable thing, something that the prophets Allah Islam himself did and encourage these companions to do. And so we see that the great Sahaba, Abu Bakr, and Omar and Osman, all of them were known for their business

savvy, they were known to be people who were involved in the workplace, they wouldn't cut off from society, but they were involved in it. So that's the position for men. For women in general, earning income is optional in Islam. Now, of course, in the time and place that we live in, some woman have no choice but to work due to financial constraints or not having a Muslim to take care of them. Or, you know, maybe they are widowed, whatever the case may be. Some women are put into situations where they have to work, but in general, in an ideal society, a man who do work and provide for his family, so his wife can focus on raising the children. But that's not always the case. And very

often, we find that a woman in this day and age have to work as well, due to various necessities, either because the cost of living in the country is too high, or because they don't have a mammogram or because their husband is ill or for whatever the case may be. So there are many, many situations Today we're working becomes necessary for a woman as well, we ask Allah to grant everybody is. So what we need to understand is, Islam is a comprehensive way of life that covers every aspect of how we live and what we do. And this includes work. Islam governs how we work, they are these the fabric of business, the etiquette of the workplace, the adapt the clock, the purification of the soul, in

all these different areas, they are things that apply to the workplace. And very often we forget about this, one of the big mistakes that many Muslims make is that when it comes to the Salah, and there's a QA and and the primary acts of ibadah, they are very careful that it is aboveboard and done properly. But when it comes to how they earn money, they just completely ignored the Sharia. And so the money ends up haram, the food ends up haram and the Ibadah ends up not accepted. So we have to understand that earning money is part of being a good Muslim. And you have to do it in a way that is pleasing to Allah subhanho wa taala. And therefore you have to do it in a way that is

ethical, ethically within the framework of Islam. And the framework that Islam provides for work is one that revolves around being productive, being transparent, being just and being trustworthy. These we can say are the primary foundations of a good Muslim worker, that a good Muslim worker is hardworking, a good Western worker is not devious. A good, good Muslim worker is just with everybody, employees, employer, customers, everybody. And a good Muslim worker is trustworthy. We know that Rasulullah Salallahu Alaihe Salam was known as I mean the most trustworthy and we know there, Khadija Raji Levana hired him because of his trustworthiness in the workplace. So, that is

the Sunnah and that is the, what we should strive towards. Now sadly, in many parts of the world today, Muslims are known for bribery. Muslims are known for corruption, Muslims are known for not paying people on time, Muslims are known for abusing the funds of his of Islamic organizations, Muslims are known to be lazy in the workplace, right? This is a very bad state for the number to be in, because this is the complete opposite of what our religion teaches. And I believe one of the reasons we have fallen to that level is that we do not study this we do not teach this without study this, we completely ignore this. We only focus on what can get us wealthy what can make us rich

without looking at whether it is pleasing to Allah subhanaw taala or not. So I want to thank brother Mansu once again for bringing up this topic because this is a crucial topic for every Muslim. Every single one of us, at some point in our life has to enter the workplace. And it is important that we understand how to behave in the workplace in a way that is pleasing to Allah subhanho wa Taala and beneficial for the Ummah beneficial for society. So what I'm going to share with you today, seven primary principles that every Muslim should practice upon when it comes to the workplace. Right. And before Before I continue, just a reminder to everyone to please make sure your mics are on mute if

you are in the zoom session. So it does not interrupt the flow. Right. So I'm going to share seven primary principles of Islamic work ethic and then I'm going to do a deep dive into two of these principles which I believe are most necessary for our times. So to begin, the number one

On principle for everything in Islam, including work is if lots always be sincere. And in the workplace this has several meanings. Number one, be sincere to Allah Subhana Allah, that you are working to fulfill your obligation to provide for your family and to benefit the number that you are doing this as part of being a good Muslim, this should be first and foremost in the mind of every Muslim. Now, if you're doing your work for the sake of Allah, obviously you're going to choose a halal job. Obviously, you're going to choose to earn your money in a way that's Halal to be in a halal work environment. So all of this falls into a class but a class in the workplace also means

sincerity towards your boss sincerity towards your organization, sincerity towards your customers, that you have a clean heart in dealing with everybody, and you are not devious, you are not hypocritical. You are not backstabbing, that you are someone who is above, aboard and sincere in your interactions with every person, this is the single most important principle of anything a Muslim does, whether it is business, whether it is provider, whether it is marriage, whatever it is, as last is the number one most important thing in every aspect of our lives. Number two, Asana and, you know, for every place that I've ever worked at, I've always promoted this and pushed this as the

two main

pillars of work of work ethic, right always pitches to everyone and the two main pillars of work ethic that every Muslim worker should work from a position of a glass and axon. Now axon is very important that we don't discuss it enough. So I will do an entire separate slide on it in the next slide inshallah. But axon simply means to do your absolute best to be your absolute best that when you get into the workplace, you become the best in the world at what you do. That is the standard that every Muslim must aim for. Number three, is that we must follow the Sunnah of Al Amin, we must be trustworthy in the workplace, whether dealing with your company, or your workers or your

customers, everybody should know you to be a person who is trustworthy, that a Muslim should never be devious, they should never be backstabbing, they should never be trying to get somebody outside so they can take their job. They should never be trying to be traded company by selling the secrets to another company. They should never be trying to deceive their customers, we should be people of honesty, understand that we represent Islam wherever we go. And in the past, people would convert to Islam because of the clock and the honesty and the character of Muslim traders. And today we see people running away from Islam because of the deviousness and the and the cheating and the bribery

of Muslim traders. So we have to revive the Sunnah of being trustworthy in the workplace. Number four, is that we must be transparent, wherever and whenever necessary. Transparency means that you you don't hide things, the obviously, in certain jobs, you have to maintain company secrets, right? So that's different, that's a man that is being trustworthy with company secrets. Transparency means you are not deceiving people, right. So for example, if you are selling a car, and that car has a faulty engine, in Islam, you are obligated to tell the customer about the faulty engine. If you are hiding that, then you're not being transparent, and you are deceiving the person, and they will be

liable to ask for a refund. Right? This is something that's very clear in the books of FIP. Transparency also, for example, if you are running an Islamic organization, and people are giving you funds, you have to answer to the public for what you are doing with with the charity that they give to you that you are using it in a way that is pleasing to Allah subhanaw taala. And you're not misusing the funds, you have to be transparent about how much money is coming in and what it has been used for, so that people can see that their sadaqa had been put to good use. Another important principle of the workplace is respect mutual respect for your boss, for your co workers, for your

customers, for everybody, that you should be a person of the highest level of o'clock and adopt that every person you interact with, you respect him, you treat them with the best of manners, and in return, of course, they would most of the time, return that. And finally, finally, higher modesty that a Muslim has higher and modesty wherever he or she is that they dress in a way that Islamically acceptable, and they are dignified in dealings with the opposite gender. So these are the seven

primary foundations of a good Muslim worker, that a good Muslim employee or employer or a worker is someone who is sincere, who does his best, who is trustworthy, who is transparent, who is respectful and who is modest. What I'm going to do now is I'm going to spend a bit more time explaining the concept of asana and what is the because I believe these are the two areas where

Most of us, we we need a bit more help and a bit more advice, right. Specifically Assange, I like to call like to refer to a son as the Forgotten sunnah. Because it's a word that many Muslims don't know about. And for me, it is the foundation of the entire attitude a Muslim has towards work, because the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said, Allah loves that when for the believer that in whatever they do, they do it with Sr. Allah loves it for a believer, whatever they do, they do it with SI, meaning every job that you take up, you do it with Sr. So what does it mean? It Sun literally means perfection. But when we talk about it,

yes, I made a mistake. Sorry, someone corrected me. I said seven principles, they ended up being six. So sorry about that. I had initially listed seven and I deleted one and forgot I deleted a file because it ended up the last two ended up being the same thing. So I summarized there six. So again, thanks for correcting me on that. It was six principles. So if Sun is sun means perfection, or excellence. And what this means when it comes to the workplace, is that a Muslim, whatever his job is, he strives to be the best in the world at what he does. So if we look at the Sahaba, Abu Bakr, Omar Osman were the absolute best rulers that this world has ever had, hardly even Walid and Amory

beneath us were like the best military commanders that the world ever had, you know, like, all of them, whatever the fields were, whether they were farmers, whether they were traders, were they military commanders, whether they were governance, those who strive to follow Islam properly, always aim to be the best in the world at what they do. And we see this in the golden age of the Muslim world, that at that point, Muslims became the best scientists, the best doctors, the best mathematicians, the best astrologist, the best in the world, in every field, because they embody this principle of science, that whatever they did, they were the absolute best. So what does it mean

to live a life of your son and to have a son in the workplace? Well, it means that you go above and beyond what is required of you. And this is a big problem we have today that a lot of Muslims today, when you tell them to, you know, to do something, you'll always see them say, Oh, that's not my job, or Oh, that's not in my contract, or our I'm not being paid to do that. And many of us want to just get away with doing the absolute minimum in the workplace, right? This is a very bad attitude that many of us have, that you take up a job. And we want to just get by with doing the absolute minimum, you know, whatever is the basics, that our contract says we don't want to do a single task beyond

that. And what happens then, is we get labeled in as the lazy person, you know, as the person is not really into it. And then that person wonders why they never getting a promotion, why they never work your way up the ladder, is because you don't want to do anything beyond what's basic. So no one's ever going to give you anything higher than that. If you want to excel in the workplace, you have to show your employer that you are committed to that organization or to that company, and that you are one of the best and most and most hardworking employees. And that means that you go above and beyond what is required of you to reach a level right this is this is the level we all should try to reach

whatever your job is, you should reach such a level that if your company ever downsized and they are forced to fire, some of their staff, they wouldn't even think of letting you go. That's the level you should aim for. That you are going to be such a valuable employee, set your hard working employees, such a brilliant employee that nobody would ever think of firing you they have too much to lose if they let you go. That is the level that a Muslim should aim for. This is what we mean by perfection or excellence, that you are the kind of person that nobody would think of firing. So each of us should sit and think about whether we reach that level. Whether we are working towards that

level, or whether we the first person they're going to let go. Right? We are we are on this on this on this chart. So to summarize, if someone means be the absolute best in the world at what you do, whatever it is, you are a doctor, be the best doctor in the world you are a IT professional, be the best IT professional in the world, you are a graphic designer, be the best graphic designer in the world, whatever it is, be the absolute best in the world at what you do. If you do that you are embodying your son, and you will excel in the workplace. If you are someone who is hardworking and trustworthy and sincere, and who goes above and beyond and is valuable to the company, you will find

yourself getting promotion after promotion, job offer after job offer working way up the ladder because people you know people love and value someone who does qualities Allah has put us in the hearts of people that when we see someone who is hardworking, we love that person, we value that person and that person ends up excelling in the workplace. Okay, just a reminder to please make sure your microphones are on mute. I think so much micro

On is active and it is a very big disturbance coming through.

Okay, okay, Has everyone been muted? Okay, okay to continue.

The other area where it's important that we have a bit more discussion about is gender ethics. Now, why gender ethics because this is an area that we ignore too much, you know, the issue of how do you deal with the opposite gender in the workplace, you see, we have again, two extremes in the Muslim community. One extreme we have this complete, intermix intermixing with no hijab and, you know, with all kinds of Zina and sin ends up happening because there are no rules. And if you're just wants to imitate the disbelievers in their workplace environment, and this ends up being a complete disaster, and completely haram, right. And then the opposite extreme, we have this this idea that you should

never ever even make salaam to or have any interaction with a member of the opposite gender at all. And what happens then is that it becomes a very unrealistic approach to take because the reality is,

when you enter the workplace, right? No matter what your childhood or upbringing is, when you enter the workplace, you are going to deal with members of the opposite gender. All right. So is there a way to mute everybody? Because a lot of people are muting the mics for some reason, and it's very disturbing.

Okay, okay, I just muted them.

Okay, because it's really disturbing the flow. So again, I reminded everyone, please don't unmute your microphones, it is disturbing the flow of the presentation. Right. And again, it goes against the sun, you know, to break up the flow of a presentation like this.

Okay, so, to continue.

The fact of life is when you get into the workplace, you are going to have to deal with members of the opposite gender, whether as co workers or customers, you're going to have to interact. And we have to understand how to interact with the opposite gender in a way that there is no chance of you ever falling into Zina. That should be your goal, that you're going to interact. But in a way where there's no door opening for cinema, where you have completely closed the doors to cinema, right. So again, we have these two extremes. One extreme is you don't eject at all. And the other extreme is where everything goes. And, you know, you trust yourself too much. Both of these are wrong. Rather,

what we call for in Islam is respectful, polite, professional interaction. That's that's a fact of life. Right? That when you are working,

you are going to have for example, customers of the opposite gender. I mean, if you are a car dealer,

car dealer, female is going to walk into the shop and want to buy a car, what are you going to do, you have to interact with the opposite gender, you have to learn how to be respectful and professional in dealing with the opposite gender, right? If you are a school teacher, you're going to have to interact with the other teachers, the principal, the parents, the students. So we have to be realistic here, you are going to have to deal with the opposite gender in the real world. And we have to learn how to do it Islamically. So always be respectful, always be professional when dealing with anyone of the opposite gender.

And part of what that means in Islam is avoid forming close relationships with non Muslim This is very important. Always have this value of professionalism when dealing with a member of the opposite gender, who is not Yamaha. Right? Don't have workplace friendships with members of the opposite gender.

Ladies don't have workplace friendships with men who are not related to you. And men don't have workplace friendships with woman Why not related to why? Because shaytan can cause something to happen. You may say that, Oh, he's just a friend UAC that I'm strong by Imani strong though these things don't happen with me. Once you are getting close to someone in a way you're not supposed to, then she doesn't come to the end. And because of problems I've seen this happens over and over again. You know that people trust themselves too much, or they too lacks about the Sharia, and they end up destroying their own marriages or somebody else's marriage. So be very, very careful. Don't

form close relationships with members of the opposite gender. Number four, dress appropriately at work. Dress appropriately, make sure your owner is covered. Right and not just your whole lot more than that because we know for a man, you're always from your navel to your knees. But of course you're not going to go to work just covering from your navel to your needs. You're going to just professionally you know a shirt and pants or a soap or whatever it is but dress modestly. Same for the sisters. Of course the order for a woman is much stronger. It's everything besides a face and hands according

The most the must haves, right and some of the must haves include the face as well. So you need to make sure that you're dressing in a way that is halal and pleasing to Allah subhanho wa taala. Beyond that, if you want the other person to lower their gaze as well. So as a Muslim, make sure that you are dressed appropriately in the workplace, it is professional, it is modest, your aura is covered. That's one side, the other side, make sure you lower your gaze in the workplace. Now what does lowering the gaze mean? Again, this is a concept that many people misunderstand. Many people think that lowering the gaze means looking at the floor, no lowering the gaze simply means do not

stay with lust as a member of the opposite gender. So if you are looking at someone to communicate with them, and there's no lust involved, then according to many, many orlimar disease, hello, if you're looking at someone to educate them, this is halal. Right. So for example, the ladies attending, looking at me and learning from me, this is halal for them to do. Right, if they are giving you the attention of studying, what becomes Haram is if you feel desire for a person, that's when you should stop looking at them. That's when you should look past them, look away from them, look in a different direction, look at your phone, whatever it is, but don't stare at the person in

a way that we, as adults, we all know the type of stealing we're talking about right? The kind of uncomfortable the kind that leads to, to wrong ideas, the kinds of leads to say now, that's the type of stealing that should be avoided, as for looking at someone to communicate with them, or looking at someone to teach them, this is something in our Sharia that is permissible, as long as you know, as long as you are

honest with yourself about why you are looking at the person and this is a necessity of life. I mean, for example, if you are a security guard, you're going to have to look at people and look at their ID and see that they're the same person before they enter a building. Right? So you have to look at people in the face you can't see on during my gaze, I'm not going to look at you in the face. Now. In that case, you have to, right same if you're a teacher and students of the opposite gender are entering the classroom, to take an exam, you have to look at their faces, you can't not look at their face. So lowering your gaze means don't look at last. That's what it means don't look

with lust. Allah has mentioned in the Quran, tell the bigger Muslim men lower your gaze and your next boss, he tells the Muslim woman to lower their gaze as well. So men and women are both obligated not to look at the members of the opposite gender with lust. And this is extremely important in the workplace. Because nowadays, most cases of Zina and people who've been broken up start with workplace romances. And that begins when people don't lower their gaze or dress in a way that is appropriate. So a simple rule to make sure that you are above board, is make sure you're not making people feel uncomfortable or uneasy around you. Right, of course, when men are not lowering

their gaze in the workplace, women feel uncomfortable, you know, they feel that man is creepy.

You know, they begin to not trust that man, because it's kind of obvious when someone's not lowering their case. So make sure you don't make anyone feel uncomfortable. You are professional, professional and respectful. When dealing with every member of the opposite gender, this is necessary. This is necessary for your Eman. Is it necessary for your family? Is it necessary for excelling in the workplace, and for you in keeping your job in many cases, because, you know, if you do something bad like this in the workplace, you know you in this day and age, you can get fired and Islamically that would be just as well, because Islamically you shouldn't be messing around with

members of the opposite gender in the workplace, that your relationship with members of the opposite gender should be completely professional, professional and respectful. And it should never get closer than that. So that's about gender ethics. And I just want to end off my presentation with some general advice on how to excel in the workplace in Islamic or Halal way. And then we'll open the floor to q&a. Number one, most important focus on your personal development, your professional development, make sure you are doing something every day to grow as a person. So I have a blog called Islamic self help.com. And from there it people resources to help them with personal

development. They have books on time management, self confidence, personal productivity. These are the kinds of skills you need to learn. So what happens is many of us think that once we start the job, you know, we stop learning, and we just focus on our job. And when we do this, we become stagnant and our knowledge becomes outdated and we don't really grow. So I personally have a habit of reading and watching something beneficial every day. I try to read about 60 books a year. I try to watch five lectures a week. And I try to learn new skills every year. And I found that there is nothing that I learned that didn't end up helping me in the future. That every skill I taught myself

at some point in my life, it helped me excel in my career. And I know many other people who will say the same. So always focus

on your on your personal growth, there's always something to learn. Don't just think that I got a job. Now I'm just going to take it easy and focus on this job only. Look for ways to grow, get better at your time management, get better at yourself confidence, get better at your public speaking skills, or get better at your productivity, your product management, any skills you learn, could help you get a promotion can help you grow can help you excel in the workplace, never become complacent about your skills or job. Some people feel like, oh, I have a job. If I just do the basics everyday for the rest of my life, I'm fine. And after five years, you know, the company needs

to let a few people go, they find that person is wasting their time. And they let that person go. And they wonder what happened. Right? Or someone may not ever upgrade their skills and they wonder why they never getting a promotion? Well, if you're not learning new skills, what skill Do you have, that will justify promotion, you only have the skills for the base level job, not for promotion. So always focus on improving yourself. And one of the most important ways that we can focus on improving ourselves is to always be open to correction so you can learn from your mistakes. You know, when you apply for a job, they ask you if you have any experience, experience means you've

already made the mistakes and learn from your mistakes. So you're not going to repeat the same mistakes on the job. That's what experience is. So if you're a young person entering the workplace for the first time, you aren't going to make mistakes. And as long as you are open to correction and learning from your mistakes and growing from your mistakes, your employer won't just understand they will value you they will look at you as a high value employee. Because nowadays, many people don't want to accept their mistakes. They don't want to learn from their mistakes, they don't want to grow for the mistakes. So when someone is open to correction, you know, the boss may actually even take

you as an apprentice, they may become your mentor because they look at you as someone who's willing to learn someone who's willing to grow. And for me personally, many of the most important skills I have learned in the workplace came from times where I messed up, and my boss corrected me. And I learned from that experience, and I never repeated that mistake again for the rest of my life. And that is real workplace experience. So always be open to correction, understand that you are going to make mistakes. And that is fine, as long as you are learning from your mistakes and not repeating your mistakes. Number four, this is so important in this day and age, do not seek out the get rich

quick schemes do not look for quick paths to wealth and fame. Understand that real success whether in dunya or Ophira, is slow and gradual. Now sometimes young people today they want to be millionaires overnight, they're looking for that one stock, they can invest in that one cryptocurrency they can buy the one online course they could sell that will make them wealthy overnight. And they get frustrated when this doesn't happen. And this is because of the instant gratification culture that is dominant with this generation, which is a really, really wrong culture, it teaches us very wrong values. In reality, anything worth getting in this world on index

takes a very long time to get. It takes a very long time to build up the skills, and the knowledge and the experience and the reputation and the savings and everything else needed to actually become successful, whether we talking about dunya success or the success. These things take time. So take your time. You know, over the years, I've seen so many people start online businesses and give up within a year.

And I find this really strange that they actually thought they're going to get become a millionaire within one year. That's not how it works. You know, like my online business has been going on for eight years now. And it's only in the past year, it actually started really building decent profits. But it's still nowhere near the level it can reach probably take 10 or 15 years to get to that level. And that's fine. That's fine, because that's how business works. It takes time. Don't rush things don't think that you know, I'm going to get a job today, I'm going to be the boss of the company next year. That's not how life works. Many of us have this wrong ideas because of the

generation we are growing up in. Take your time you get your first job at the age of 20 or 25 or 30 whatever it is, it will take 15 to 20 years to reach the peak of that career. For most people, some people will get there faster, right if they are working with Hassan and focusing on personal development and learning from their mistakes. Yes, some people will get there faster. But the average person takes a very long time to to succeed and most of us are not patient enough to work towards the success and wait for that success. And finally, we end with the most important tip of all, always fear Allah wherever you are, even at the workplace. Understand that. Even when you are

at work, you are still a servant of Allah and you're responsible for everything you do. If you cheat at work, that is a sin. If you don't lower your gaze at work, that is a sin. If you are selling something haram that is a sin. And all of this can count against you or the day of judgment to make

sure that whatever you do in the workplace is pleasing to Allah subhanho wa taala, at the very least, is halal. At the very least, it's halal, right? Even if it's not a good deed, at least it's halal. Make sure that there is nothing in how you work and what you do. That is displeasing to Allah subhanho wa Taala that you are doing things in a way that on the Day of Judgment when you are asked about your wealth and how you earned it, you can answer that question with a clear conscience knowing that you did your best to please Allah subhanaw taala in the workplace. Understand that your contract your work contract is Amana. And it is something Allah will ask you about if you signed a

contract to work eight hours a day, and you waste half of the day playing video games or watching Netflix because you think your boss is not watching you understand that you are answerable to Allah for lying and making money out of nothing, that you lie to be worried that you're working eight hours a day. In the meanwhile you are playing video games, and you got money for nothing. Understand that we are responsible to Allah Subhana Allah Allah to make sure that in the workplace, we are above board, and whatever we do is pleasing to Allah subhanho wa taala. With that, we come to the end of my presentation, I hope you found all of this beneficial. We'll open the floor now to q&a.

Part of Allah who fiction chef is my alle Joseph Allah Palin, excellent presentation. And a lot of lot of important points that you have presented, thank you so much for taking the time out and presenting this. Some of the most important things that you've mentioned, and are just going to pick up some of the things that you mentioned towards the end. And that is to be slow and gradual in your career, you need to find a way by which you can study yourself in your career. And this is something which we often find amongst many of the students who take up jobs as the start of their career. And then they are immediately looking for ways by which they can quickly reach the top level. Now, you

can only reach there when you have got the experience and experience comes through as shirtless mile mentioned, you make mistakes, you learn from your mistakes, you don't repeat the mistakes, then you do more mistakes, and you learn more from your mistakes. That's how you keep excelling gradually over a period of time. BarakAllahu li check is my email. The last most important reminder is something that we all need to take in all aspects of our life. And that is to be sincere to our commitments that we have made if you sign the contract. Whether you're working in a physical workplace, or for example, these days, you're working from home, you're working from virtual

workplace, you have to ensure that you are fulfilling your time and your commitment. So these are some of the most important things that you've mentioned. You mentioned about Islam, as you mentioned about a son and I know she had a smile and myself when she his mind was with the IOU. This is a topic that we both have spoken so many times on Mashallah. And it's always nice to hear you speak on Ehsaan the way you correlate it to the workplace, and the way you present it, you make it so simple, and so important and pertinent. Mashallah, thank you so much. Now we're going to open up the forum for the question and answer session. The questions can come in on the YouTube platform as well. So

those of you watching us on YouTube, you can please share your questions on the YouTube platform. Or if you have any questions here, you can raise your hand, I'll prefer giving an option to those who raise their hand to ask a question first, and try and keep the questions to the point ask one question at a time, so that it allows everyone else to present the queries if you have more questions, you can always come back. Alright, Faiza. You've got your hand raised. So I'm going to ask you to unmute yourself and ask your question.

So my Licon

I have a question

my fiancee is working in a hotel as a waiter in one of the western country A and he serves people food which contain alcohol and pork and in working in a bar which means that he serves shut off. So my question is, is his salaries halal or not for him?

Okay, so I think that

we take a few questions today as well right.

Yeah, I was hoping is more adequate related, but this is a big question the important one, it's clearly haram right that such a job is not permissible for Muslim to even seek it legal on take it up.

I mean, in Islam, the Prophet saw some as has said we shouldn't even sit at the table where alcohol is served to be the one serving it to be the one working there. This This income is tainted and it would not be possible to have such a job. Rather, one should quit one

job seekers allowed source of income

is

BarakAllahu fake thank

Oh, whilst we wait for more questions to come in, in our chat box, etc.

There's a question chef, where we would like to understand from you on how does one deal with mental harassment at workplace, there is a kind of harassment, which is very obvious and you understand. But then there is a kind of emotional harassment, mental harassment, which happens at the workplace. And unfortunately, there are times when Muslims are involved in it, and they are engaging with maybe their fellow colleagues who could be believers or non believers, irrespective at the workplace. How do we deal with this issue? BarakAllahu Li. So very important question. And one of the things we have to understand is that in life, we are going to deal with every kind of person, right?

Unfortunately, this one is a test. So you're not going to go through life dealing only with good people, you are going to deal with that people, you're going to deal with crooked people, you're going to deal with people who don't have good character good manners,

I found one of the most important things we can build up at a young age to help us in the workplace is a thick skin or the ability to not let other people get to you. Right? This is very important, because we can't control other people's personalities. And we can't control other people's manners and character. Or we can control how we react. Now, in some workplaces, there are ways to address this. I mean, they have HR departments, and some companies take this harassment very seriously. And in those kinds of environments, the best thing that you can do is to take it up with HR and let them know what's going on. And they can take action. But sometimes you don't have that sometimes it's the

boss himself, who's who's got a bad personality.

Now,

when that's the case, you know, if you can't get another job, get one if you can't have somebody, try and try and be a influencer, in the workplace, try to be the person of good character others emulate, maybe you can change the environment by being the person who other people see as having a higher level of character.

But at the end of the day, we have to realize we are we are only able to control ourselves. When it comes to character and manners, we can only control ourselves. And when you are out there, you're going to have to deal with every type of person, whether it's your co workers or your customers, you in our lives, we are going to experience traumatic interactions with people that will shock us.

And sadly, most of the time is going to be our fellow Muslims. That's just the sad reality. The most of the times the interactions, that's going to hurt us the most are dealing with our fellow Muslims. And in those cases, we ask Allah to forgive them, we make dua for them. But we have to realize we can only control our own

our own reactions. So if your workplace has really to deal with it, you know, take them or take it to HR and let them deal with it. If it doesn't, you know, and if you if it's really bad, and you can't handily try and get another job, but if something you can handle, then you know, build up a thick skin and just push through it and focus on your job. Don't worry what everybody else is talking about and doing. Each of us have different situations, each of us have different tolerance levels. And really, the answer will differ from person to person and case to case.

BarakAllahu li perveen peerzada, can you please unmute yourself and ask your question

a Salam aleikum wa rahmatullah wa barakato. Y'all start, just for every everything. Alhamdulillah just I have a question how to deal when the school and colleges do not allow the female teachers to wear hijab. And they don't think that it's a fundamental principle of our religion, before they used to, but now they're like, due to some political issues, they are not allowing to wear the hijab. So and they argue that the other Muslim woman's are not wearing it. So why you people are forcing on us. So how to deal in such situation at the workplace where they don't allow to practice our religion.

BarakAllahu li keep marine for your question. She had a smile, a little political, if you are aware of the background, but I would like you to address it in the way you feel it is.

Firstly, may Allah grant is to all the Muslims around the world dealing with these issues. This is very difficult to answer, right? There's no There's no answer. I'm going to give there's going to please everyone or there's going to be that's going to fix the situation this many layers to this. So I have

She blamed this on the modernists and liberal Muslims, you know, they went around trying to change the Sharia claiming hijab is not part of the Sharia. And they went and told this to the non Muslims, and now the non Muslims are forcing that on us, the Sunni Muslims. While we believe by Iijima by consensus, that hijab or covering the old off a woman is obligatory, right? Whether you call it a job or something else doesn't matter, covering the order up a woman is what wajib according to all markups, right? So I really blame that group of Muslims that it's their fault that this is happening. But what can we do about it? Right? So of course, the the what we can do about the

changes from person to person and your level of influence?

If you can get a job somewhere else, that's one answer. If you can leave the country, that's another answer. But what can you do about it for the majority of Muslims in the country, so if anyone has political influence, those are the ones who can do something about it. They are the ones who can actually speak to the government and show them what our must haves actually say that listen, majority of Muslim woman in India over 100 V and in the Hanafi months of the season obligations, so please let us do it. You know, and maybe maybe we could talk some sensitive Allah knows best but worst case scenario, let me give you the worst case scenario, you have no choice but to do that job.

Right, you see the worst case scenario only, you have no choice to do that job. They won't let you wear the hijab on the job, there is a danger of poverty or losing your job or whatever, if you wear the hijab. In those cases, we know in our religion, that necessity makes the Haram Hello, that you can even eat pork to save your life. So in that case, if a woman is forced to take off his headscarf to enter the workplace, the sin will be on the employer not on her. Allah knows she was forced to do it. And she didn't want to do it. Allah knows best. But that's my position. That because she 100% wanted to observe each app, and she was forced to remove it by the employer or the government

decision will be on the employee or the government not on her. As long as she maintains in her heart. That hijab is compulsory, as long as she maintains in a heart that this is that she wants to do it, then the sun will not be on her specifically. Right? And that that's the worst case scenario. But really, Muslims who have political influence have to work on trying to change this. And if it can't be changed, that they might reach a point where Hijra on migration becomes compulsory on the good stuff of that land. Allah knows best.

Okay, BarakAllahu fixture. There's a question from a marine habitat. Dr. Marine, can you please unmute yourself? Chef Ismail? Dr. Ingrid is one of those who's just joined us recently. She's just been she'll be one of our teaching faculty from this semester. Dr. Marine, you need to unmute yourself.

Yes, please go ahead. sounds really cool. Thank you so much.

So smile, I was really impressed. I really liked the way you describe things and you have related with Islamic ethics and educators. Well, there was just one thing I wish to add here. The six principles you have given. One more thing I thought we can add here is the tolerance and the patience is a must. As for Muslims, we are even taught this quality too much. Even in workplaces having a tolerance and having patience. And that comes into respecting others perspectives as well. And especially the forgiving attitude, and

respecting others point of view. And this kind of thing. I thought that this tolerance could be part of this workplace etiquette as well. And I wish you could just tell us more about this as well.

Particular pizza Excellent point, right. So I wouldn't have the status separate principle because it falls under respect. And I think my problem is I I kind of kind of to get something for granted that everybody already does that. I forgot what it's like to be in toxic work environments.

Hamdulillah I work in a very good environment where everybody respects each other and tolerate each other's opinions and mindset. So I can't allow for that. A lot of people don't have that. So we have to be tolerant and we have to be respectful to other people's beliefs. Remember when you are at work, there's not a place for trying to force everybody to believe what you believe.

You know, as Muslims especially have this problem that would not even bother with non Muslims with their fellow Muslims. You know, that for example, someone's working as a car salesman and he may be a Salafi and his co op coming behind it and you'll be having arguments at work every day, relax, it's a place to sell cars, another place to find your work.

You know, we have to realize is that time and place for everything, and when you are at work, part of your son is to focus on your work, not to be

distracted by every issue, and to understand that, no matter how much you want, differences of opinion and different understandings of this world are going to exist. And you have to learn to be good to people, regardless of where they're from. And regardless of what school of thought they are following, or what religion they are following,

you know, no work is going to get done, if we are constantly fighting over our differences. So we should be the beacons of respect and tolerance in the workplace, that regardless of a person's background, regardless of their sense, regardless of their of their religion, that we treat our co workers and our customers respectfully. And,

you know, we should try and bolster this kind of environment for others as well that they do the same as well. Okay, just after for being at that point.

What does that look like? Okay, there's a couple of questions I'm going to just quickly presented in front of you. One is on corruption in today's era, which is spreading worldwide. How do we handle this when we see our supervisors or our colleagues engaging in similar kind of corruption and unethical practices? This is one of the question. And the second question is on how should we deal with people who discriminate on religious grounds at the workplace? And this could be within the Muslim community? Or it could be across communities?

Okay, I'll take the second question first, right. So if your workplace has an HR department that can answer this, or they can help you with this, and you'll take it straight to HR that I've been discriminated against. And, you know, Can I Can you help me with this, if they don't, then you know, you may have to stand up for yourself and, you know, take things into your own hands and confront the person about it. Worst case scenario, you have to look for another job. The end of the day, if if a work environment is toxic, and you're the only person who wants to change, sometimes the only thing you can do is leave their work environment they find, find a new job. Sometimes that is our

only option. And the same goes for corruption. Look, we cannot change the fact that corruption is rife in the world today, especially in Muslim countries, we can't change the fact that many companies are corrupt, we can only focus on ourselves. And you can try and maybe change the company from within, you can you know, if you can just put your head down and focus on your job if it's not affecting you directly. So for example, if you are living in a country where corruption is everywhere, and wherever you work, you're going to have to deal with it, then, as long as it's not directly affecting your job. So for example, you know, the accountant was actually doing the

corruption, you know, you just the salesman selling the cars, or just a teacher teaching a class, then just keep your head down and focus on your work. Because there's nothing you can do to change an entire country. That's just a fact of life. However, if you can change if you can, for example, if you get a job offer at a company that is less corrupt, or not corrupt, you should leave your job and take that job. Instead, if you have the opportunity to become the CEO of a company and corruption, you know, and make that an aboveboard company, you should take on the challenge and do so

again, each of us have different levels of what we are able to do, some of us just have to put our head down and focus on our work, some of us can actually make a change. And sometimes you just have to change your work environment and find a more suitable work environment for yourself. If it's not working out in a specific place.

There are some questions that came to me directly. So I'm just going to see if I can take some of them.

Okay, some of these

questions.

Someone's asking like if someone at work looks at you at last, and

you know, they don't act on it, but they can't control themselves. So again, that's between them and Allah if you're not acting on it, understand that this is the hardest central point, right? Looking at someone with lust is the hardest one to avoid. And if someone avoids everything else, if they are trying their best, they don't commit sin. They don't flirt with a woman. And sometimes they end up looking at someone in a way that's wrong. Allah can forgive them for that. And we actually have evidence for this in the Quran and the narrations of the the companion to the verse in the Quran, where Allah says, Whoever avoids the major sins, Allah will forgive for them the minuses. And

Abdullah even Abbas, commenting on this verse, he says, that minus cents over here refers to looking at members of the opposite gender, because who is able to avoid that? I've done even above say that those who avoid sinner, Allah may forgive them for looking at members of the opposite. You know, this is a time of the Sahaba one of the Sahaba saying this, and we have similar statements on the web that diverse the Quran, Allah says Allah created mankind week, right? So if you have a Saudi Rahim Allah says, you know the

What Our Allah is referring to here is that when a beautiful woman walks, walks past, a bank forgets to lower his gaze, that's the weakness that Allah has created in us. So for many people, this is a weakness, and they recognize the weakness and they making a slick PowerPoint. And they try not to do that. And sometimes they fall in to it. If they're doing everything else, right, you know, understand this is human weakness, may Allah forgive them, May Allah help they may Allah give them strength. But this is not a major sin, it's a minus the major sin to be acting on it and the relationship that you can lead to. So that's why we try and avoid the minor sins that the major sins

don't happen.

By the end of the day, we have to understand the people we work with a human and everyone has the personal struggles in the personal minor sense that they fall into.

Okay, the important question about miscommunication through email, that sometimes people don't understand what you're saying when you email them, because you know, it may come across too harsh, or people tend to misunderstand me, right. So I found a very easy fix for this for me, I tend to whenever I send out a statement that may sound too strict to someone, I always end it with a smiley face. So for me, that makes me realize that I'm not being scaly, I'm just stating a fact. And the other thing I've done is I've tried, I always tell people that in the workplace, it's normal to be direct, right? The workplace is a very masculine environment. And

it's normal to be direct, and indirect, it doesn't mean you being rude, it doesn't mean that that you don't care about the other person. It's just how we talk to each other in the workplace, right? So let me snap their fingers and say, get this done, or pick that up or get the coffee. It's they're not doing it meaning to be rude. It's just it's such a fast paced environment that people are used to talking to each other like that and in spoken to like that. So sometimes we also have to grow thick skin and realize, you know, they're not it's not personal. He's not trying to hurt my feelings. It's that's just how people talk. So I'm asking about is putting an emotional smiley

emojis minor provisionally, but again, it depends on your workplace. It depends on on the the nature of your workplace, in my workplace, that's normal.

Just like in every email, you send each other, but some workplaces that maybe considered unprofessional. So learn the environment that you are in what's acceptable, what's not understand that sometimes things may come across as harsh and rude, but it's just that just workplace speak. That's just how some people talk in the workplace. Okay, another very important question that came through, and we actually running out of time I have to take this job, it's very important.

Someone asked a woman only allowed to work out of necessity. No, it is not only out of necessity, but we have to understand something very important in our religion about gender roles, right? In our religion, men are obligated to work, they are obligated to provide for their families, a woman's primary role is to raise her children into righteous people, just to be at home raising children to righteous people. Now can she work? Yes, she can work. So if a woman has a a business at home or online business, or maybe her children are grown up, and and she's got an interest in working now, because the children are gonna be out of the house, nothing wrong with this whatsoever. It doesn't

have to be necessity, the only issue you have to keep in mind is that work should never be more important than raising children. Now we've reached a point today, for example, many young woman are saying, I had many young men complaining to me about this, that when they go for four marriage proposals, woman tell them, I don't want to have any children, because I'm focused on my career. They see the see the problem, the Islamic attitude, where career and business is more important to a woman, then

getting married and having children. So Islamically Islamically your children and raising children to be righteous Muslims comes first. And if you can work around that, to have a job or have a business and everything, and it doesn't affect the way you raise your children, it doesn't affect them having a quality database. There's absolutely nothing wrong with this whatsoever. As long as of course, you're observing all the rules that we mentioned, your overall being covered. And, you know, being professional, etc, is nothing wrong with you whatsoever. It doesn't have to be out of necessity. It just at the time that we live in, it has become a necessity. I mean, like I live in

South Africa, and most of the women I know that work in my community work out of poverty. That is a very poor country. You know, it takes two salaries to maintain a householder and that's understandable. Right, that's understandable. So it that's just the world that we live in today.

Allah knows best here, but the Matsu Do we have time or should we close off? Can we just take a couple of more questions that some which have come on the YouTube platform? What is the question I would like to know and I think this is a question which has been repeated in different platforms in spite of your addressing it about irritable bosses, abusive bosses, bosses who use a foul languages and keep passing on the buck to the staff. It's the same kind of questions which you've already addressed, but they keep coming again and again. So maybe you would mind want to shed some more light on this. How does one deal with it? There's no easy solution to this and everyone's cases

The everyone's situation is different. If you ask me how I personally would do that, I would quit my job, I would quit my job. Because I have too much self respect to let anyone treat me like that. I have done this in the past, I've walked up to people and said, you don't treat me? Well, I don't like the way you talk to me. I'm Olivia. And the thing is, if you're the kind of employee that people value, and that people don't want to lose, if they realize you're gonna walk out on the job, if they don't respect you, they will start respecting you. Right. That's why that exon is so important that you be the absolute best at your job. Because you are the most valuable employee in

your company. And your boss knows that if he talks to you in a vulgar or abusive way you're going to walk, you're going to a different company.

And he's not going to treat you like that. Because deep down inside, he values you he knows the company can't function without you. So you know, I really believe that we should have that level of Iza or self respect, that we don't let people talk to a site that I'm very strict about us. Whether it's in the workplace, whether it's in a masjid within my community, I don't let anyone talk to me like that. If someone is vulgar or abusive or mean to me, I tell them straight to their face, you have no right to talk to me like, and it takes a lot of guts to do that. It takes a lot of inner strength to do that. But we all need to build up the self confidence to be able to do that.

Otherwise, people are going to bully us for the rest of our lives. And as a OMA, we should have self respect, we should have Iza we should not allow people to bully us. So what you're going to have to do brothers and sisters is work on building up your self respect and building up your self confidence and building up your courage. So that you can stand up to your own boss, and you can tell your boss that I don't appreciate the way you're talking to me. You know, if you're not going to treat me well, I'm gonna come up with you. And of course, you also have to build up your skill set to such a level that they don't want to lose your end of the day, we can't control other people's

character, we can stand up for ourselves.

Thank you so much, Shaka smart Ale, I think we will let you go now. BarakAllahu li for taking your time out and attending this session. And we're helping us out with all your inputs, mashallah, you're, you're an experienced person. You've been also working in this online system, which way back when you started, was considered something very odd. And I remember you and me discussing about how people would discuss in our families. What kind of job are you doing? How can you be sitting at home and working? And today, it's become a norm. Mashallah. So strange. I

actually started working online in 2010. And for the first seven years of working online, nobody could understand what I was doing. It was like, I think it's way ahead of our time. So we did this.

Yes.

Thank you so much, Jeff is Ma il two Oh, all the students have joined the session and I will once again called shake is my end to conclude the session. But before I hand it over to him to conclude it to all of you who have joined the session on zoom right now students, we are going to have more such corporate connect sessions in the future, we will be inviting more industry experts, professionals will keep coming and sharing the experiences with you so that you can learn something from their experiences. And that's extremely important if you're not learning. And if you're just attending just for the sake of attending, it's of no help. No benefit, no point trying to seek

knowledge when you can't apply it. So try applying whatever little you've learned, even if it's just one part of what shakey smile, as mentioned, try and apply that in your life and maybe that will bring hair and baraka and will lead to more.

Pfizer I can see your hand is raised or no sorry, you've given a thumbs up. All right, thank you. But we're not going to take any more questions, share his smile, I would like you to give your concluding remarks. And as well as closed the session with a supplication BarakAllahu Li, G sock lovely for having me and for and for all the wonderful questions and participation. This has been amazing. And I've really enjoyed interacting with you all I know many of you are dealing with a lot of tough challenges in your workplace. Many of you are in difficult situations where you're forced into a job where you're not happy, where you may not be able to do what you want to do. I'll end by

asking you all

you know, to always make dua always make the will and have the work only Allah always ask Allah to help you get a source of income that is, has baraka and makes you happy. And that yield is good for your mental health. Whatever it is, you need, ask Allah for it. Ask Allah for be very specific in your to us. Because you may be in a job right now that you don't like. But perhaps because you're working hard and you're making dua and you're being a righteous Muslim. You could get a job offer tomorrow that changes your life.

And one of the best blessings we could have in this world is a job that that gives us happiness and satisfaction. I am grateful that I have done that my work is one of the biggest sources of satisfaction and happiness in my life and I thank Allah for that every day.

And I wish the entire Ummah could have that. But this is something you have to ask Allah for only Allah can give it to us. Someone asked how can you get in contact with me when I'm all over social media, I have a Twitter handle. I have a Facebook page, I have an Instagram page. I have my blog, Islamic self help.com I'm available to any of those channels. Feel free to connect with me. Always available I try my best to help people in any way I can. And we end by asking Allah to help us towards a very beautiful dua I want us all to memorize and to say everyday that will really help you inshallah to unlock better jobs, better salaries, better lifestyle. And this is a dua that the

Prophet salallahu Alaihe Salam told us in the authentic Hadees Allah McWeeny be hydraulic and heroic. Well, he may be finally got a month you work right this dua and maybe inshallah someone to share it in in written form later. Allahu McWeeny Behala Alec anharmonic what are the nene Byford? Lika Ahmed see what he means? Oh Allah make the halal sufficient for me so I have no need for the Haram and grab me independence of everybody besides you. Make me financially independent from everybody besides you because obviously we will always be dependent on Allah. So in this dua we are asking Allah for two things we asking Allah for Halal income, are we ask Allah for financial

independence and these are two of the most beautiful gifts you can give us in this world. So we ask Allah subhanaw taala for Halal income we ask Allah for blessing jobs you ask ALLAH SubhanA wa Tala for financial freedom. We ask Allah for dignity in the workplace and for dignified jobs and for dignified sources of income. We ask Allah for happy home so happy families. We ask Allah for guidance and always and to make it such that we can practice our in freely without ever being oppressed by people. We ask Allah to end all of the wars and oppression that people are facing across the globe and to make a world of peace in the western world of prosperity in the world of

Taqwa. Robina Artina Petunia. Huseynov Woodfill Astrati Hasina, working at Governor robbing the hub dynamic as well as you know the Regional Coordinator Are you know, channeling Photokina Imbaba Allah Mark fina Behala Lygon Harami Nina Polycom and Seawalk superhydrophobic is a DMAC tune was salam ala moana serene with hamdu Lillahi Rabbil Alameen Salam alaykum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh