Mufti Menk – How To Handle Challenges with Cultural Sensitivity
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The importance of avoiding negative behavior when one finds a loss of their job is discussed. People can develop a sense of hopelessness and fear when they hear stories about job loss. The speaker advises people to quit their job and use their experience as an excuse, as they may be trying to get their hands around their appearance. They also suggest practicing faith and not just praying for someone. The woman describes her sister's outdated hair and fashion statement clothing.
AI: Summary ©
Amazing. May Allah make it easy for you,
number 1. Number 2 is
in anyone's situation
and you know your situation, it's it's it's
quite quite simple for me to say, you
know what? Just quit your job and go
and get something else, but there's no jobs
out there. I need to survive and so
on. So what do I do? What really?
What do I do? I have found a
few a few things number 1 is regarding
the diet, you know what's halal and what
you can eat and what you can't eat,
sometimes you if you say this is halal
then
people might
be a little bit hostile towards the term,
but if you use another word within which
there is more halal
than something there,
they are more receptive of it, like I'm
vegan,
or I'm vegetarian,
it's it's different, I'll give you an example,
we were on a flight one day
and
there was a beauty pageant that had happened
in the country, and myself and a few
of the sheikhs were sitting in the front
of the flight, and these girls walked in
semi, you know, dressed.
And, we were just talking to each other
a little while later.
One of them developed the courage to come
up to us and say, we'd like to
take a big job.
Now we were the only guys with these
big bids, you know,
so the rest of the men on the
flight, it was quite a big plane.
The rest of the men on the flight,
I don't know what made them pick us
out from everybody else.
So immediately,
a colleague of mine, a friend of mine
says, you know
what, my wife will kill
me. My wife will what? Will kill me.
Oh no no no no, it's okay, It's
fine. Don't worry. That's why we understand that
she went away.
Wow. I was busy thinking about using the
religious card and telling him haram, I'm a
Muslim, you know, in Islam it's not
Allah, he just showed me, listen, you can
say something that they can receive with far
greater ease. By the way, my wife is
sitting right in your midst this evening, mashallah.
So Alhamdulillah, it's a good thing,
I just said you know what, my wife
would be so unhappy, it's going to create
a problem for me at home, you know,
they would say okay fine. Thank you what
you achieved something you wanted to achieve
Without saying why you wanted to achieve it
but that is also true.
So many times my wife tells me, you
see this, you shouldn't have done this, you
see that. She's the only one qualified to
actually tell that to me, you know. You
shouldn't have done this, you shouldn't have done
this, and sometimes it's basic things and I'm
like okay okay fine, that's fine, masha'Allah, masha'Allah,
alhamdulillah,
but it's okay, alhamdulillah,
So in your case, perhaps regarding the diet
part of it, you can you can look
for a worldly thing that's palatable to them
to
literally to use an as an excuse, but
it's acceptable because here comes a person saying,
I'm vegetarian. They facilitate it for that person.
The minute you say, I only eat halal,
at times you can sense the vibe based
on depending on where you're working you're working
in an environment like you say that's very
very
you know not connected
to Muslims
secondly
my sister carry yourself in a way that
you know you've done better
or the best you could do given the
circumstance
and pray to Allah to make it easier
and ask Allah to give you an opening
with
and Allah will grant you that open so
these are some of the steps that I
would advise to say do your best given
your circumstances I met a sister who's an
air hostess
in an air on an aircraft and she
tells me, what do I do? Well, when
you applied for the job, I wasn't involved,
number 1. Number 2 is,
now that you're in it, I can't tell
you, quit it
unless you have an alternative. If you have
an alternative, please quit
it
because there's an alternative.
But if not, and this is your means
of survival,
and this is the way that you are
you know,
basically, you know we need to pay rent.
Nobody's gonna come up in the Masjid and
say, right, guys. Everybody who's got a job
where there's a little bit of around, come
here and collect 5,000 quid from us every
month, and that's it. Doesn't happen. It's never
gonna happen. It's a fairy tale. So those
people who say, no. Do this. Don't worry.
Allah will provide. Allah will it's true. Allah
definitely will provide, but Allah has given you
common logic.
When you I give you a true story,
a very true story. A brother in America,
this was very recent.
A brother told me that
he visited he was from Nigeria. Right? He
visited
the states and he stays at a certain
place and he says every time I go
there there's there's there's a girl
and this is an elderly man, and he's
a very religious responsible person, dignitary.
He says whenever I go there, there's a
girl and she's very polite, and we get
talking and discussing religion and faith and so
on whatever whatever
and what happened is
she at one of his visits she said
guess what I'm a mustn
she had declared a shahada
what had lit it the guy
this dignity who kept coming he lit the
flame of
asking, finding out, and she was so convinced
with Islam. She's this girl, American, and she
decided I'm becoming a Muslim. When this guy
came and visited one of the times she
says I'm a Muslim
and part of her struggles were
salah
because she's in an environment where she has
no place to pray,
so she decided
what she did,
like I say, make the most of whatever
your circumstances are, do your best.
In her break,
she would go
under the flight of stairs in a dark
corner
and quickly dress and
and pray
as quickly as she can
and come out
and back at the reception where she works.
Every time she prayed, she hoped and and
prayed that no one saw her because it
would be trouble.
Anyway, this guy came back a third time
and she says, guess what? Something amazing happened.
What happened? She
says, one day my boss
actually came
at that time when I was praying,
and I was saying to Allah, I forgot
what I was trying to read in salah,
and saying, oh Allah, help me so he
can't see me. He doesn't see me. He
doesn't see me, you know, protect me from
him in whatever way you can because she'll
lose a job, right?
And
to her surprise
the boss
after
the girl finishes says what were you doing,
I was praying, I want to see you
in my office.
Come on. You can imagine what happened, her
heart sank, everything, whatever. Wallahi, she went to
the office
and she sat down quietly
he says what were you doing there he
says I was praying he says what are
you praying for she says you know,
I I'm now a Muslim,
and so
we pray 5 times a day, and I
was doing my prayers and so on.
The boss said I'm a Muslim too from
today on you don't pray in that corner
you come to my office and you pray
here
and this is a true story
and when I heard this, you know, like
my hair,
like, stood on end, and I'm thinking to
myself, imagine how
Allah saved her,
but that doesn't happen with everyone. Some people
have lost their jobs because of whatever.
So what you could do is do the
best given your circumstances with the the the
alcohol and so on. People would know that
you're non nonalcoholic.
I know of a lot of non Muslims
who are nonalcoholic.
They don't drink
alcohol, and and the interactions would be less.
The food, for example, if you're if you
have to go to a place where there
the food is not halal, you can opt
for something that you would definitely not be,
you know, contaminated in that way, inshallah, slowly
but surely,
and ask Allah to alleviate that for you
ask Allah to grant you an alternative
keep praying to him every day 6 months
will pass a year will pass something will
happen that will be a miracle and Allah
will give you that opening by His will
and His mercy by the word of Allah
again these are the real struggles of people
who want to practice not just reverts
anyone who wants to practice there and they
tell you, you know what? I became practicing
and I really have a major problem because
of so and so and so and so
and this. I know of a sister who
told me
I wear my hijab, but I just have
to make it into a bit of a
fashion statement so that it looks like, it's
not actually the hijab. What's your comment? I
said, I have no comment. You know what's
right and wrong. Your circumstances, I don't know
them. And if you're doing the best according
to you, and inshallah, you're gonna do better
and better and better. I pray that inshallah,
it will get to the ideal. Everyone knows
this is not ideal.
I mean hijab is not worn for fashion,
but it's worn in a decent way. It
should look nice. It should look, you know,
something that's presentable, something that's,
that doesn't make you feel inferior or something
no you're you're just a lovely human being
who's trying to practice their faith by the
will of Allah May Allah make it easy
for you, my sister. I hope these few
words
can help you, and I wish I had
a job better than the one you're in
right now that I could say, sister, from
tomorrow, come and work for us, but, unfortunately,
I don't.
May Allah bless you.