Advice to Colleagues Who Abandon Prayer at Work
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Question:
And another, since it relates to the topic, we thought it best to present to Your Eminence a matter that troubles me and directly affects my daily life. I work in a department of one of the ministries, and about twenty employees work with me. About half of them are not consistent in their prayer, and three of them abandon it entirely. One of them shares a room with me. The situation is that he constantly talks to the cleaners about religion and other things, he mentions Allah a lot, and he recites some of the dhikr (remembrance of Allah) reported from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). I have advised him to pray several times, but he did not respond. I reported the matter to the directorate and others, apart from those who abandon prayer, but nothing changed. The prayer is established while they are in the office. All that happened is that I became disliked, shunned, and targeted, and these people conspire against me because I do not sit with them or speak to them, out of fear of sin. So what is Your Eminence’s opinion? Should I mention
Answer:
Be glad of good, my brother. You must be patient, and you must enjoin what is right and forbid what is wrong. Be glad of good. The rest is after the adhan (call to prayer). He says that he is in one of the offices, and that there are people with him who do not care about prayer, and some of them do not pray at all. He advised them, but one man is still with him in the office before the advice was given, and he raised the matter regarding him, but nothing happened.
The answer is that you, my brother, must be patient, and you must seek reward from Allah, and you must advise this man with you, and others who are negligent. I remind you of the saying of Allah the Exalted in the story of Luqman’s son:[Luqman 31:17]. And His saying: [At-Tawbah 9:71].
And I remind you of His saying:[Al-Anfal 8:46] and be patient [An-Nahl 16:127] So be patient with this matter, strive, and advise them. Raise the matter again to those responsible for them, perhaps they will be guided, and perhaps he will respond. If you wish to inform me of this between you and me, tell me the name of this department, or write to me a letter signed “Advisor.” I will, if Allah wills, write to the person responsible for these people so that Allah will guide them, if Allah wills.
And another, since it relates to the topic, we thought it best to present to Your Eminence a matter that troubles me and directly affects my daily life. I work in a department of one of the ministries, and about twenty employees work with me. About half of them are not consistent in their prayer, and three of them abandon it entirely. One of them shares a room with me. The situation is that he constantly talks to the cleaners about religion and other things, he mentions Allah a lot, and he recites some of the dhikr (remembrance of Allah) reported from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). I have advised him to pray several times, but he did not respond. I reported the matter to the directorate and others, apart from those who abandon prayer, but nothing changed. The prayer is established while they are in the office. All that happened is that I became disliked, shunned, and targeted, and these people conspire against me because I do not sit with them or speak to them, out of fear of sin. So what is Your Eminence’s opinion? Should I mention
Answer:
Be glad of good, my brother. You must be patient, and you must enjoin what is right and forbid what is wrong. Be glad of good. The rest is after the adhan (call to prayer). He says that he is in one of the offices, and that there are people with him who do not care about prayer, and some of them do not pray at all. He advised them, but one man is still with him in the office before the advice was given, and he raised the matter regarding him, but nothing happened.
The answer is that you, my brother, must be patient, and you must seek reward from Allah, and you must advise this man with you, and others who are negligent. I remind you of the saying of Allah the Exalted in the story of Luqman’s son:
O my son, establish prayer, enjoin what is right, forbid what is wrong, and be patient over what befalls you. Indeed, [all] that is of the matters [requiring] determination.
يَا بُنَيَّ أَقِمِ الصَّلَاةَ وَأْمُرْ بِالْمَعْرُوفِ وَانْهَ عَنِ الْمُنكَرِ وَاصْبِرْ عَلَىٰ مَا أَصَابَكَ إِنَّ ذَٰلِكَ مِنْ عَزْمِ الْأُمُورِThe believing men and believing women are allies of one another. They enjoin what is right and forbid what is wrong
وَالْمُؤْمِنُونَ وَالْمُؤْمِنَاتُ بَعْضُهُمْ أَوْلِيَاءُ بَعْضٍ يَأْمُرُونَ بِالْمَعْرُوفِ وَيَنْهَوْنَ عَنِ الْمُنكَرِAnd I remind you of His saying:
and be patient. Indeed, Allah is with the patient.
وَاصْبِرُوا إِنَّ اللَّهَ مَعَ الصَّابِرِينَand your patience is not but through Allah
وَمَا صَبْرُكَ إِلَّا بِاللَّهِ
Source
ندوات الجامع الكبير مع الأسئلة - 59 — archive.org (52:57)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.