Relations at workplace for Muslim Men and Women

( The said article was originally published in the online magazine 'Albaiyyinah' and was written by Tahira Rizwana Kursia, who is a Computer Engineer and resides in Montreal, Canada with her husband. She can be reached on rkursia@gmail.com)

"Do not be envious of each other, nor backbite nor hate one another, but become brothers in the service of Allah." (reported in Bukhari, the book of tradition of the Prophet)

Everyday we usually spend a good amount of time for our job at workplaces. That is why it is very important for Muslim men and women to know what kind of relationship to have with different group of people in the job environment and how to maintain those relationship to please Allah and remain a practicing Muslim at the end.

A job has a great effect on an individual as well as on the whole society for human beings. The job environment, relationships among employees, organizational needs represent the social and ethical condition of a country. The famous Islamic psychologist Ali said –

“Work is an obligatory activity and a virtue in the light of the needs of man and the necessity to establish equilibrium in one’s individual and social life. Work enables man to be independent and is a source of self-respect, satisfaction and fulfillment. Success and progress on the job depend on the hard work and commitment to one’s job. Commitment to work also involves a desire to improve the community and social welfare. Society would have fewer problems if each persona were committed to his work and avoid unethical methods of wealth accumulation. Creative work and cooperation is not only a source of happiness but are considered noble deeds too.” (Ali, 1988 : 577)

There are several distinguished professional and social relations in a job environment. For example, relationship with the human resource people, colleagues, superiors and subordinates and so on. All these relationships are very important to live in a peaceful society and we have to be very careful about these interactions. Fortunately, Islam has given us all the useful guidelines to act accordingly.

Relations with the Human Resource and Superiors
As the implementation of organizational rules and management depend a lot on these people, an employee has to be very careful while dealing with them. In many non- Muslim countries, it is a great problem for a Muslim employee to maintain the prayer time and place. But if he can prove himself as a responsible and dependable employee then it will be easy for him to get a break time and even manage a place for prayer inside the working premises. Besides, the creativity and uniqueness of a Muslim employee can increases the honor and interest towards Islam among others.

Muslims know that their thoughts, words and actions are being constantly observed by Allah SWT. When a man is at work, he has to dedicate himself to complete all his organizational duties as well. He must be careful about all his commitments and try to fulfill them perfectly. He should also be sincere, honest and always speak the truth. We know the story of truthfulness of our prophet (PBUH) and how even the non-Muslims could depend on him. He was a great business man also. We can get a lot of valuable tips from his life to apply in our professional life in the job environment.

In practice, some times people may find ethical conflict with the organization. They have to handle those situations very wisely. If an employee encounters a mistake done by his superiors, he is advised to address the issue wisely to perfect department. If the boss keeps on insisting the mistake or misuses his authority for that, then the employee has the right to address this issue with the superiors to his boss. In this case, the employee should honestly report the case with the intention of protecting the interests of the organization. The relationship between a superior and an employee should be based on cooperation and piety. While an employee is required to observe his duty toward Allah SWT by doing his or her best to excel at work, a supervisor is also asked to do the same. He should practice leadership honestly and professionally.

Relation with colleague
People need a good relation with his co-workers to pass a peaceful time in job environment. He has to maintain a balanced relation with them. He will not expect any reward from them and not care much about pleasing them. He should always try to prove himself as a helpful person and never find others fault. Allah SWT says:

"O you who believe! Avoid most of suspicion (against others), for surely suspicion in some cases is sin; and do not spy (into other people's affairs), nor let some of you backbite others." [49:12]

When a person follows this ayat , does his duty perfectly and respect others opinions then eventually respect from others goes toward him as well. His co-workers begin to like him, depend on him and discuss different issues with him. In this way a good Muslim employee can show the right direction to others. He can do some dawah work also. The best dawah can be performed by showing kindness to co-workers and treating them with respect. He should speak in a gentle voice with genuine humility. He should not try to defeat anyone by disputing and debating. The primary goal in a dawah is to please Allah SWTby trying to win hearts through one’s positive attitude. He must bear in mind the advice that Allah SWT provides:

“Invite all to the Way of thy Rabb with wisdom and beautiful preaching and argue with them in ways that are best and most gracious: For thy Rabb knows best who has strayed from His Path and who receives guidance.” [16: 125]

In some work-places in non-Muslim countries, people sometimes have to face some undesirable situations like joking with headscarf and Islamic dress, criticizing for not doing hand-shake with opposite gender and so on. But if a person can make himself a model of an efficient worker following the above way (shown by Allah SWT) then he can overcome all those difficulties. Some of the people surrounding him may become curious about his custom and religion. Whenever Muslims comes in the press news, they may feel comfortable to know his opinions and Islam may not be misunderstood.

Relations with subordinates
As the development of a good relationship remains in the hand of the superior, he can maintain a peaceful relationship with his subordinates. He can make a good and sustainable relations which are based on ease, forgiveness, overlooking the mistakes of others, courtesy, happy and smiling attitude and many other good characteristics. These can take away a lot of difficulties, pain, mental and physical sufferings. Maintaining such relationship he can also gain a lot for his life after death. Holy Prophet (PBUH) said in Mishkat that "It is an act of charity to meet your fellow with a cheerful face."

For example, if we consider the teaching profession, the teacher-student relationship is the best one to build an ideal society. As students usually try to follow the teacher, it is a great opportunity for a teacher to show them the light of life. To do so teachers must be polite with students, get their opinions and give importance to them. He may know individuals clearly, listen to their problems and show them the right way. He may arrange some special classes for moral teachings and can discuss the contemporary issues with them also.

In a work place we can see some people who are entitled to serve others. The employees should be very kind with them and build a good relationship with them. Sometime these entitled groups’ work loads are not considered and they have to work over time. People should develop a practice to serve their won needs by themselves and decrease others work load. We know our prophet (PBUH) used to do all his works by himself. If those service personnel do not have enough education, people may arrange a way to give them proper knowledge in the leisure time. If their service needs payment, people should not make any delay. `Abdullah ibn `Umar reported that the Prophet (PBUH)said, “Give to the workers their wages before their sweat dries (meaning as soon as their work is finished)”

A good relationship with others is as much important in Islam as are the Five Pillars: the declaration of faith, five daily Prayers, Zakah (Charity), fasting during Ramadan, and Hajj (for those who can afford it). Actually, none of the five main duties of Islam can be properly performed without good relations with mankind. In a job environment we have to meet a lot of people of different nature. Islam recognizes these distinguishable types and puts forth clear guidance on how to maintain good relations among one another amidst these differences. So, we may develop and maintain good relations with people of all types by keeping in mind that the Holy Prophet has told Muslims that, the best among them is that person who shows the best behavior towards other people. In a Hadith Qudsi Allah SWT says:

“He who maintains good ties with you, I maintain good ties with him; and he who severs your ties, I sever ties with him".