 Brothers and sisters, it is really, really an honour to be in your midst and really I feel very honoured to be part and parcel of this banquet this afternoon. I hope and I pray that a few words that I am going to utter will be of benefit firstly to myself and then to everyone else. The reason I say this is I am also a human being just like you. I also go to work and we also have to clock in and we also clock out. So I will share with you some of what I have learnt over the years and I am sure it will be common for every single one of us to gain perhaps a few lessons from. To begin with, we know that I am going to be discussing etiquettes of work. We all have to work. We were born in a way that we cannot simply live without movement. You need to move even if you are as wealthy as you are. You need to take your wallet out of your pocket that requires movement. You need to perhaps take your money out or your card out. You need to give it. You need to say something. You need to talk. You need to interact. Without interaction you cannot survive. So there has to be a way of interacting. In order to be the most successful person your interaction needs to be the best. So Muhammad SAW says that and he makes it very very clear that the best from amongst you are those who have the best character and conduct. Khiyarukum ahasinukum ahlaqa. The best from amongst you are those who have best character and conduct. He did not say you know you must only be good to this category of people. You must only be good to this nationality of people. You must only be good to this color of people. Or you must only be good to people of this religion or people of this race. He did not say that. It is a humanitarian item. Something that you need to understand with your common sense. That for me to survive in the best and easiest way in this particular world I need to be good to mankind. So in one narration he says khayrunnas anfa'uhum linnas. The best of all people are those who are most beneficial to the rest of the people. Ask yourself how do I benefit other people. Those I work with, those I mix with, those I interact. Those I interact with are a bonus. Can I tell you why? We are taught and this is taught in the major religions across the globe. The heavenly faiths, Judaism, Christianity, Islam. We are all taught that to be good to others is a meritorious deed. So when you interact with someone you are given a free opportunity to be good to others. If you were not interacting with anyone and you had to sit all on your own would you ever be able to engage in an act of worship known as being good to others? You haven't interacted. So you wouldn't be able to engage in that act of worship. The best from amongst us, those who interact and we prove our point. So what type of a point would you like to prove? Number one, when you get to work, you get to work five minutes before time. That's a believer. That is a believer because sometimes we think that okay I'm here for my salary. Not your salary alone, no. You are here as a human being. You are here as a believer. And on top of that you need to earn. That is why you are here as well. So these three put together will make you arrive five minutes ahead of schedule. So that number one, you have a good impression. People believe you're a hard worker. They consider you an asset to the company. Tomorrow when something goes wrong, they will say, no, this man we cannot fire him. Say for example, in this company, Allah granted growth, more and more growth. I mean, say for some reason they had to retrench 20 people. Ask yourself, would I be one of those who needs to be worried? If the answer is yes, you're not working hard enough. Did you hear what I said? If the company has to retrench 20 people, for example, and you are worried that you might be one of them, that means you're not working hard enough. If you were working hard every day you come in the morning, you greet the people, you smile. Then when there is a crisis at work, how do you manage? Crisis management really distinguishes a person from another. When you have a crisis, how you deal with it differentiates you. They say from far a donkey and a horse looks the same. When you come near, you see, hey, one is a donkey, one is a horse. So from far you say, which one do you want? You might say the white one. That's a mule. You might not know. But the same way we say that when you see people, they all look the same. One will greet you, the other one will greet you. When there is a crisis, how they manage the crisis distinguishes the two. So if you have been a person who has tried your best to deliver the goods, the day that retrenchment comes, you can smile and say, not me. It's not going to happen. And if you happen to be retrenched, you'll find a job quicker than anything else. Because you know you've got a very great or good track record. So why I start with this is because when we work anywhere in Islam, it is known as an amana. Amana means a trust. It is a trust on your shoulders. I'm working for this place. I need to test my loyalty to where I'm working. Is there any loyalty? Do I recognize it? Our loyalty belongs to the maker to start with. But he has then within that loyalty allowed you, or in fact obligated you, to fulfill your pledges and promises that you've made. Allah has instructed you to fulfill the trust to those whom it belongs to. And this would include fulfilling your promise. You've made a covenant. You've signed a document. You're working somewhere. Do you fulfill that trust? Do you understand and realize that I am answerable to do something good and I'm answerable to ensure that I fulfill what I have signed to fulfill? So like I was saying, five minutes ahead of schedule, you're there. Then when we get to work, we need to ask ourselves the time that I am at work. Do I spend it drinking tea? Do I spend it reading the paper? Do I spend it on the internet? Am I spending it on my phone? Am I skyping home? Hello, hi, my children. I hope it's home. I hope it's not somewhere else. And I'm spending more time and saying this and that. If that is the case, can I call myself an honest, hardworking, believing person who is now at work? Can I say that? The answer is no. So much so that some of the scholars of Islam have taught that if you cheat your workplace at the end of the month when you get a salary, you must deduct the hours of cheating and give it back. To say, you know what? This, I don't actually deserve it because I was sitting with the newspaper for five hours, take the money back. Can anyone do that? Not one. Even those who are on the net whole day, they will say, no, I'm not going to do this. So that's why we are here, only to show you that if you don't want to do that, minimum is cut out all this extra activity which is unnecessary. Work time is work time. That is a true person who understands the etiquette of the workplace. Another thing, respect everyone who works with you to start with. Everyone you are going to work with, no matter what size they are, what color they are, what religion they belong to, how they look. All that is besides the point. What position they have is also besides the point. Respect everyone, a blanket respect. Why? Because that is the etiquette of the workplace. Someone is serving you a drink, someone is cleaning, someone is responsible for what you might consider a very lowly paid job. Ask yourself, do I respect them? Do I greet them? Do I make them feel like a human being? If the answer is yes, you are doing the right thing. You have understood the etiquette. If the answer is no, you have a lot to improve. Why? Hello, your children might be the same. Who knows? You know, tables can turn. That's why, Masha'Allah, we are sitting on a round table. So no matter where you are, you can actually have similar access. But sometimes tables can turn. You find yourself in a position that you did not dream you would ever be in. May the Almighty protect us and grant us promotion upon promotion. If you create this idea of respecting everyone and fulfill it, the day you are put into a lower position, others will respect you as well. Subhanallah. How amazing it is. And this is why the Messenger of Muhammad, Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, he used to have a working, helping hand with him who used to be a slave. And his name was Zaid ibn Haritha. And one day the Messenger, Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam freed him. He said, you know what? You are free because he was given Zaid as a gift. And after some time, he freed him and he said, you know what? We don't want to have slaves and so on. We free you. So this young man's parents came to collect him to say, you know what? Now you can come home. Guess what happened? Take a good guess what happened. Muhammad, Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam says, okay, there you are. You can go. He says, my mother and my father. I don't want to come with you. I want to stay here. Allahu Akbar. I want to stay here. Why? He is being treated like a human being and even more like a very important person, VIP, and yet he's just a helping hand. Helping hand does not want to go back. He says, no, I'm going to stay here. What's your salary? Zero. No salary because obviously he was a slave who was now free. No salary. He says, I want to stay here. I don't want to leave this man. Amazing. How many of us really would be able to work for a company without a salary and say, I'm going to stay here? I think it's not even a question for our time because we are living in a different time. People would say, I have a mouth. Can you see my lips are dry? Can you notice? You know why? I need an increment. That's why. Allahu Akbar. Allah protect us. So the minimum is leave a good impression. Tomorrow, look, to be honest with you, the bulk of us here are expats. We will leave at some stage. We're going to leave the place. When we leave, do we want to leave with a good name that the others said, you know, one day we had a guy here. He achieved a lot. He worked so hard. He worked well and really he was a good man. And you don't know, you are somewhere either in another company or you've retired back at home. What a good name. When your children apply for a job, one day, somewhere down the line, people will say, whoa, this is the son of that man who worked here so many years ago, very hard, give him the job. I'm sure it has already happened to some of us, isn't it? Why? Because you left a good name. It's intellect. But if you were to follow the etiquettes of the workplace, it would happen automatically without you even asking. It would happen automatically. So work diligently, respect everyone. Then we have another issue, the opposite sex. You work sometimes, you have the opposite sex working with you. How do you look at them? It's very important to look at them with utmost purity and respect. Never ever abuse the opposite sex or look at them cheaply or lowly. Never. That is one of the biggest downfalls of the workplace. We need to look at each other with the eyes of purity and respect and we need to understand the dignity of our sisters and we need to be able to fulfill their rights and go the extra mile to ensure that they are protected from any form of abuse. Today, across the globe, we hear stories of this abuse and that abuse. We should be the furthest away from this. We ask the Almighty to protect us. The reason is people who are watching from outside must never get the wrong impression. They must feel safe and secure. So much so that our company will be one that all feel. You get a job here, you're looked after well. Subhanallah. People respect you. They look at you. There is dignity and so on. That is the etiquette of the workplace and this is how the environment should be. We should help towards creating such a beautiful environment and in return, we will also be respected. Our daughters will be respected. Our sisters will be respected. Our mothers will be respected and we will be able to have a beautiful environment but it starts on an individual basis. Each one of us needs to be concerned about the same things. Then we have another issue, the issue of honesty. We need to be honest with everything we do. This, I'm sure you've heard it many, many times. But if you take a look at the Prophet Moses, may peace be upon him, Musa A.S. There is a story mentioned about how he got married. He ran away from the Pharaoh and after that he went to Median and in Median he saw some women who were trying to get their flock to drink some water and after some time he asked them a question. Why are you women standing right at the back and waiting? What are you waiting for? Everyone is busy with the flock trying to let them drink and you are waiting on the side and they said, no, we are waiting for the men to go away and then we will come and do our work and our father is an old man. And after some time he offered help. He said, okay, let me do it for you. He went on the side and he did it in a very short time. Look at the respect he had for the opposite sex. He said, you guys wait. Let's help you and we will get this done for you. And he got it done. He gave them back the flock. They went home. The father asks them, how come you guys are back early today? Why are you back so early? What happened? So they related the story. There was a man and this is what he did. The father says, go and call the man. Go and call the man. They went and they called Musa A.S. In the meantime, he's making a dua. He's making a prayer saying, oh, Allah, help me. I am in need of anything that you send in my direction in the form of goodness at this moment. And when they came, they walked him back home and the father said something very interesting. In fact, one of the daughters, she says, O my father, employ this man. Give him a job. Why? Because the best person you could give a job to is one who is hardworking and honest. Two qualities. Qawwi means strong, hardworking and Ameem means a person who's honest. Going to fulfill the job properly. How did they know he was hardworking? They knew he was hardworking because of what he did in no time. How did they know he was honest? The books of Tafseer make mention of what happened at the time. When these young girls came to call him to say, our father is calling you and follow us. He said, I will walk in front of you and you tell direct me where to turn left or right. So he walked in front of them and they walked behind him and they told him where to go. They knew this man is honest. Instead of walking behind us, he walked in front of us. Wow. Did you know this? And from that they gaged that this man is a gentleman. He's honest. The father took it one step ahead and he said, you know what? You can work for me, yes. But I want you to marry my daughter. Amazing. Now don't be kind to the women just because you want to marry them. But you need to be kind to them genuinely. You will see the benefit of it purely. So the point I'm raising is look at these two qualities. Hardworking and honesty. If you are honest in your work and you are hardworking it will be very difficult to replace you, very difficult. They will have to think 20 times before they replace you. Hardworking and honest. Because those are the two qualities anyone needs as the prime etiquettes of the workplace. So we need to understand all of us. Let's, myself included, let's enhance the work we do, work harder. And you know, some people have an attitude. They treat work as a totally separate entity whereby if you knock off at 5 o'clock, 4.59, striking 5, you close everything and you're gone. Even if you are halfway doing something, you're gone. That's not the right attitude. The etiquette is finish off what you're doing. It might take you 5 minutes, 15 minutes, 20 minutes more. So what? Don't have an attitude where you close everything halfway. You're on a phone call. You say, sorry, I'm answering the call because I'm, this is the call center. Hello, how can I help you? Sorry, it's 5 o'clock. Put the phone down. You cannot do that. You need to complete your discussion. You need to finish up what you're doing. Take that work as your own because you are there. You are part and parcel of a workplace. That 5 o'clock is a guiding light. You know, a lot of us, sometimes half past 4, we start winding down. And we are gone. People come in half and say, I can't meet him. Tell him to come tomorrow. That attitude is not ours. It's not the etiquette of the workplace, especially when you are a believer, you treat people fairly. You know, sometimes, and I don't know about the business that you are in, the details of it, but I can tell you about what I am in. We have people who travel from different countries to come and see us. Different cities to come and see us. And if we had to close the office at 5 and said, you know what? I can't meet you. Come tomorrow. They'll say, but I've traveled for 7 hours to come and see you for 15 minutes, and you are closing the door? Is that the etiquette? Is that what it's supposed to be? The answer is no. You are supposed to understand. Bear in mind, this person came all the way, take them, you know, talk to them, see what they have to do, finish up what they are doing and so on. This is also something very interesting, the issue of finishing off on time and the issue of understanding the person you are dealing with, whether you call them a client or a customer or even interacting with those who are with you and so on, remember the issue of time, don't make it a very sticky issue. You must give on your time. But when you are to leave, you don't just close something halfway and leave. You finish it off completely and then you go by the will of Allah, we ask the Almighty to grant us acceptance and goodness. We also have another beautiful etiquette of the workplace that is known as protecting from wastage. Wastage means some people think, oh, it's company money, carry on. You know, it's a company perk, let's just carry on. So people say, okay, I'm just giving an example. I don't know the exact scenario, but I'm giving an example. Say you have a company vehicle and you are getting fuel. I know here in Mashallah it's very cheap. By us, I think we are paying $1.60, $1.60 per liter of fuel. That's what we pay. So you are very, very lucky because I know perhaps it will be less than half of that. But if you were to say, no, it's a company vehicle, you know what, so what, 1,000 kilometers, big deal, let's carry on, just claim it. If that is the case, you've lost the etiquette of the workplace. You need to be honest. Your company perk, company pays your phone bill, does not mean you can phone home every single day, speak, okay, no, come on, wake up. You wake your wife up or whoever up, your children up from their sleep, talk to me, but I'm sleeping. No, it's a free call. Talk to me, come on. It's just an example. You cannot keep on doing that because this is abuse of what belongs to the company. They might allow you a perk or they might allow you some leeway, but you need to be honest to say, let me use it within reasonable limits. Beyond that, I must not abuse it. You know, I had, I visited someone. I hope he doesn't listen to what we're saying some way down, but we're not taking names. And at his home, I saw so many items that were sitting there labelled with the logo of his company, so many things. And I told him, what's this? He said, no, they were dishing out a few free things. So I just took the whole lot. I said, what? You mean you took the whole lot? This was supposed to be for all other people, you know, writing gadgets and pens and pads and all different things. He says, no, but you know, they're a rich company, they can get more. I said, but hang on. You needed to take two or three of those. You took the whole lot and you went home. I said, what it does is anyone who visits your house and sees this thing in the corner are going to think this man is dishonest already. It's over. Right? So if they have certain things, you know, which are to be used, you make use of it. You have a pen, you have a writing facility, you have something, perhaps this and that. Different companies have different things depending on what they are and how they work. But you do not abuse it. You make use of it correctly. You might want to take one or two more, but you don't have to take the whole lot. And sometimes we'll sit with that until it becomes rotten and we won't have used it and yet someone else could have used it in a much better fashion. So this is also part of the etiquettes of the workplace and we could go on and on and on. But I think we need a reminder once in a while, short dose of a reminder to say my brothers and sisters, we are proud of you. Together we make the world. Together we make the world. If I am all alone, I won't be able to achieve much at all. Today I entered here. For example, someone has laid the table. Someone has put these little coverings on the tables and the chairs. Someone has put the water. Someone has set up the lighting. Someone has put the camera. Someone has got this loud halo on the others. Everyone has attended and so on. Think for one minute. If one of those went wrong, we would be very uncomfortable here today. Say everything went well but nobody came. What would happen? So I thank you for coming. Mashallah. I really appreciate the fact that we have a full house here this afternoon. Alhamdulillah. I thank you. If I cannot thank you, I'm a fool because without the one tooth on that cog, the whole machine will stop working. Remember that. For example, if our tables were not covered, it would not look as decorated as it is right now. For example, if we didn't have a sound system with such lighting and so on, it would not be such a talk perhaps because we might have just had an informal little chat and so on today. Look at what's happened. So we need to take a moment to appreciate the work of every single person. That is also part and parcel of the etiquettes of the workplace. Appreciate everyone. Appreciate, think for a moment what has happened. You know, I'm staying at a hotel here. One phone call, can I please have an iron and an ironing board? Next thing, it's up there. Somebody comes within a minute, they're up. Why? Because they all know we have a role to fulfill here. If one of them says, yeah, okay, we'll come tomorrow morning. Put it down. Tomorrow morning I have a meeting right now. What are you talking about? So my brothers and sisters, the same way we realize and understand that everyone has a job that they are doing. Without doing it, it's going to spoil the system. Somewhere down the line, something is going to go wrong. Let us also do our job, inshallah. And let us also promote goodness and kindness. I hope we can enjoy the meal that's about to be served. I want to really thank not only Alco as the company, but one and all who are here as well as the staff from this particular place to have arranged such a beautiful facility. You know, one might think that, okay, they are paid, so why do you need to thank them? A payment is something, but that verbal gratitude is something else. The verbal gratitude, the acknowledgement, the smile on the face, no matter who you are. You know, let me end off by giving you one example. One example. In Saudi Arabia and Allah protect us all, there were some floods. A few years ago, there were some floods in Jeddah. I'm sure you might have heard about them. You know, there are flash floods that happen in the desert. Who helped who? Do you know? At that time of crisis, nobody looked at who you are. Anyone and everyone dived in whatever expertise they had in swimming. They made sure that they tried to save as many lives as possible. Did anyone say, okay, let me see who's this? No, this guy is from Sudan. I don't want to help him. Walk away. Did anyone do that? And then they look at someone else and say, oh, that was too fat. No, I'm not going to help him. Did anyone do that? No. At the moment of crisis, there were people who were working on the streets. There was a man who was at a little bakala. You know what's a bakala? It's a little suparet, a little suparet in the side of the road. He closed his shop and he came. He was a black belt karate. You might have known the story. Pakistani. And he saved 14 lives. He didn't say no. I came from Pakistan to work at this bakala here and to earn money to send home by Western Union. He didn't say that. But that was his job. He came out. He saw there's a crisis. It's part of my duty as a human being. I'm here to work. But this is a crisis. Let me dive in. He dived. One person he saved. Two, three, four. 14 people he saved. When he went to save the 15th person, he passed away. I'm sure you read the story two years ago. And what happened as a result? Wallahi, people found out, obviously there's CCTV, there's so many different ways of finding out and so on. And his family was invited to the kingdom. They named that whole street after him that they built a masjid in his hometown after his name and so on. This came right from the king himself, acknowledging that this man is a human being of note. He came to this country to work. Few months he was here as a person who is in a bakala. Right? And what happened is, no matter how people treated him, no matter what, the day he was needed for something higher than the work he had, he jumped in. I'm telling you his family today is very proud of him, although they feel the loss because all of them and that whole little village way he comes from have benefited from this act of bravery of this one man. Amazing. Now why I raise this is because this man had such great etiquette in his heart that he rose to the occasion to help people that sometimes might have been cruel to him at the bakala. If you go to a bakala and just sit and wait and watch how people treat the man behind the counter, they throw the fruit at him. It can happen. When we go, we don't even greet them. We just put our thing, we give the money and we walk out. No greeting, no thank you, no salam, no nothing. They say that after that incident in Saudi Arabia, a lot of the people began to greet those sadiqs at the back of the bakala. Salamu alaikum. Why? Because they, tomorrow they might be a flood and this guy might dive in for me. Allahu Akbar. You see what I'm saying? Do not underestimate your need for someone else during a crisis. And this is why we say be a good person, stand up, learn to greet people, learn to humble yourself down and learn to understand. I have so many examples in my mind but I think it's about time we ate something. My stomach is starting to, you know, tell me to stop. So let me, insha'Allah, stop. I've really enjoyed myself. I've said a few words. I see everyone is glued, so I hope you've also enjoyed yourselves. The idea is to learn a thing or two in a beautiful environment where we can actually enjoy ourselves, interact in a nice way. Once again, I really appreciate from Alco and the others who have actually invited me here and I appreciate the attendance as well as those who are working here who are serving us really. Jazakumullahi khayru wassalallahu wassalam