Islamic marriage advice and family advice

I can’t pray at my job.

Man praying salat in a field

I am doing a job out of my country. My job is such that I can't pray 5 times, and this get me very tense. But when I think of leaving it, I can't think of what else I  can do. I can't decide what to do.

-mobeenkhan


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5 Responses »

  1. Assalam Aleykoum,

    I don’t know if this would help but I have had an almost similar experience where I would forgo my Salat due to work. I remember someone made me realize that I was doing an abhorring thing by abandoning my worship; also reminded me that it was due to Allah SWT that I was blessed with a job. I remember making so much dua for an opportunity better than what I had. So I left that job and found another Alhamdulillah.

    My current job allows me an hour for lunch and I make it to the masjid close by Alhamdulillah. However I would still miss Asr (in winter) and prayed Dhuhr an hour early sometimes (spring-summer) due to the daylight savings time. Plus I alsol missed Juma'a (I know it’s not mandatory for me but I love Juma'a). So I made lots of dua and dedication. Beautiful thing is that I have been offered a better job at another company. Way, way, way better pay and which does not monitor my time or micromanage me. And I can go on fieldwork (allowing me to go for my Friday prayers). Truly Allah SWT is great.

    So my thoughts on this are:

    1. First try to talk to your supervisor explaining to him that there are certain times of the day that you’d need to pray.

    2. See if you can incorporate your breaks around the prayer times.

    3. Make lots of dua to Allah SWT to make it easy for you to worship Him with ease and comfort.

    InshaAllah Kheir,
    SisterZahriya

  2. Assalaamualaikam

    Depending on which country you are working in, there may be legislation in place that requires your work to accommodate the needs of your faith - for example, some equality laws and anti-discrimination rules - and in many places there are rules about the need for employees to have breaks. You could use your breaks to pray, and aim to have them at around prayer times (you may not always be right on time, but within the prayer time should be achievable).

    If your work doesn't have a dedicated prayer room, you could ask for one - it wouldn't need to be big or fancy, just enough for you and any Muslim colleagues to pray in.

    If there are work commitments preventing you from praying 5 times (eg. a surgeon may be due to carry out operations for a whole afternoon) it might be possible to get some flexibility incorporated into the schedule. For example, could a short break be included between work tasks?

    If you really enjoy your job and want to keep doing it, then speak up and tell your bosses what you need in order to do your job as well as fulfil your obligations as a Muslim. If they aren't Muslim themselves, they may not understand how important it is to be able to pray regularly and fulfil our other duties. Some jobs have unions that advocate for employees - if you do, it might help to speak with them to see if they can support you.

    Midnightmoon
    IslamicAnswers.com editor

  3. as salaam alaikum and may Allah have mercy on us. Brother you should get breaks or a lunch time. pray then insha Allah.

  4. Assalaamualaikum brother,
    A cousin of mine was in a similar situation. She had no place to pray even though she had time. What she did was she made sincere dua and left the job. She said we are in this world to please Allah (s.w.t) and anything which prevents us from doing so is not worth it. She was jobless for 2months and then she found a better job with a higher salary and better work timings and she could easily pray in her own office which was bigger than her last one.
    Make sincere dua brother, Allah is there to answer it. Talk to your seniors maybe you can keep a prayer mat in your work place and take a 10min break and pray somewhere on the premises. Or start looking for a job which will not prevent you to pray.
    May Allah make it easy for you and All of us. Aameen
    Best of Luck

  5. Assalam aley kum,

    I am getting a time to pray my Dhuhr salah everyday after talking to my senior, however, she said that if I can keep the same timings for Juma Salah also because when I usually come back from my Juma Salah we only have 30 minutes to log out, and in that 30 minutes it is very hard to give sales. Now we have come to a common term that if I provide the productivity required for a day before Juma Salah time than it is fine for the company otherwise the company is not happy. Lots of duas and advise is required from all the brother and sister in faith.

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