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Praying at the staircase

I dont normally like to write nor show that im doing some kind of ibadah, be it the 5 daily prayers or reading Qur'an etc...




That's why i have put off writing about this for 2yrs... But i think i can't take it anymore.. i need to express it!




For the first month of so of starting work at this current company, I had my lunch at the nearby mosque 5 mins walk away, prayed and napped there.




I brought and lost 2 of my mother's foldable straw prayer/lounging mat. Which i used to pray at the dusty staircase. But its been lost for quite sometime....




Until one day, my time coincided with a lady cleaner praying just above me! My was i delighted! She used a few pieces of table spread - the PVC kind. I was soo happy to have found a... praying partner that i asked if i could have just ONE of her pieces of mat. its not enough to cover me so i hafta stand barefooted but forehead to the mat. BUT I WAS SO THRILLED! It means i have a more convenient place to pray.... peacefully... cos nobody ever pass thru.




Occasionally a security guard would walk down the stairs.. but most of the time, THEY are the one who apologised. Of course i cldnt be the one to say sorry in the first place since i was in the middle of prayer. But in any case, most of them are Malay / Muslims, so they understood.




about 3 months ago, toilets were being renovated on the 2 floors below and above me. so they had to come to our floor to use the toilet. Sometimes they use stairwell A, sometimes they pass thru the one that i used for prayer. But it was infrequent enough for me to care that much. Im NOT gonna give up my place. Besides, it was temporary measure only.




HOWEVER.. Now.. the 8th floor company has also occupied the 10th Floor office space and now hordes of them use the staircase to go up and down between their offices. Again, most of the time, THEY said Sorry. But i couldnt help thinking if they got scared looking at my various praying position

I suppose it helps than i dont wear the ghostly white traditional gear called the Telekung:

I cant help feeling guilty and misusing the staircase.

Im afraid if one of them would complain sooner or later and we all would be banned from praying there.

I entertained a fantasy that the guards would offer an alternative, more proper place to pray.. but FAT CHANCE!

I dont know.. But somehow i felt my spirits a bit elated when i read Laila's Thoughts & Tips about how she prayed at her sch's Computer Lab

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5 glasses of Juice:

Fahim's Blog said...

I can empathize with you because I used to face the same problem when I was working in Singapore. The mosque was too far away and it used to take around good 20 minutes of time walking down and back to office. Later I discovered that there was Musollah space in the car park of the building just across the street. Now thinking back I feel that those of us, including me, who have got luxury to pray in the comfort of home or living in a Muslim culture, do not realize how much we are blessed with this facility. Really made me sit up and relive those days!

Suryati Shariff said...

salams julissa,
my mom is still having probs with her company (where there are well over 30% who are muslims) to get them a proper area for praying and they too have to resort to using the areas near the staircases... and they are always rushing for time as the place is quite small but alhamdullilah I've been lucky while at work or school there are always designated areas to pray and it does gives us a sense of comfort and even nicer that the non-muslims are accommodating to our practice as well...:) a friend of mine send me an email with a database on mushollas all across Singapore.. can email you up if you want!

Take cares!

Jussaemon said...

Fahim.. sounds like Lippo Centre, ANson Road? beside M Hotel?

Sue.. where does ur mum work? Ok pls email me. i think u hv my add?

If work for govt they will definitely provide a place one. or at least wont question what u doing at a secluded corner of the office.

Anonymous said...

i have been using staircases for my solat for as long as i can remember...back in skool till i work. Alhamdulillah, there werent any problems....as long as we keep the place clean.

the problem wif getting a proper prayer places from the management is that some of our people (the muslims) will use that place as a hideout to sleep, hangout or watever things they can do besides praying. so i guess we cant blame the non-muslims for not letting us have a proper praying place.

it's the same problem we are having with our skoolboys on fridays...they prefer to hangout under the void decks to smoke except perform the friday prayers.

Nisa AK said...

I must be the unluckiest one! There's absolutely no space for prayers in my office, no staircases wateva! THe nearest mosque wud be Istiqamah and that's like 15-20 minutes away.