Wednesday 24 January 2018

Small Things that Make a Difference: Wudhu at Work

I have been at my new job a week and a half and I am thoroughly enjoying it alhamdulillah.  The day goes by in a flash, I am learning so much and there is lots of opportunity to be creative and throw around ideas.

One of the areas I am doing a lot of work in at the moment is Equality and Diversity, both internally as a workplace and externally as part of a wider community. It’s funny though, sometimes its small things that can make such a difference as a Muslimah in the workplace.

There seems to be some cultural sensitivity and understanding, in that male co-workers haven’t tried to shake my hand.  My manager is really supportive about my need to pray and best of all, there is a good facility to make wudhu (ablutions) for prayer.

Pretty much in every place I have worked, I have made wudhu in the disabled bathroom for privacy and almost in every case this has a very small sink with a tap that sprays everything and leaves you and your surroundings dripping wet.  I wear a plain abaya, so wearing any colour other than black makes it very visible that you are walking around with the front of your clothes wet.  In the last place I worked the disabled toilets were locked and only those with the pass keep could access them.  One toilet was left unlocked, but on more than one occasion I went to use only to be told off for trying to use a disabled loo.

In my current workplace, there is a disabled toilet on every floor with a shower.  People use the showers after exercise etc, so I don’t feel like I will be told off for using it to make wudhu.  Best of all the sink is big, the taps flow freely rather than spray everywhere. 

I have struggled with praying at work for years, not because of the prayer, but because it always felt like so much work washing up for prayers.  It was always a relief when I was on my period and didn’t have to pray and could avoid the rigmarole of taking everything off, getting wet and messy, then cleaning everything up – all as fast as possible in the hope that no one is waiting outside to moan at you.  I had to remind myself that the ablutions are as much a part of the prayer as the prayer itself.

Now it’s a relief that I can relax when I make wudhu, there is space to put my things and there is a clean space to wash up.  I think it’s something I will raise with my employers to let them know it might seem like a small thing, but it makes a difference and has really improved my experience at work.

My wudhu bag for work

4 comments:

  1. I've never understood the point of pressure-spray taps; the amount of water that comes through them is minuscule or it bounces off your hand, taking the urine with it if there was any. I've noticed they've been getting less and less common in recent years (there was one make of tap which you always found fitted with a spray end), so perhaps people have noticed that nobody really likes them. Let's face it, nobody has one in their bathroom.

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  2. MashAllah dear!! so happy to see you settled and so happy in your new job! May Allah bless you and your family Ameen.

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  3. That's awesome to know. My own challenge isn't the ablution but the place for prayer itself. I end up praying in different empty room everyday. May Allah ease our affairs and make our ibadah as easy as possible for us

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