I'm just curious about an issue which is always existing especially among the young.
Why is it difficult for a person who works in the marketing or business line to begin wearing a tudung at work? How will it affect how others perceive you at work and your capability? Does it makes it easier to when you don't donn the tudung, especially when networking globally in terms of foreigners?
I'm open to your thoughts to this issue. I would also like to know how you would deal with this issue if you were a young adult in a business line seriously contemplating about putting on the tudung at work but with some apprehensions (for whatever reasons it may be).
As a women wearing the hijab, im sure we know that wearing the hijab (tudung) has nothing to do with our capacity in doing your job or other's perception of us.. But we need to let the rest realise that.
As a human being we all give off energy. Before we were to talk to someone face to face, we all give off these energies...either that of unconfidence, uncertainty in ourselves, or energy of kindness, truthfullness, confidence...etc.
Give off good energies..that will override any negativity that other might get from us when we to meet them. Don't listen to those negativity voices in our head, they are the whispers of 'you know who' ;) All that is good comes from Allah and all the bad from Shaitan.
If you feel concious about it, just realise that it is what our modern world culture have made us feel after years of brainwashing so that we will eventually say to ourselves that there is no need to don the hijab since it makes our lives harder.
Alhamdullilah i have been schooling, working, dealing with differnt types of people with those streotypes since i was a teenager in my hijab. I Travel heaps..living in a foreign country now. Honestly we can deal with those streotypes as soon as we speeak. so don't care.. you know the truth and you know that wearing the hijab gives us so much more in return as compared to not wearing it.
Wearing the hijab isn't all about women feeling less confident about our sexuality, less modern, being under the control of the male. If women wants to be treated fair and just by the males...wear the hijab, believe what you are doing in your heart, be a striking example and quite complaining about the double standards. You can get whatever you want even though you wear the hijab. But if you don't that is when the complication comes in our modern times.
Foreigners...you mean white people...they are more open to hijab than our asian people sadly. So be proud, hijab is a valuable gift for those who can see it Inshallah.
Ps..: please watch this video call 'The arrivals".... it will give you the insight on why we feel that hijab is hard or some may say in appropriate in our times. You can also have an insight why Islam seemed to be under attack And what is actually going on around us.
the fundamental of each business, especially privately owned is profit maximisation. and i quote a phrase from the late malcolm X - "By any means necessary". What I've learnt from sales is that it's all about the seller. no matter the product. so fantastic is the potential of the human "want" for the sale to happen that you may forget the laws of islam whilst aggresively getting the customer to agree with you.
i'll share with you about my ex colleague. she's well educated, and adequately learned in religion. but so consumed she is in her target-driven job that she is "educated" by the company that wearing tight clothes, unbuttoning her top blouse button etc would boost sales. after a time of low sales, she switched to working for her uncle and donned the tudung. so she's changed alhamdulillah. but then later she sought a "better" adventure in banking sales and we're back to square one.
that's reality. in singapore if you post your resume to a private firm with a photo of yourself in a tudung, you're likely not to even go through the 1st round of screening. remember "only shortlisted applicants will be notified". ever wondered the "shortlisting process? i've worked in 4 different sectors: sales, healthcare, law & now human resource. seen the ugly side of our economy.
what is the cause? modernisation - my opinion. it has unbalanced effects. whilst it has improved our standard of living, modernisation has "educated" the mass that sex appeal sells. simply go for any car show and you'll get my point. the more expensive the product, the more "skin" you see. pardon me if my choice of words are bad.
so how do we solve it? how do our muslim ladies become the multi millionaires as that bro fadzuli describe? each muslim, male or female, must firstly be clear of their objectives. Especially business. Always remember our rukun iman that is believe in qada' & qadar. perform the business whole-heartedly instead of being half-hearted or have the "go with the flow" attitude. insyaallah we'll succeed
i say so because it is apparent that many individuals today lack direction, lack drive. in the last decade, has there been any individual (of any religion) whose influence and efforts have made an impact similar to florence nightingale, isaac newton, malcolm x or even che guevara. any heroes like those nowadays? hardly any outstanding right? thus modernisation has clouded us and channeled our objectives to SHORT TERM ones. you'll find millions eagerly waiting for the new transformers movie, eagerly waiting for the next better console than PS3 etc. what happen to the "i want to be a lawyer/engineer/doctor" ambition made as a small boy/girl?
thus the "difficulty" faced by the muslim lady is a sign of the times, of evolution. nevertheless, as mentioned by the late sheikh ahmed deedat - "Islam has the solution to all our problems". we can all do it, and everyone must believe so. as a start, our determination must be 100%. the rest is by the permission of Allah S.W.T.
I received this in my email recently
quite daring
do not know who it is actually from
just said it is from myspace/miraclesofislam
made me rather angry
that it made me dare to share with you
"To all Muslimah
wearing
ugly hijaab.......
Let The Real Men
Be The Beasts
sorry its me again the rookie
new to this game
reference to my last reply
got it wrong
the message not from myspace/miraclesofislam
but received by miraclesofislam
entirely different thing
quite a silly error
must have been my anger
but still angry
:(
Thanks everyone. I love the responses that you've posted here and it's motivated me to me more positive though I do realise that there are certain things beyond my control. However it's given me the hearrt to lead and manage what is within my control. Again, Thanks.
Even many of the first ladies (wifes of dignitaries) are not wearing tudund. This is despite the fact that they have been blessed to be in such a position and yet the realisation has not happened. It is not important what others think, it is for you to take a stand and then deal with it as it comes along. Always ask Allah s.w.t. to guide you in your couargeous act. You will find that when you are ready and are doing it sincerely to please only Allah s.w.t. then you will be able to handle human reactions... you stand to reap the benefits in the herafter..Insya Allah.
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