தொழுகையை குறை வேலையை பார்: எகிப்து இமாம் கரளாவி கட்டளை

தொழுகையை குறை வேலையை பார்: எகிப்து இமாம் கரளாவி கட்டளையிட்டுள்ளார்.

தொழுகை செய்கிறேன் என்று நேரத்தை வீணடிக்கிறார்கள் என்று கூறிய அவர் 10 நிமிடம் தொழுகை செய்தால் போதும் என்றும் கூறியுள்ளார்

எகிப்தில் ஒவ்வொரு தொழிலாளரும் ஒரு நாளைக்கு 27 நிமிஷம்தான் வேலை செய்கிறாராம். எதற்கெடுத்தாலும் தொழுகை செய்கிறேன் என்று நேரத்தை கடத்துகிறார்கள் என்று குறை கூறுகிறார்கள்.

Pray less, work more: Egyptian cleric
* Yusuf Al-Qaradawi says 10 minutes ‘should be enough’ for each prayer

CAIRO: Egypt’s productivity problems can be solved by praying less and working more, Egyptian-born Muslim cleric and television host Sheikh Yusuf Al-Qaradawi said in a fatwa (religious edict) on his website,

“Praying is a good thing ... 10 minutes should be enough,” Al-Jazeera television celebrity Qaradawi says.

According to an official study, Egypt’s six million government employees are estimated to spend an average of only 27 minutes per day actually working, reflecting a real problem with productivity. Qaradawi’s fatwa is aimed at removing prayer as a pretext for not producing.

But his plea to reconcile faith and productivity may hit some hurdles as it risks upsetting the deeply entrenched custom of prayer breaks at work in Egyptian society.

In every large company, factory or public building in the country, there is a formal prayer space.

In downtown Cairo lies Mugamma, a 13-storey building that is the beating heart of Egypt’s sprawling bureaucracy, where 65 different government services are performed by some 18,000 employees.

Thirty thousand people walk through the doors of the vast Soviet-style building every day, hoping to get a passport or a work permit, or whatever it is they need.

“But when it comes to prayer time, and there are many, there is no hope of anything getting done for an unknown length of time,” says Ahmed Ghani, whose company has tasked him with scouring the labyrinth for official stamps.

The 1990s Egyptian cult film comedy “Terrorism and Kebab” (Al-Irhab wal Kabab) recounts the tribulation of a middle class man’s adventure in the Mugamma with the lead role played by Egyptian screen giant Adel Imam.

Frustrated by the bureaucracy and repeatedly being told to wait for a government employee to finish his prayer, Imam’s character ends up in a tussle with a security guard and is mistaken for a terrorist.

Qaradawi has a few ideas of his own to help shorten the prayer time: Muslims can do the mandatory pre-prayer wash at home before reaching the office, instead of in the office toilets during working hours.

“To save some time, they can also just put some water over their socks, instead of taking (socks) off to wash the feet,” Qaradawi says in his fatwa.

While it may be too early to judge the effects of the popular sheikh’s fatwa on productivity in the work place, Egyptian clerics have largely agreed with the Qatar-based cleric. “He’s right. I cannot say the contrary. One must not waste time at work and use prayer as the pretext,” Sheikh Fawzi Al-Zifzaf, of the centre of Islamic studies at Al-Azhar, Sunni Islam’s main seat of learning, told AFP.

As for Muhammed Al-Shahhat Al-Gendi, secretary general of the Council of Supreme Islamic affairs, “10 minutes are absolutely suitable for one prayer”.

“Improving productivity is not at all contrary to Islam,” he told AFP.

They both also agree with Qaradawi when he says: “Praying is of course compulsory, and if everyone were to pray, it shows that society is on the right track.” afp