I feel sorry for the individuals who work in department stores and supermarkets from late afternoon until midnight. I don’t know how they find time to spend an evening with their families since they work non-stop with only short breaks for prayers.
One worker in a gold and jewelry shop wrote to me saying he had been in his job for seven years and that he works until late at night. By the time he gets home, there is no one at the door to welcome him. His children have long ago gone to bed.
“Is my job in life just to feed myself and my family?” he wrote. “We spend long hours standing on our feet and deny ourselves and our families the chance of spending an evening together. We do this so that others can enjoy shopping with their families and children until late at night.” He said he knew of no other people in the world for whom shopping is such a source of joy — but that it comes at the expense of others: this worker, for example.
Who is to blame for this? The individuals who agreed to work late hours, society which accepts such practices or the businessmen whose main concern is with making a profit? One solution to these people’s plight would be to use the same system as our banks. The people should work two shifts, with the evening one ending at 7 p.m. Any one who needs to buy something after that time would find it at certain designated shops which operate round the clock.
The most painful part of the worker’s message was the bleak picture it gave of the family life he and his colleagues lead. “I am so depressed that if I found another job, I would not hesitate to take it so that I could spend more time with my family. I fear reaching retirement with my children knowing very little about me and I knowing very little about them. All they know now is that their father spends most of his time at work.”
The question I want to ask here is this: What prevents the Shoura Council, in coordination with the Supreme Council of the Ulema, from considering a delay in the Isha prayers by one hour all over the Kingdom? This would allow businesses and commercial centers to close with the call to prayer. Some places providing essential services — such as restaurants, supermarkets, pharmacies, gas stations — would remain open. This would save a great deal of human effort, reduce power consumption and ease traffic jams.
