I work in a medical research lab in my university. I work under a well-renowned doctor. And I’m not trying to boast or anything, but it is a pretty prestigious job. When I was interviewing for it I felt as though I was interviewing for graduate school or something.
Another note, I try not to shake hands with men.
Anyway, when I first met the head doctor of the lab, all I could think about was ‘oh he’s going to shake my hand what am I gonna do, he’s gonna be embarassed I didn’t know his e-mail to tell him!!!! he’s not gonna want me to work for him.’
Well I ended up shaking his hand.
And I know that our beloved Prophet (sallah Allaahu 3alehi wa sallam) taught us to conceal our sins and make tawba, but there is a benefit to this story.
About a week ago the head doctor came up to me when I was working and said, ‘It’s great news to hear what happened with the supreme court case!” He was referring to the hijabi that won a lawsuit against abercrombie and fitch. I was delighted I was like, ‘Yea! It’s cool that you keep up with that kind of news Dr. C.” and that was the end of it.
Whew this is getting longer than I expected, sorry, but bear with me there really is a benefit.
Anyway, that was a week ago!! Today he came up to me again and said, ‘Hey Sara, when you have a minute coud you step into my office?’ Keep in mind he NEVER asks undergraduates to come inside his office I thought, crap I’m gonna get fired what did I do?????’
So I sit down and he begins to say that I shouldn’t be surprised that he knows about diverse news and such because he comes from New York and he grew up in Brooklyn and had a ton of different cultured friends and even he, as an old white man, suffered some prejudices when he came to the small town that I live in. He was extremely thoughtful and we chatted for a while, he was telling me about his childhood and this and that. He’s a very well-cultured man and he should be given credit for making his employees feel comfortable around him. I ask Allaah to guide him to Islam.
And then he said, ‘I wanted to ask you, one thing I noticed that you do that some Muslims in New York don’t do. You shake hands.’
All I could think of is how STUPID I WAS. I stuttered and I felt humiliated. ‘I try not to shake hands, but if the person will be embarassed I just shake hands and then later try to avoid it.’ So basically I said, ‘im a sell-out and I’m not strong enough to follow my own morals’
I don’t think he thought much about it but he continued to say its good for people to assimilate a little into Western ideals and yadda yadda.
The saying of Umar Ibn Al-Khattab (radhi Allahu 3anhu) really resonated with me. “We were the most humiliated people on Earth and Allaah gave us honor through Islam. If we seek honor through anything else, Allaah will humiliate us again.” (<---not sure of the source but I know it’s authentic, someone help out if they know)
