Chapter 1
Safiyah point of view;
The alarm rings.
I wish it didn't ring because I know exactly what it means.
Work... Finish late... Sigh all day and of course in the evening with Lina in her car we will complain about the atmosphere at work.
I've barely been there three months, and I already want to run away.
I work in a large company which offers services to individuals with a very good reputation, a bright open space and even 4 free coffees per day and the salary is more than fair.
On paper, everything is fine but yet...
I lie there for a few seconds, staring at the white ceiling. There's this invisible weight in my chest, this thing that we can't really explain.
That kind of thing that's not serious enough to quit but not light enough to ignore.
I sigh and get up.
I take a quick shower and let it run for a few seconds too long.
As if it could delay the day and when I come out of it all ready I notice that it is already 8am.
Great. I don't have time to eat.
I grab my bag, check my phone and see two notifications from Lina:
“I’m downstairs.”
“Move Safiyah”
I smile despite myself, I'm happy that we found ourselves on the same team.
I practically run down the stairs, open my apartment door, and there she is, leaning against her car, arms crossed.
- Salam aleyki! she said to me as she got in on the driver’s side.
- Wa aleyki as salam!
I get in the car and off we go!
The journey is short, but it’s our moment. Our anticipated decompression where we analyze and perhaps exaggerate a little.
- Do I have a meeting with the boss? She said, watching the road go by.
- Oh yes ?
- Yes. Lina breathes.
- Honestly, keep calm and don't imagine the worst...
- Yeah, yeah... but I swear, I'm scared, I don't want to lose this job. I struggled as a veiled worker to find a good job, so if they fire me I might as well become a housewife.
I burst out laughing.
- Housewife ?
- Oui.
- You don't even have a husband.
- It's a detail.
- A detail?? You're just missing the basis of the project in fact.
- Don't worry about that! I'll try to find one. It’s always easier than a job, believe me!
- Oh yes ? Are you planning to find a husband on LinkedIn during your lunch break?
- You read my thoughts, my dear!
- I will repost your post!
- I always knew you were a good friend Safiyah!
We burst out laughing before arriving in front of the building.
I can already feel the tension building.
- Tonight, are we complaining again? Lina asks me, turning off the engine.
- Obviously.
It's rit.
We go up the stairs and arrive at the third floor.
The smell of coffee and hot milk chocolate is already wafting through the hallway.
- Hello, says Lina as she enters.
The answers come automatically.
On the right, Karim is already on the phone.
- Yes ma'am, I understand, I will check that immediately...
His look clearly says that he doesn't understand anything but that he survives.
Further on, Nadia is leaning over a quote, frowning, calculator in hand as if her life depended on it.
On the left, Samira sighs loudly.
- Yes sir, I'm sorry, you were directed to the wrong department... no, it's not me... yes I understand your dissatisfaction but...
I grimace inwardly, this call with this type of client is likely to be long.
I sit down at my post. My screen lights up slowly, as if it shares my lack of motivation too.
I'm in Lina's team: The marketing department.
There is Solaine, Maria, Amir, Claude, Jassem and me.
We're supposed to have a team meeting in the private room to talk about the new strategy to adopt.
It's a new quarter, so a new quarter means new objectives and also new pressure.
Amir, slumped in his chair, rocks back and forth, slowly turning around as if he were at home.
He asks out loud:
- When are we having this meeting?
Jassem, seated to his right, responds calmly:
- At 9:30 a.m.
Amir looks at his phone.
- Well... it's already 9:30.
Then he turns his head towards Lina.
- We're a little lacking in punctuality here, aren't we? he said with a little smirk.
Lina doesn't even notice the irony
- The boss wants to see me, so the meeting will be postponed until later in the day!
There was a little silence and I hated it. I hate that exact moment when everyone starts imagining scenarios. Even those who are not concerned look up.
I feel their thoughts turning:
For what ?
What did she do?
Issue ?
Congratulations ?
- It's just a clarification, she said calmly. Waiting five to ten minutes isn't going to kill anyone.
Amir continues to rock and I look at him and sigh.
- Amir, maybe you should straighten up. He looks like a kid who just discovered that his chair spins.
A few muffled laughs break out around the table. Claude coughs to hide his.
Embarrassed Amir stops abruptly.
He slowly stands up, glaring at me. We have this cat and dog relationship and for now he is the cat.
Lina gets up.
- Okay, I'll be back!
Barely 10 minutes after Lina got up, Amir got up too.
Maria looks up from her phone.
- Where are you going?
Amir shrugs, falsely nonchalant.
- I'm going to interrupt their little interview to get the key to the meeting room. We have to move forward.
Claude frowns.
- Are you serious?
I tilt my head slightly.
- Yes Amir, go ahead. While you're there, also ask him if he can sign your recreation permit.
Some laughter breaks out again.
Solaine lets out a “but leave him alone” between two smiles.
- Very funny.
He smoothes his shirt as if to regain his composure then leaves, the door closing behind him.
Amir's point of view;
I walk down the hallway.
Why did I get up already?
Oh yes it's for the key.
I slow down when I arrive in front of the boss's office door. I'm about to raise my hand to knock, then I stop when I hear their two muffled but audible voices.
I bring my ear a little closer so that I no longer just hear but listen. It's just... out of curiosity and then it concerns a member of the team.
- With all due respect, I'm just doing my job, that's what you hired me for: Driving views and loyalty.
The boss's tone is drier.
- Your job is not to question my decisions.
I frown.
Question your decisions? How so ?
She responds, without trembling:
- When a decision is inappropriate according to the algorithm, I prefer to say it and take an initiative... I did well, didn't I? All you have to do is open Instagram and see how the number of subscribers increases, moreover the salespeople are overwhelmed due to the new customers who absolutely want to benefit from our services thanks to the new video posted on TikTok.
- You take up too much space. Be careful not to exceed the limits.
I turn on my heels and prepare to return to my colleagues.
Safiyah's point of view;
The door opens.
Amir comes back as if he knows something that we don't.
He sits back quietly, crosses his arms and makes himself comfortable.
Jassem looks up.
- Where is the key?
Amir shrugs.
- I didn't want to disturb their little meeting. It seemed...important.
Claude frowns.
- How so. Are you listening behind doors now?
I raise my head.
Amir twirls his pen between his fingers.
- Have you ever noticed Lina's behavior?
Light silence.
He continues.
- She corrects the files, she edits the emails, she reformulates the posts. She decides the priorities. She speaks as if...
He leaves his sentence hanging.
Maria asks:
- As if what Amir?
I frown.
- Yes, as if what?
He sighs as if I'm naive.
- Lina takes up too much space. Quite simply and the boss noticed it, she speaks badly to him I think. It's a fact.
Claude stands up.
- I think you're exaggerating, she speaks with confidence. It's different.
Amir chuckles lightly.
- Insurance ? No. It's called wanting to control.
I feel my annoyance rising.
- She controls nothing at all. It catches up with your mistakes, nuance.
- Our mistakes? Amir repeats, raising his eyebrows.
- Yes. Emails sent too quickly or publications with mistakes. Are we talking about it?
Amir leans towards me.
- That's why she speaks inappropriately to the boss, if you had heard her you would have said that she thought she was indispensable. Don't you see the problem? She imposes herself.
- She suggests, I correct.
- She imposes! I'm just saying... this kind of profile always ends the same. Either it takes up space... or it clears.
Maria looks alternately at our faces.
- It's true... I don't like his attitude too.
We all suddenly shut up when we hear the door open.
Lina enters and heads straight to her office with a neutral face.
She sits down, takes out her computer and turns it on.
- The meeting is canceled for today, she said with a little smile so as not to worry.
Instantly, furtive glances fall on her. Colleagues exchange embarrassed smiles, murmurs arise in low voices.
Claude, usually focused on his screen, stares at her a few times. Even Jassem, absorbed in his notes, raises his head and observes him here and there.
Lina notices after a while all these subtle gestures. Her eyebrows raise slightly, but she remains calm.
She doesn't understand... why everyone seems so concerned about her.
She turns her head towards me.
- What's going on? she asks, curious.
I look away and don't answer.
I get up slowly, and turn to Amir.
- Do you fancy a coffee?
He shrugs.
- No I'm busy I have to finish the script.
I smile slightly.
- It's urgent!
He frowns for a moment, and I sense he understands. It's not a coffee break like the others this time.
He gets up, still a little wary, and follows me as I walk to the coffee machine.
We move away from our colleagues, the corridor is quiet.
Once there I order a cappuccino and he leans against the wall.
- We need to talk, I whispered
He doesn't say anything, but I see he's tense so I continue.
- Listen, I begin, calm but firm, about what happened earlier I -
He cuts me off, a little defensively.
- I just said what I heard, he whispers.
- No, I continue, you interpreted, amplified, and transformed what you heard into general truth and it began to circulate. Do you realize what that does?
I pause, search his eyes.
- You know what the Koran says: O you who believe! Avoid guessing too much about others because some guessing is sin. And don't spy; and do not speak ill of one another. Would any of you like to eat the flesh of your dead brother? (No!) you will hate it. And fear God. For God is Great, Accepting repentance, Most Merciful. surah 42 verse 12
I see his gaze freeze, surprised by the reminder.
- Cannibalism... I breathe, that's exactly the image you gave me earlier, when you reduce someone to their faults to talk about them, you transform them into an object of speech.
He lowers his head slightly.
- I... I...
- Shut up! Amir, have you not asked yourself: Do I speak to repair or to devour? Because what we do out of curiosity, out of a desire to judge or out of fun can have an uncontrollable domino effect. You have sown words that amplify the truth of reality. What you said, your feelings, should not become the collective truth... and yet, it has already spread. Everyone think, try to scrutinize Lina's every move to confirm your words.
He breathes deeply. I continue, more gently but with conviction.
-And you know what? Even those who say they are close to Allah, who respect Ramadan, Jumuaa, Umrah... they are not safe from the punishment of slander.
I stare at him, firm, but not aggressive.
“I hadn’t thought about it like that,” he finally murmured.
I nod.
- So think before repeating, before interpreting, before judging. Because it didn't concern you about their interview and your opinion affects everyone around. It affects our cohesion. It touches Lina's honor.
I take my cappuccino and before walking away I add:
- The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said: "O you who believed with your tongues but faith has not penetrated your heart, do not harm the Muslims and do not follow their faults, for whoever follows the faults of his Muslim brother, Allah will follow his own, and he whose faults Allah follows, He will reveal to him, even what he committed at home while being alone hidden from people."
Then I leave.
Silence settles.
I didn't turn to look at him, but for the first time, I felt that he understood the weight of what he had done.
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Peace be upon you
Little one shot on backbiting! I hope you like it more. Honestly, I have thought about it and I want to abandon this serious and trivialized sin.
We don't realize it but what we say can have a huge impact depending on how we say it, the words we choose and above all who we say it to, this person has feelings, emotions and a way of interpreting the thing.
And then it's still hot, isn't the backbiting...
Watch:
- The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said:
"There are seventy-two kinds of practices of usury (interest), the least serious is comparable to adultery committed by a man with his mother, and the most serious being the attack on the honor of his brother (of faith)."
The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, also said:
“During my ascension to heaven, I passed a group of people who had copper nails with which they tore their faces and chests.
I said: Who are these people, O Gabriel?
He answered me: They are those who eat the flesh of others and harm their honor. "
- The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, also said:
“Do you know what backbiting is?
The people said: Allah and His Messenger are the most learned.
He said: It is when you speak of your brother in terms that he disapproves.
They said to him: Do you see if what I say about my brother really exists in him?
He replied: If what you say really exists in him, you will have slandered, and if what you say does not exist, then you will have defamed him (el bouhtane). "
It is a huge scourge these days under the pretext of:
Instant relief from pent-up frustrations
Strengthening bonds between groups (A spoke badly about C with B to strengthen his bond with B)
Search for satisfaction (diminishing others through criticism gives the impression of elevation)
Sense of justice (but seeking justice through injustice is like chasing away darkness by moving away from light)
But here's a simple way to stop if you really put this recommendation into practice:
Ask yourself: Could I have said the same thing in front of the person concerned?
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Quick question to get you thinking:
Do I respect this person's honor and dignity when speaking about them?