A Short , but Beautiful Moment

It was already evening and I was about to go home after participating in a meeting with our Employees Welfare Foundation at the foundation office. The meeting was very fruitful and conducted in a very friendly manner, although it consists of "demand" from us to insert Islamic scheme for our pension loan, for employees who do not want to take an interest-based loan. Then a lady, standing in the lobby, called me by my name. She wore white-green dress with white veil (kerudung in our language). I was quite surprised, that in this office there is people who knows me, let alone by name! The lady -I remember later on- is an employee in this office, and formerly worked in the same institution with me, in an Islamic bank. 

I could not recognize the lady apparently due to change in her appearance. And vice-versa, neither did she.  She said, it is because we both become "bigger" in size, so that we then looked different.  It's been almost 11 years we never met to each other, since I resigned from our former office. In 1999 I moved to my present office and she resigned from our Islamic bank one year later, and join pension fund, owned by my present office. However, the friendly situation which we always had in our former office was still felt by us. And this nostalgia talk became longer when another lady, also a former employee of our bank, joined the talk.

They reminded me about our days in Islamic bank where we had difficulties in explaining how Islamic bank operates, from opening an account until how to get a financing from it. (Our bank is the first Islamic commercial bank in the industry). There were times when people (including the two ladies) asked me many questions related some transactions from sharia perspectives. There were also times when I was appointed to give a  lecture on Islamic teaching anytime the invited speaker did not come up. And the most memorable time to us is when our country was hit by financial crisis badly. Our bank actually was not affected seriously since it did not have many foreign exchange exposures. But national situation in that time was so serious so that we might become the victime at anytime, while we could not do anything except waiting for the crisis to end, in fear and hope.

It was the time when we, the bank employees, agreed to have weekly night prayer through what is famous with qiyamul layl  program. We felt that we have to recite the prayer to the Almighty more seriously so that He could save us from this critical situation. All employees of bank, ladies and men, including managers and directors seriously joined the program. On the appointed day, we did not go home and all slept in the office. We then were waken up when the time for night prayer came. I was selected as one of four imams among the employees who led the prayer, salat. I remembered almost all congregation fell into tears at the end of night prayer series, showing how sincere they were in their prayer. I myself felt how solemn the moment was. We felt that working in Islamic bank is like both struggle and prayer. Both done for our own life and the life of our beloved institution.

We, three of us, then realized that we've has been sharing the stories for more than one hour (wow!). And it was quite late for home. One of the lady then asked for taking picture using her blackberry phone. Then we were together pictured by other officer who just passed by. The lady later shared the picture in her facebook account and also tagged my own FB account.

It was a short, but a beautiful moment in which we, by chance, shared our lovely memories as old friends. May be my meeting, with the foundation officers, which was actually "our struggle," also will become good thing to memorize one day in the future....

Pancoran, 24 November 2011