Of Piety and Professionalism

It is already 2013. After returning home, observations have been made in my two years experience working with my countryfolks - my own kind that has a history of racial stigma of (not for) being lazy to be specific. The finding of such does not mean to generalize but to address alarming issues we should all take heed and change for a better prospect. Recently I was given a job which I delegated to groups with the intention of helping them gain an extra source for side income. Unfortunately, time after time I was let down with failure to meet deadlines. The ones that barely made it? Submitted work with last-minute quality. Almost every meeting I went to I had to cook up excuses to cover up for my kin. I almost lost the project after three times of deadline extension. Submissions from other designers were prompt and they were above and beyond the set standard. It was embarrassing because I have worked for years and it was the simplest job one could wish for without the hard core problem-solving task designers get on a daily basis until they lose hair. I keep hearing that the blame is put on not having enough time and the state of being uninspired and my favourite, not in the mood so it takes time to get the gear moving.

I recall a quote from Chuck Close: The advice I like to give young artists, or really anybody wholl listen to me, is not to wait around for inspiration. Inspiration is for amateurs; the rest of us just show up and get to work. If you wait around for the clouds to part and a bolt of lightning to strike you in the brain, you are not going to make an awful lot of work. All the best ideas come out of the process; they come out of the work itself. Things occur to you. If youre sitting around trying to dream up a great art idea, you can sit there a long time before anything happens. But if you just get to work, something will occur to you and something else will occur to you and something else that you reject will push you in another direction. Inspiration is absolutely unnecessary and somehow deceptive. You feel like you need this great idea before you can get down to work, and I find thats almost never the case. Chuck Close And another from John Hurt on inspiration versus professionalism: Inspiration is something that you can never fathom. Its rare.The only way to be open to it is, quite simply, to forget about it. If it happens, it

happens. And if it doesnt thats where being a professional comes in. Professionalism is the ability to deliver even when you dont feel like it, when your head isnt in the right space. Thats when you use all the techniques that youve learnt over the years in whatever your profession is, not just acting. You dont know when youre going to be inspired. You never know until you start John Hurt Muslims submit to a discipline of five daily prayers for we constantly need reminding to keep the soul on Gods frequency. Surely one should pray when one feels like praying. Quite simply, when we least feel like praying is often when we most need to pray. Timothy Winter Sectarianism & Ijtihad) (Sunnah, Shariah,

This ritual of faith should train us not to procrastinate when we are not in the mood to work. Most importantly it enforces punctuality and time management. The adhn (call for prayer) also pairs prayer and success (in the present world). The first one translates as Come to prayer where the ensuing part is Come to success. Clearly there is wisdom

there - to balance your religious commitment and your professional obligation. If youre pious enough to preach Islamic values, surely your professionalism should reflect accordingly. A job is an amanah. God willing.