Severance Pay in Sudan - or Lack Thereof

Severance Pay in Sudan – or Lack Thereof

We live in a society where people think they are terribly clever for withholding monies due. This can be a buyer defaulting on a final payment, someone who “borrowed” money, or an employer delaying employee salaries and payments, in addition to various people from various walks of life who owe each other money for one reason or another. This has become an acceptable form of petty entertainment and self congratulation.

It is an indicator of a man, the manner he treats people he perceives as inferior to him, in status, grade or organizational hierarchy. It is the mark of a great man, who can deal fairly and even-handedly with all people, regardless of standings he knows does not exist. Such is my father. May Allah bless him and my mother with good health and prosperity.

“Would you laugh if I told you I forgot?” says the former Employer, laughing all by himself. A deadpan reaction prompted a switch to defensive mode, “People forget you know. Don’t BE like that” and then, a fallback on an old favorite, disputing the basis for payment in the first place. Sadly predictable, you clever clever, petty man. And, later defending the dispute, as a “response” to a remark I made.

AFTER PAYMENT – Which happened to be the next day after sitting myself on a prayer rug, and submitting my fate to my Creator (SWT). My livelihood is in His hands, and He granted me, what was mine. In spite of, in this case literally, Man’s best efforts.

Only a bad person would make you wait six months for monies due, after “asking” you to sign a legal waiver, and two months after a texted “promise” to resolve things within “a week”. Then, try and make YOU feel bad about it, saying that you “forced” him to “borrow it”, with the “so you get out of my face, you money-grabbing, gold-digger” thinly veiled. He goes on to tell you that you’re a “disappointment” when it “comes to money”. Well, right back at you, ya Mowlaana, right back at you. Hope your VIP Hajj isn’t too much of a hassle this year.

Also stated, among my many failings, was my attitude and tone of voice. Excuse me if I let out a yelp as the repo men, or their Sudanese equivalent, swagger up my virtual driveway. It’s like dialing 911, and the operator says, “Don’t you take that tone of voice with me. You want help, you better change your attitude, and speak respectfully” or some such crap. Which is all it is. Crap. The refuge of the cornered tyrant.

He went on to explain that he had found my request for a post-dated check “offensive” because he doesn’t “have a checkbook”. He finds checkbooks offensive, but has no problem with credit cards, and if you are a casual observer of Islamic banking, you will know what is wrong with his declaration. So, the devout believer is selective in his applications. Surprise, surprise. Needless to say, the golden directive in Islam regarding the Employer, is the Prophet’s (PBUH) instruction to pay the employee, “before the sweat dries on his brow”. That is another peace of Islamica, like taxation and severance pay, our hero chose to disregard.

Nothing is more admirable than the fortitude with which millionaires tolerate the disadvantages of their wealth.

- Rex Stout