Osama Hamza Alajlan

Madinah daily

I have been criticized for questioning the role of notary publics and arguing that their tasks can easily be handed over to lawyers, something that is now taking effect, because it makes the lives of citizens and expats easier. The Ministry of Justice is to be thanked for taking this step.

The notary public office in Madinah was recently relocated close to my house, which is also close to a mosque. I have noticed that employees at this new office leave the building to go and pray in the mosque, which is only a 10-minute walk. It is a fact that many employees take advantage of prayer time and treat it as if it were break time. This means that instead of taking a few minutes to pray and return to their work, employees are gone for much longer and this leads to a reduction in productivity. As a result, citizens and expats who visit these offices to have their paperwork processed are left fuming as employees return well after prayer has ended.

A prayer area can easily be set up inside this new notary building and doing so will save a lot of time. Another solution is to continue work during prayer time; half of the employees can work while the other half go for prayer inside the building. When the first group of employees returns, the other group can go pray.

Finally, employees who serve the public should keep in mind that Islam urges us to deal with others in a polite and courteous manner. It is their job to help the general public and solve their problems, so being rude, not showing up to work in the morning on time or when returning from extended prayer breaks goes against what they are meant to do which is serve the public.