I recently read an article from www.islamonline.net by Mensur Ganibegovic [shout out to Bosnia, lol]
The key points outlined the difficulty of Muslims in non Muslim countries with observing prayer without discomfort and discrimination. The article ends with some good advice:
Therefore, to be safe from such discriminatory acts and acts of preventing Muslims' religious duties, one may tell his or her manager, "It is my religious duty," but sometimes this won't do. Instead, one may explain to his or her manager in a nice and understanding manner why this is a religious duty, and possibly compare it to other worldly duties that a non-Muslim performs. This way, the manager may fully understand and possibly accept what is requested. This is just one of many other ways that may contribute to a positive and cooperative work environment that is safe and comfortable for both Muslims and non-Muslims. (http://www.islamonline.net/servlet/Satellite?c=Article_C&cid=1260258296595&pagename=Zone-English-Family/FYELayout)
I myself have sneaked in my noon and afternoon prayers at my job, many times choosing the bathroom and facing away from the toliet [I know some Muslims feel this is horrible to do but I look at priorities]
Sometimes I wonder if I am being confident enough in my faith- I think back when I first decided to wear hijab at work and made probably too much of a big deal of emailing and informing HR and my vice principal about it when legally I can do it without notification. One co-worker told me she didn't have a problem if I wanted to leave class to pray but I didn't take her up on it. I suppose I want to not appear to have my faith be an inconvienance int he eyes of my co-workers, to assimulate. My schedule allows me to pray the noon prayer and I often rush or pray Asr in my car.
I pray to have more confience and conviction in my actions and prayer- I don't like feeling like I am
'fitting God in' to my daily schedule- I feel all should stop when I need to have my daily time talking to the Almighty. I also wish I could take time off for Juma, hard to do in a school day [though I dislike my segerated mosque anyway, I still would like to go at least once a month] Inshallah I will
