Eighty Five / Sleeveless Top and God

This happened sometime last week.

I was in the surau. The surau in my office is pretty huge.. And grand. They have this big mirror at the telekung waqaf section, where we can wear our telekung there and walk in the surau to pray later (reason being is because the carved divider between the space for men and women makes us women a little visible if them men look behind, so if you are to wear your telekung in the praying space, they can see).

Nak dijadikan cerita, I was done with my prayers and went to the back. I took off my telekung, I wore a tucked in sleeveless top with slacks that day. As I was tying my hair, a middle aged lady who stood next to me gave that stink eye look. I ignored her. Then she stared at my staff tag.

All of a sudden, she said "Tak malu ke? Pakai macam ni jalan kehulu ke hilir, lepas tu masuk surau? Konon sembahyang. Bila you lalu depan tu ingat orang lelaki tak nampak ke?" She stared at my tag again.. While nagged.

I was appalled and shocked, I don't really know how I should react to that. I stared blankly at her. She continued.

"Kita ni kena tutup aurat. Hormat sikit rumah Allah. Masuk surau at least pakai lah pakaian yang ada sleeve. Short sleeve pun jadi lah. Ni tak respect langsung,"

Fulamak brader wa sikit lagi nak meletup.

She paused and looked at me, expected me to answer her. Next to her stood a hanger stand. I said "Excuse me, Puan." while I reach for my blazer and tudung that I hung there earlier - well she was blocking my way.

I wore my blazer and tudung in front of her. Her face turned tomato red. She then said "Lah, dekat staff tag tak pakai tudung, ingat you memang tak pakai tudung,"

I was surprised I didn't say a word.

Talk about being so judgemental.