It is common to hear an Arab in administration reply with the words “bukrah inshāAllāh” (which means “hopefully tomorrow”) or in plain English, “I’m too lazy, leave me alone and come back some other time!” Unfortunately, Arabs run the system here in Shām and they are, from what is apparent, the laziest and unfit for their jobs. All praise is due to Allāh that Dawlah has a system in place, however with Arabs running it, it has many deficiencies.

The typical Arab in administration tends to be very lazy. As explained above, the phrase “bukrah inshāAllāh” is always said as a cover when they cannot be bothered to do anything. You may need something from him and he would reply with “bukrah inshāAllāh” if he is too lazy to do anything, if he just wants you to go away, or If he doesn’t know when the task would be done by (yet by saying “bukrah inshāAllāh he prevents you from being angry at him due to him not knowing the exact date the task will be accomplished). For example, if he is too lazy to work and deal with the problem at hand, saying “bukrah inshāAllāh” will give him an extra day to relax. Smart hey? Eh no!

Majority of the Arabs in administration are not only lazy workers but also unaware of their job role. Many times you would go to the office that deals with military work, and he would direct you to the office for the Wāli (Amīr of the Wilāyah). At this office, the Arab behind the desk would direct you to the office that deals with finance, and from here you would be redirected to the office you went to right in the start. Arabs always throw you around to another office if they do not know what to do. Instead of saying they do not know whether this task falls under their responsibility or not (even though it seems very obvious it does), they would direct you elsewhere in an attempt to get another workload off their shoulders.

So many Arabs are completely unaware of their job role and countless brothers have been told to go elsewhere (i.e. to another office) only to be told to return to the office they came from. And when you do return to the office from where you started, you will be told the famous phrase of “bukrah inshāAllāh”, as this would give him some time to figure out what to do.

Another ‘great’ feature of Arabs in administration is that there is no queue in any of their offices. You could be waiting in line for half an hour and then another Arab would come and push in the queue and go straight in. Even more ironic is that he would even barge in front of the guy who is speaking to the admin. It’s not unusual for Arabs to push in nor is it unusual for them to interrupt you while you’re speaking to the admin. And because the admin is also an Arab he also sees no issue in another person interrupting you. Strange indeed how he can be speaking to you one second, listening to your concern, and then totally ignore you and talk to another guy who just pushed in and deal with his case, even though this new guy may take about 10 or 20 minutes of his time; and when he finishes dealing with him, he will look at you, and without apologising expect you to remind him of everything you were saying.

A German brother I know was continuously going to the Bail Al-Māl office requesting for a refrigerator for his house after he got married, and after a duration of about a month of being continuously told “bukrah inshāAllāh” (i.e. come back tomorrow), the German brother got very frustrated and caused a slight scene, and only after raising his voice in anger did they finally tell him there was one ready for him, which he got that same day. The brothers from Chechnya are likewise very good at this. The Arabs are very scared of our brothers from Chechnya as they always raise their voices when speaking to Arabs in administration. If you need something from an Arab in administration, it seems that the only way your request will be heard is if you raise your voce and show signs of slight irritation at their laziness to do simple tasks. Arabs tend to get slightly intimidated when someone raises above them and sadly this seems to be the only way to get what you want from them. However, one needs to know the line between getting slightly angry at him for being lazy and criticising him, as too much criticism will make him refuse to help you in any way.