BASIC PHILOSOPHY AND ISLAMIC WORLDVIEW

UNGS 1301 SECTION 31

SEMESTER 2, 2020/2021
WRITTEN ASSIGNMENT ON ISLAMIC ETHIC OF IHSAN

TOPIC TITLE: LEAVING GOOD IMPRESSION TO

RESTAURANT MANAGER AFTER DINING IN THE MATTER
OF IHSAN

NAME: KU MUHAMMAD MUAZ BIN KU MOKHTAR

MATRIC NUMBER: 2013463
SECTION: 31
DATE OF SUBMISSION: 5 NOVEMBER 2021

LECTURER’S NAME: ASSISTANT PROFESSOR MAULANA AKBAR

SHAH @ U TUN AUNG
 LEAVING GOOD IMPRESSION TO RESTAURANT MANAGER
AFTER DINING IN THE MATTER OF IHSAN

The Islamic ethic of Ihsan.

Al-Iḥsan means goodness/kindness who a believer believes that Allah is
present and watching his or her actions during worship is called al -Ihsan.
This means that the believer is worshipping the Lord as i f he or she sees
Him. This is the meaning given to the word by the Prophet when he said
“al-Ihsan is to worship Allah as if you see Him, and if you do not
achieve this state of devotion, then (take it for granted that) Allah sees
you” 1 Other than that, Sincerity in worship and the love of Allah makes
one becomes one of the people of al-Ihsan. The people of al-Ihsan are
the best among the servants of Allah, who are doers of good deeds which
leads to goodness and guidance and guidance . We as a believer must
notice a thing that Allah links Al-Ihsan with worship and sincerity in
worship. This demonstrates that goodness in worship is an ethic that all
Muslims should uphold, especially given the fact that when a believer's
worship is good, then Allah is pleased.

The importance of talking good to others.

One of the effects of Ihsan that we can see or do is kindness of speech
since we communicate with the community by voicing out our words
either by using normal language or sign language as we all know. Allah
said “My servants that they should [only] say those things that ar e best:
for Satan doth sow dissensions among them: For Satan is to man an
avowed enemy”2 . In these ayat, Allah commands believers to be
courteous in their actions and speech since it will determine their
success in this world and the hereafter. Next, our beloved Prophet
Muhammad (S.A.W.) warned us about the seriousness of speaking. The
prophet said, in an authentic hadith, Sahl bin Sa`d (radiallahu’anh)
reported that Prophet Muhammad (S.A.W) said, “Whosoever gives me a
guarantee to safeguard what is between his jaws and what is between his
legs, I shall guarantee him Jannah.”3 Base on this hadith, we can
conclude that whoever individuals that take a cautious care of his own
words, our prophet guarantee that Allah will give them a place in the
heaven with his blessings. Other than that, Prophet Muhammad quoted
“Let him who believes in Allah and the Last Day speak good, or keep
silent; and let him who believes in Allah and the Last Day be generous
to his neighbour; and let him who believes in Allah and the Last Day be
generous to his guest.” 4 Within this hadith, we can see that whenever we

1
Sahih al-Bukhari, Book 65, Hadith 299
2
Al-Quran, Chapter 17, Surah al-Isra’,53
3
Sahl bin Sa`d , Sahih al-Bukhari 6474, Book 81, Hadith 63
4
Abu Hurayrah, Forty Hadith of an-Nawawi, Hadith 15 & Sahih Bukhari, Book 78, Hadith 49
say something kind or don't say anything at all, the selection is yours.
This is both an encouragement and a warning to speak whatever is good
and beneficial. It is a warning to be careful what we say, lest we utter
something damaging or deceptive toward others not only that, with
speaking the truth and saying things that benefit others are both aspects
of a Muslim's faith.

Why do we need to leave glowing comments to the restaurant?

Nowadays most restaurants, cafes, bistro and other food establishments
find it difficult to manage and respond to all of the r eviews posted on
websites like Instagram, Twitter and Facebook pages. Many businesses
also struggle to encourage customers to post reviews, fearing losing
business to competitors with better or more reviews. Furthermore,
customer feedback isn't solely dependent on online visibility. Gathering
consumer input allows restaurants to make beneficial improvements to
their operations and strengthen their market position. Firstly, they can
improve reputation of their online reviews as nowadays internet is a big
medium to expand any kind of business. The businesses will have more
control over the quantity of good and bad reviews that are published
online as more customers are encouraged to post evaluations directly
from their social account feedback. Assuming that the majority of
satisfied customers are now offering feedback, the number of
unfavourable reviews published online decreases considerably. This is
also an excellent method for managing your online reputation. Secondly,
the food establishment can learn about your customers' habits so that
they can tackle their customers by playing into their eating behaviour .
Since eating out is a habit of us human, there must be some
psychological influence behind it. What we eat has an impact on how we
feel. Food is supposed to make us happy. It is delicious and nourishing
to our bodies. However, if you eat too little or too much, your health and
quality of life may suffer. This might lead to a bad attitude toward food. 5
There are a lot of factors to be learned by the establishments from their
customers on their eating behaviours. There are several factors that can
be listed such as cultural, evolutionary, social, family, individual,
economic status and psychological. Besides, many people use food as a
coping method to deal with stressful, boring, or anxious feelings, or even
to prolong positive vibes. While eating to comfort and relieve your
emotions may assist in the short term, it generally leads to regret and
guilt, and can even intensify the bad feelings. You aren't dealing with
the issue that is producing the tension. Furthermore, when you gain
weight, your self-esteem may suffer, and you may face additional
negative health impacts such as higher blood sugars, cholesterol levels,
or blood pressure, this is what food businesses need to be concern about
because as a Muslim, Allah said “O humanity! Eat from what is lawful

5
Cleveland Clinic, Health Article, 10681, The Psychology of Eating,
2020(https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/articles/10681-the-psychology-of-eating)
and good on the earth and do not follow Satan’s footsteps. He is truly
your sworn enemy.” 6 The food establishment also play a significant role
to promotes healthy eating. Customers also must be responsible on what
their consume daily as Allah said “O Children of Adam! Dress properly
whenever you are at worship. Eat and drink, but do not waste. Surely He
does not like the wasteful.” 7

How good comments will affect their business?

Every day, new businesses enter the market to compete with other food -
based business. It's always going to be a buyer's market. Of other words,
customers have the advantage in selecting among a variety of similar
businesses. To achieve a consistent stream of favo urable online
evaluations, it is vital that all businesses have some form of online
reputation management plan in place. The majority of the time, the
online review management method is inviting your current customer base
to provide comments on your service, product, or company in general.
They are then referred to an online review rating site of your choice like
their Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and even Google maps to give a
comparable evaluation after completing the customer feedback survey.
By having good comments from the regular customers, new millennial
customers will often go to the review sites or section to engage with
their food establishment reviews that meets their standards b efore going
to dine. This will increase the conversion rate for the business by 270%
based on the research of Spiegel Research Centre of Northwestern
University Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing
Communications. 8 It may appear natural that having access to reviews
will increase a consumer's likelihood of purchasing a product or service.
However, many people may be surprised by the degree of that impact. It
is a culture among us the consumer that as soon as products start to
display reviews, conversion rates increase just like while we are
shopping through Lazada or Shoppee, that a product with a lot of
reviews has a higher chance of being purchased than one with no
reviews. So, this will give the customers a point of trust towards the
business directly will develop a new stream of customer towards their
food establishment that will also increase their revenue at the end of the
day. Other than that, word of mouth is also a review carried by the
customers to other people by delivering it directly by using oral
communication person to person. It is regarded as a great marketing
resource for both consumers and marketers, as well as a trustworthy and
effective gauge for determining customer loyalty, with significant
consequences for a product's success. Word of mouth communication
refers to any type of information interaction between consumers about
the features and usage of certain products, services, or vendors. It is
often considered as a significant factor in the spread of new products and

6
Al-Quran, Chapter 2, Surah al-Baqarah,68
7
Al-Quran, Chapter 7, Surah al-A’raf,31
8
Malthouse, E., Maslowska, E., and Viswanathan, V. “Do Customer Reviews Drive Purchase Decisions? The
Moderating Roles of Review Exposure and Price,” Decision Support Systems, 2017
services. 9 Then, with good reviews the business can gradually improve
their menu 10. Every restaurant customer survey can show you whether or
not your menu is making your customers pleased. When you ask your
consumers for comprehensive input on the menu, you'll be able to
remove or add things according on the scenario. After all, a restaurant's
performance is determined by its menu and how effectively it is
designed to improve the client experience.

What is the etiquette while eating in the restaurant?

For every place we go, there must be a certain set of etiquettes or
protocols that we have to commit. So, what actually etiquette define, In
simpler terms, etiquette is described as appropriate behaviour that
distinguishes humans from animals. 11 Because the human being is a
social animal, it is critical that he behaves appropriately. Behaving in a
socially responsible manner is referred to as etiquette. Etiquette is a set
of rules that govern how a responsible person should conduct themselves
in society. There are a lot types of food establishments existed nowadays
so there are also a lot of different etiquettes for each of them. In general,
dining etiquette is necessary for dating, business dinner meetings, and
other social gatherings. For example, you are sharing the dining table
with people; you cannot simply lean over your plate and sprawl your feet
under the table as if there were no limit to your space. This appears to be
a common disorder among teenagers, who either recline in their chairs or
droop over their plates, folding themselves up to avoid human contact.
Proper posture requires sitting up straight with your feet flat on the
ground. Crossing your legs at the ankles is the only way to go.
Moreover, eating with others is more enjoyable when table etiquette s are
observed. Nothing is more upsetting than sharing a meal with folks who
eat with their mouths open, drum their fingers on the table, and have no
concept of appropriate dining etiquette. Dining at the family table on a
daily basis will help you educate your children correct dining manners,
which will benefit them as adults. Next, do not tap your fingers on the
table or toy with your cutlery or drinking glass. Others at the table will
be irritated, and hearing that unsettling background noise will interrupt
conversation. Seeing someone twirl their hair or toy with their food on
the dish is also annoying. As our Prophet Muhammad (S.A.W) stated
““The most complete of the believers in faith, is the one w ith the best
character among them. And the best of you are those who are best to
your women.” 12

9
Nan Hu, Do Online Reviews Affect Product Sales? The Role of Reviewer Characteristics and Temporal
Effects, Singapore Management University,2007
10
Pankaj Agarwal, Reason no 5. Why Restaurants Should Collect Feedback from Customers, Rancelab, 2018
11
Prachi Juneja, Management Study Guide Content, Etiquette - Meaning, its Need and Types of Etiquettes,2015

12
Abu Hurairah, Jami` at-Tirmidhi, Book 12, Hadith 17, 270 A.H
My experience as a former, food and beverage personnel.
Back in May 2019 till July 2020, I have work in two different food
establishment. First was Best Western Petaling Jaya Hotel, Selangor and
second was Ijadbakes located in Kedah. Most valuable lesson s I have
learn was in the hotel, where I have been assigned to become a food and
beverage attendant, for two months during the Ramadan. As I indulge
myself more into serving the customers while dining, I realized that only
a few groups of people have a good etiquette while they are dining and
mostly, they were people with high profile background such as
businessman or women, educators and many more. This set of people
often will leave a good impression to us while serving them from
breakfast, lunch, hi-tea and dinner. When we did ask them for written
reviews of the food and service given to them, it’s a rare occasion of
them to reject the offer. By doing so, our department can nurture
customers relation in the short and long -term period 13. Due to this,
Customer feedback is a great tool to forecast which customers are most
likely to return to your business. Customers that post outstanding
reviews should be encouraged and enrolled in a rewards program. When
they have something great to say about your restaurant, reward them
with gifts and treat them as if they are exceptional. Repeat customers are
essential to a restaurant's profitability, and rewarding clients for their
loyalty is the only way to encourage them to return. The customers are
not always right but they need to be treated right based on their status
and importantly culture, since Malaysia is a multiracial country.

Conclusion
The ethic of al-Ihsan have a favourable impact on the individual
Muslim's morality and personality development. They also have a good
impact on a person's social interactions. The attributes that were stated
before was kindness in speech. Our speech or word being voice out will
reflect about how good is the taqwa as a Muslim we are. Imam malik
reported in his famous book of Muwatta’ that our Prophet Muhammad
(S.A.W) said “I have been sent to perfect good character” . 14 Base on this
hadith, it demonstrates that the Prophet's core message is the perfection
of human character, which is described as both vertical and horizontal in
Islam. It is vertical because Muslims are required to worship and create
a relationship with Allah, their Lord, with excellent moral character. It's
also horizontal because they're supposed to have high moral character in
front of their fellow humans and other Allah's creations on the planet. If
we wanted to be a good Muslim and Mukmin it is compulsory for us to

13
Pankaj Agarwal, Reason no 3. Why Restaurants Should Collect Feedback from Customers, Rancelab, 2018
14
Imam Malik, al-Muwaṭṭa’,1614, Sahih
look at our prophet as a lead example in life in any aspect of li fe while
living and socializing with the other people in this world. All of these,
therefore, can only be achieve when we implement the attributes of al -
Ihsan in our life.

Reference
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https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/articles/10681-the-psychology-of-eating
E., Maslowska, E., and Viswanathan, V. 2017, “Do Customer Reviews Drive
Purchase Decisions? The Moderating Roles of Review Exposure and Price,”
Decision Support Systems, Spiegel Research Centre.
Nan Hu, 2007, Do Online Reviews Affect Product Sales? The Role of Reviewer
Characteristics and Temporal Effects, Singapore Management University
Prachi Juneja,2015, Management Study Guide Content, Etiquette - Meaning, its
Need and Types of Etiquettes, Management Study Guide Content Team Retrieved
from https://www.managementstudyguide.com/corporate -etiquettes.html
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