One weekend too long
In Saudi Arabia the weekend consists of Thursday and Friday. In a not too distant past we too in the Maldives, as a requirement for labeling ourselves as an Islamic nation, had our weekend on the same days. Then it was changed in the mid-nineties (I think) to Friday and Saturday. We might expect this because, for one thing, we were (and still are) almost completely dependent on tourism from the west and resources that we deal and import from other countries where weekend falls on Saturday and Sunday. That is, not to mention international banking and other commerce related activities. The economic cost must have been staggering and someone somewhere was thinking right when they changed it. But did they make the right decision?
So today, are we any better off with our weekend set to Friday and Saturday? We still naturally depend on banking, tourism and imports and we still have to deal with countries that have their weekend on Saturday and Sunday. Given that our weekend starts on Friday and the rest of the world end theirs on Sunday, we are in effect having a 3 day weekend. How much time we waste on this non-standard weekend and how much it amounts to in wasted expenses and foreign business opportunities that don't materialize is anyone's guess.
One can argue from a religious point of view about the importance of the Friday prayers but surely not on the importance of having the same day as a holiday. Others may say that we should be careful not to adopt what is essentially a Christian weekend system but the truth is much of the world operates on that system whether we like it or not. And nobody cares whether it is Christian just as nobody cares that we use the Gregorian calendar system. In my opinion, there really is no use of having Friday as a holiday. Those who attend prayers, whether Friday prayers or not, will attend them on time while still having a working day. As it happens the Friday prayer does not take the whole day.
The other argument could be that it is now part of our tradition - that after Friday prayers, it's customary that we have a nice family lunch and afterwards huddle around the telly watching Heyambo. But technically speaking there is no reason why we cannot move all that to Saturday either. And besides there must be, in our current situation, many of us who have to make runs to the office to send out an important fax or email or confirm a booking and ruin a perfectly good holiday.
The economic cost of the 3 day weekend must be considerable. When we start our working day (on Sunday as it is currently) we find that much of the rest of the world is out playing Golf. I think it is time that we eliminate this age old "Islamic" tradition in favour of improving the economy and our businesses and to fit in to a globalised, connected world.
moyameehaa | September 25, 2007 5:40 AM
i agree.and i dont think it is 'islamic' to make friday a full holiday.i mean in the Quran itself it is said that we should return to our daily lives and works as soon as we finish prayers.So why not make it a half day...or else close all business places only for the firday prayer (say from 12:30 to 13:30 or 14:00)... well.. this is assuming that Maldives will remain an islamic state... if it is secular...then we should go for public opinion on this matter ( i think sunday would be a good day).ofcourse it is Sabbath day for christians ..so what? it is muslims themselves who claim that islam does not have a sabbath day.and we should not follow the non muslims or imitate them.then why make friday a holiday like they do (from and islamic point of view).
ali | September 25, 2007 1:17 PM
Technically speaking there is nothing that cant be done. But most of us belive in god u know. Surely we cant survive without money, but its not the most important thing. Call me old fashioned, i dont mind, but majority of Maldivians will not agree with you. Not because we are lost in blind faith as u like to call it nor we are backward people. But because we prefer to live on what we believe in. Isnt it the very reason why the west have saturday and sunday as weekend in the first place. Surely it wasnt because they were secular.
ismail | September 25, 2007 2:40 PM
hey ali,
call me old-fashioned. let's all climb on a camel and pray standing on it 7 days a week without doing anything but that. money is not the most important thing, but stupidity is.
M | September 25, 2007 3:11 PM
Although the Friday prayers maybe help through a small period of time, I think the idea of making it a holiday is to avoid the situation where the people maybe unable to attend the prayers due to the uncertainty in work environment. A person could be required to finish off something and may have to stay back.
Further, being a festivity, the person would want to get back home and freshen up before attending the Friday prayers.
Thus making Friday a compulsory holiday, it takes away the possibility of such a situation and pressures on the person.
So IMHO, it is sensible to have Friday as a holiday.
An alternate could be considering to make it a half-day which is a technique some countries adopt. Although this may not appeal to the people who have been used to the 2 full-day weekends.
However, as far as Maldivian culture goes, one will find that more people attend the Friday prayers compared to the rest of the mandatory prayers.
Concerning the economy, Maldives have practices doing more harm to the economy that this keeping this festive day a holiday.
And some of us have had to ruin a holiday by having to rush to the office for a fax or such. This is not restricted to Friday. But, it has mainly to do with the unprofessional work environment practices.
nass | September 25, 2007 5:35 PM
There are both advantages and disadvantages of having the two days we have now.
The Saturday-Sunday system can be seen in Muslim countries like Malaysia, and it doesn't affect the prayers.
But as M said there are other things which harm the economy than Friday being a holiday. So even if we had Sunday as a holiday, it'll be the same.
And since we're used to it, I think most people would want to have Friday as a holiday.
subcorpus | September 26, 2007 12:53 AM
hey bro ...
though i dont completely disagree with you ...
there are other factors we need to take in to consideration while talking about our weekends ...
Like the time difference between the americas and europe ...
even if we make friday a working day ...
the contact hours will me minimal ...
as most of the america and europe is a several hours behind us ...
ust a thought ...
Simon | September 26, 2007 3:34 AM
Ali:
What has this got to do with belief in God? The majority of Maldivians do no need to agree. This is just a simple matter of changing working days. The rest, those who go to Friday prayers and all, will follow.
The old reason for the Saturday/Sunday holiday in christian etc...but now it's widely accepted as the norm throughout the world regardless of this.
M:
A person may have to miss Friday prayers even when Friday is a holiday. What makes you think a person cannot "freshen up" on a working day? The actual pressure on Muslims to simply pray 5 times is enough to have all days of the week as holidays in your line of thinking. Come on man!
And obviously there are other "practices" that affect the economy but we're not listing them here.
Nass:
We were used to Thursday / Friday as holidays too. People are used to Gayoom too but he will also (I think) die one day. We were used to a lot more traditional things in the past which we have given up.
Subcorpus:
I think we do more trade within our region (and Asia) than with the Americas. And Europe wakes up while we're at work.
Mohamed Hilmy | September 26, 2007 10:00 AM
No where does Islam say Friday should be a holiday. It asks the believers to stop work for the Friday prayer which is performed in a congregation at a certain time unlike the other prayers that have a range of time. So if we want we can work on Friday, taking a mid day break like in Malyasia and Singapore when Muslims go for the prayer. They do it to enhance their business potential and increase trading opportunities.
We don't take extended breaks beoz of religion but becoz we want more holidays. Nothing we do or don't do can change our 100 per cent Muslim status, that's written in stone. Recently we had massage parlours cum brothels which were closed down when the conservatives ran amok.