The Muslim News

RIYADH, Arab News — A healthy debate on whether to change the Kingdom’s official Thursday-Friday weekend to Friday and Saturday took place at the Shoura Council recently.

The proposal had been presented for discussion to the Shoura Council’s Management and Human Resource Committee by the Civil Service Ministry. It will subsequently be voted on and if passed would then be sent to the Council of Ministers for approval.

Currently, the Kingdom is officially off on Thursdays and Fridays, which are working days in most parts of the world. The proposal was strongly criticized by several members of the Shoura Council, including Deputy President of the Shoura Mahmoud Taiba, who cited Islamic reasons. “The proposal for changing the weekend is unacceptable in a country that rules by the Qur’an and Sunnah and takes them as its constitution,” he said, adding that economic reasons cited for the change “are baseless”.

“Many people now are using the Gregorian date instead of the Hijri date, which reflects the impact the change could have on religious aspects,” he added.

Salem Al-Marri, another Shoura member, recommended that the proposal be withdrawn from discussion, saying the fact that the Kingdom has made its weekend on Thursday and Friday was due to its Islamic and social status.

Dr. Abdulrahman Al-Mushaigih agreed, saying that the argument that four financial days are being lost because of the weekend disparity was not based on a scientific study.

Shoura members who supported the idea argued that other Gulf countries have changed their weekends to Friday and Saturday to close the gap with the global market. They said that banks were the biggest losers since banks across the world do not operate on Saturday and Sunday.

The council is expected to vote on the issue after a large number of members present their opinions on the issue, said Abdulrahman Al-Barrak, head of the Management and Human Resource Committee.

Arab News contacted Shoura member Sheikh Abdul Muhsin Al-Obaikan, who is also an adviser at the Ministry of Justice, to ask him on Islam’s position on whether certain days of the week were for worshipping alone.

“There is nothing in Islam that says that a certain day of the week be specified as a holiday,” he told Arab News, adding that even Friday could be a working day for Muslims if enough time is given for a Muslim to wash and get ready for Friday prayers.

He said there was nothing wrong with changing the weekend to Friday and Saturday if that was in the best interest of the nation.

Businessman Abdulrahman Al-Jeraisy, president of the Riyadh Chamber of Commerce and Industry and chairman of Al-Jeraisy Group, voiced concerns about the proposed change. “I do not agree with the proposal. ... I don’t think it would be a wise decision bearing in mind that we are the center of Islam and that 1.5 billion Muslims turn to us as an example,” he said.

Al-Jeraisy argued that if the weekend was changed to Friday and Saturday, future generations would ask for it to be changed to Saturday and Sunday. “If that happens then we will be copying the Jews and Christians,” he said.

Al-Jeraisy said that businesses in the Kingdom were not harmed because other countries do not work on Saturday and Sunday. This is a problem that can be overcome by using modern telecommunications technology, he added.

Shoura member and businessman Osama Al-Kurdi agreed with Al-Jeraisy, saying businesses in Saudi Arabia were not affected by its weekend being different from other countries of the world.

Another Saudi citizen, who only gave his name as Naif, said that he did not mind the weekend being changed to Friday and Saturday, as long as one of the weekend days was Friday. “If the change of the weekend to Friday and Saturday is in the interest of the nation then why not?” he said.

http://www.arabnews.com/?page=1§ion=0&article=95691&d=2&m=5&y=2007

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