http://www.arabnews.com/?page=1§ion=0&article=79404&d=19&m=3&y=2006
Sunday, 19, March, 2006 (18, Safar, 1427)
Thursday Vs. Saturday - the Weekend Debate Continues
Mahmoud Ahmad, Arab News
JEDDAH, 19 March 2006 - Saudis have long been accustomed to
the fact that the Kingdom is not in sync with most of the world when it comes
to weekends.
When Saudis take Thursdays and Fridays off, much of the world
is working. When much of the world takes Saturday and Sunday off, Saudis are
working. If you want to send a wire transfer back home, for four days of the
week it is common for either the sending bank or the receiving bank to be
closed. A conference call abroad is best done on the three days of the week
where you (in Saudi Arabia) and your partner (in just about anywhere else) are
both working.
This is not just an issue in the Kingdom, but in other Middle
Eastern and Muslim countries. Some companies in the Arab and Muslim world,
especially those in the financial sector, have long ago instituted a
Friday-Saturday weekend in order to take advantage of Thursday as a working day
that is in sync with companies abroad.
The debate over the asynchronous character of the Saudi
weekend arises from time to time, most recently in the Arabic-language Al-Watan
newspaper.
According to the report published yesterday, people in Saudi
Arabia are not ready for the idea to change the weekend dates from Thursday and
Friday to Friday and Saturday. Many of those interviewed said that there are
social, religious barriers to switching days off from Thursday with Saturday.
Abu Ahmad, a Saudi citizen, said that considering Saudi
Arabia's ascension to the World Trade Organization (WTO) it is more important
than ever before for the country to take productive advantage of Thursday as a
working day, which is the case in most of the world.
"To many people now, Friday is a bad day because Saturday is
the first day of work. We want to be able to pray the Friday prayer peacefully
knowing that Saturday is a weekend too," said Ahmad. "Currently we have four
dead days in the week. The world does not work on Saturday and Sunday. We do
not work on Thursday and Friday, which means that work with the outside world
is limited to Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. We need to increase the working
days to four days instead of three."
Hala Al-Ghamdi points out that it would be very difficult for
Saudi society to accept changing the weekend. "How could we make Friday, the
day when we have the Friday prayer, to the day that weekend starts?"
She feels it is against the Arab and Islamic traditions to
change the weekend. "How could you convince the average Saudi that Saturday is
the last day of the week and Sunday is the first day to work? It is totally
unacceptable," said Hala Al-Ghamdi.
In fact, the two-day weekend is a relatively new convention
in Saudi Arabia. Before the 1980s a six-day working week was the norm. The
five-day working week, sometimes called "the English week," emerged in Europe
between the great wars and was adopted in the US around the same time. The
concept of a two-day weekend has since spread, but it is not universal; many
countries and businesses worldwide still accept a six-day working week, and the
world's poor and self-employed often work six or even seven days a week to make
ends meet.
Naif Al-Mutairy, a Shoura Council member, said people would
not understand the change of weekend for religious reasons. "People will
misunderstand. Friday is the day of Muslims and Saturday is the day that Jewish
people do not work," said Al-Mutairy. "Taking a day off on Saturday will be
interpreted wrongly because people would think that we are celebrating a Jewish
day."
On the economic level, Wasif Kabuli, a Saudi businessman,
said: "With Thursday and Friday as weekends, we are losing four days of work.
The West and maybe the whole world takes vacation on Saturday and Sunday. If we
change the weekend to Friday and Saturday, we would gain one good working day
which is very good for our economy."
Samira Al-Bayytar, a Saudi businesswoman, supported the idea
of changing the weekend. "We would gain a lot by shrinking the asynchronous
days from four to three. It is bad enough that when I try to make a business
call it is morning here and evening in the West and no one will answer. I wish
the authorities considered the idea of changing the dates to Friday and
Saturday because that would add a working day."
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~-->
Join modern day disciples reach the disfigured and poor with hope and healing
http://us.click.yahoo.com/lMct6A/Vp3LAA/i1hLAA/aYWolB/TM
--------------------------------------------------------------------~->
Milis Wanita Muslimah
Membangun citra wanita muslimah dalam diri, keluarga, maupun masyarakat.
Situs Web: http://www.wanita-muslimah.com
ARSIP DISKUSI : http://groups.yahoo.com/group/wanita-muslimah/messages
Kirim Posting mailto:wanita-muslimah@yahoogroups.com
Berhenti mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Milis Keluarga Sejahtera mailto:keluarga-sejahtera@yahoogroups.com
Milis Anak Muda Islam mailto:majelismuda@yahoogroups.com
This mailing list has a special spell casted to reject any attachment ....
Yahoo! Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/wanita-muslimah/
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
