Friday is a holy day which should be respected

Muslims have adopted the practice of taking Friday as their official weekly holiday. Each culture and religion has its weekly day of rest. God distinguished Friday and chose it particularly for Muslims. Thus, a complete soura is dedicated to this day and it bears the name “Al Juma’a” (Friday). This day has various pleasant qualities, the most important of which are cleanliness of the body and clothes and attending the Friday prayer which is distinguished from the prayers of other days, because it is carried out in groups. Due to the importance of Friday, there are preparations to be made the day before. Muslims pray a lot and recite the Koran on Thursdays. They also refrain from idle leisure and activities that distract them from worshiping.

Last century, mainly because of colonisation, certain Islamic countries replaced the weekly day of rest of Friday by Saturdays or Saturdays and Sunday; and were content to extend the lunch break on Friday for the prayer. Thus, the magnificence of Friday faded, along with the social benefits of this day, such as visiting relatives and relaxing from work problems.

Strangely enough, the departure of the colonizers was not accompanied by the abolition of the innovations which they brought, especially the degrading of Friday. Perhaps, this is due to the type of elite and generations brought up during the colonial period.  These elites may be sharp and vocal critics of colonialism yet they became accustomed to behaviours which are difficult for them to abandon.

If colonialism had been able to impose this change on certain countries, it is because it was a long-term cultural colonialism aimed at submerging the identity of countries and nations it controlled. It needed, in this regard, a long period to change other aspects of  indigenous life and culture, such as language and mass media to make it praise the language, ideas and virtues of the colonialists.

The situation in Iraq is different. The country only experienced a temporarily military occupation which will end and all its effects will disappear. The decision adopted by the Iraqi side is related to the identity of the country and its population and must take into account religious and cultural characteristics. They should not be adopted in a hazardous way.

The Iraqi people were astonished by the declaration that the weekend in Iraq will be on Friday and Saturday. This is not appropriate to our principles and traditions, particularly the Islamic ones, and recalls the memories of the situation which prevailed in the Iraqi souks, particularly those of Baghdad before 1948, when they were closed on Saturdays because of the dominance of Jews. If Iraq was not experiencing difficult times, the people would have repulsed this decision. Despite that, many voices from various strata of the Iraqi people, including members of parliament, rejected it.

This decision changes the characteristics of the Iraqi state and drags it towards a fuzzy identity. Friday was one day which was distinguished from other days. One can enhance its importance by adding Thursday to it to encourage people who intend to visit holy places for prayers or to visit the sanctuaries. Many Iraqis living far from these holy religious centres need to travel there and sometimes spend the night. With a weekend of Thursday and Friday, that becomes possible.

I belong to those who reject the Saturday weekend with Friday as a supplement and I am for the holiday of Friday consolidated by Thursday, for the following reasons:

The reason cited for having the holiday on Friday and Saturday is related to the world markets. They say it would be difficult to have four weekly public holidays and only three working days. If this is the single explanation for the change, it does not rest on factual aspects of the reality of commercial life and the advanced levels of technology and means of communication.

In the past, commercial communications were carried out by telegrams sent by stations and they were faster than letters. Then, there was the telex which only allowed the transmission of messages in Latin letters. Then came the fax machine which transmitted a black and white copy of the messages in all languages. Lastly came the e-mail which strongly limited the traditional means of business correspondence. It may eliminate them, as it has eliminated the telegram and the telex. Letters have now largely been consigned to limited commercial samples and greetings cards.

The advantages of e-mail messages is that they can be written anywhere at any hour of the day or night and they arrive in a few seconds and can be read and answered at the recipients convenience.

The Internet is the best means of marketing. Most companies offer their products or services through their web pages. One can search through these sites and select the best goods at the best prices, by directly contacting the salesmen through new technologies not dependent on time and place. Queries will be sent directly to their websites and they will reply ensuring one gets what one wants.

The illusion on which the decision of the weekend as Friday and Saturday was based, and the justification for it, is compatibility with globalisation is a fallacy.  International communication cannot be combined in one time for all the people of the world. The working time in Baghdad is not the same as in Europe, America or Asia. It may be mid-day in London but mid-night in Japan, etc Time is no longer important in communication between nations. Lastly, instead of submitting to Western hegemony, to the detriment of our beliefs, it is essential to convince  Islamic countries which do not adopt Friday as a weekly holiday and Thursday as a supplement that they should do so.

It is essential that the meetings of the leaders of the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) adopt it so that Islamic countries are committed to it. These countries represent half of the countries of the world, and a third of the world's population, and the majority are consumers and non productive. The producing countries seek consumer markets and not vice versa.

I wish and hope that the weekly holiday be Friday and Thursday and that it should be stipulated by the constitution, so that it does not depend on the goodwill of successive governments. We must emphasise, at the same time, that what we said is not limited only to Iraq. The countries which have an Islamic majority, and which adopt Saturdays and Sunday as weekends, are also concerned.

The importance of this subject becomes more pronounced if one takes into account the future generations. The present generation could be somewhat disturbed by the change of the weekend, but they will come to realise the importance of Friday as a day of rest, which had been the custom during most of their lives.  Whereas the new generation attracted by the prospects of globalization, would be likely to lose their identity and their religious and traditional characteristics, along with an appreciation of the value of Friday. They neglect it,  do not benefit from it, do not do it justice and neglect its role in the unification and the gathering around the principle of unity at the time of a specific prayer and particular rituals.

The unification of the weekend between Muslim countries would contribute positively to the development of tourism and travel between them. Tourism and travel are keys to work, trade and the economic development between neighbouring countries sharing the same religion, nationality and borders. The people whose weekend is other than Friday will adapt to that of the Islamic countries and everyone will benefit from the weekend for tourism and enjoying the beauty of life.

The time when human beings lived to work is gone. Now we live in a time when people work to live. The working hours are reduced gradually. They reached 32 hours per week in certain countries- four working days. Many people work less. Consequently, what arguments remain for the proponent of the weekend other than Thursday and Friday?!!

In order to defend the identity, character and culture of Islamic countries we must preserve their generations from a world which starts to erase diversity.

I wish that God will help us all to stay on the way of faith, security and safety.

May God guides us to succeed

A. S. Shakiry