Hey friends,
Saudi Arabia has been debating on whether to have a Friday/ Saturday weekend as opposed to the present Thursday/Friday weekend. The main reason cited for changing over to the Fri/Sat weekened is for economic reasons since the rest of the world has a Sat/Sun weekend, Saudi Arabia could gain one extra working day on Thursday if it had Saturday off. Currently Saudi Arabia, along with several other Middle Eastern countries, take Thur/Fri off, which means they work on Sat/ Sun which is a weekend in the rest of the world. So, in effect, there are only three days which are effective working days between the Middle East and the West: Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.
In my home country, the Islamic Repblic of Pakistan, we have Sundays off! It's aradical step for a Muslim country to take a Sunday, and have Friday as a working day. People get a break on Friday to do perform their Friday prayers, and then get back to work. So in effect, Saturday and Sunday is the official weekend. If Pakistan can do it, so can other Muslim countries.
Sure, there will be some opposition. Saturday is the Jewish official day off, Sunday is the Christian's official day off, so why should the Muslims take a day off on these two days? I think we need to look at the bigger picture. If the economy of Saudi Arabia can improve by gaining an extra working day in sync with the rest of the world, then it would be beneficial.
On a more personal note, I would love for a Fri/ Sat weekend. Every Friday evening, I get depressed, and one reason is that I hate to get up Saturday mornings. If I knew I had a day off on Saturday, I would be ecstatic. I know some companies here in Dubai take Fri/Sat off. I hope Saudi Arabia comes up with a definite change of plans regarding its weekend plans as it is about to join the WTO.
http://www.arabnews.com/?page=1§ion=0&article=79404&d=19&m=3&y=2006
Mansur
3 comments:
I think its a good idea for the Saudis to move to a Fri/Sat weekend. It definitely does make good economic sense.
However, i'm really upset with Pakistan. Friday SHOULD be a weekend day for Muslims - how can they have only Sunday as the day off?
There was a time when i thought i'd consider moving to Pakistan, but the more i hear about what is going on there, the more i get turned away.
luv ur tepmlate...as well as that joke of the week,state of being, hate/love thingies on the side..
It would be a great step for Saudi indeed. I have always wanted Saturday as the day off, just can't wait :p
Very nice template btw.
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