Why isnt Pakistan's weekly holiday, friday?

[Gazi]

Private sector is free to do what ever it wants. It will always take the most effective option according to the situation. Pakistan is overpopulated and labor as a result is cheap. So they buy lots of labor instead of investing in machines (which require electricity which we don't have).

Buddy their most Effective Options are those which Seths agreed upon. If you want the Productivity then you have to Invest in right place and for that you have to TRUST people working in your company as their Household is running all because of a company's Output. BTW I wasnt talking about Construction Industry in Manufacturing Industry Skilled Labors are Utilized not Unskilled Labors because Machine Operation cant be handle without know hows of a Machine and how they are Operated.

As far as holidays in manufacturing are concerned, they vary from employer to employer. Some small/medium scale companies may not even give a sunday holiday to meet production targets.

Even in Large Scale Manufacturing concern its is almost the same no where Saturdays are working days as Manufacturing companies required their Machines to Work to its full Potential otherwise they wont get their return on Investment and Profits they desire especially when they are running Machinery that are Obsolete already.

My problem is with the government and government employees. You can go to any government department office and see how hard they work. This is my money and your money that pays their salaries. On top of that government increasing their salaries every year 10% while gdp per capita is only up by maybe 2-3%.

In Govt. Sector everyday is like Holiday so even if 3 Days are off that wont going to create a Mess as most of Stuff regarding Govt. like SECP, FBR already got Online Portals available to them although Courts are the once which I believe should work 24/7 in order to provide Justice.

 

[Indus Falcon]

Problem is instead of having two day weekend, we have 2.75 day weekend for the govt sector. Pvt sector varies.
Before: 2 days = Fri & Sat
After: 2.75 days= Fri 0.75, Sat and Sun.

Whats the soloution?

 

[VCheng]

Problem is instead of having two day weekend, we have 2.75 day weekend for the govt sector. Pvt sector varies.
Before: 2 days = Fri & Sat
After: 2.75 days= Fri 0.75, Sat and Sun.

Whats the soloution?

The solution depends on what degree of integration is important between Pakistani banks and commercial activities with the rest of the world.

If it is important, then Sat/Sun weekends, with an extra hour over lunch break for Juma, and the regular workday increased by 15 minutes to make up for the time

If it is not important, then either Fir/Sat or even Thu/Fri weekends.

 

[JohnyD]

How long the Friday prayer lasts and what is the significance of Friday in Islam that religious people in this thread are insisting on having Friday as one of the weekly offs! Does Islam say don't work on Friday?

 

[niaz]

My interest is basically historical and I did a little research as to the reason of Friday as public holiday in most of the Muslim countries.

Concept of the day of rest or Sabbath does not exist in Islam and there is no compulsory weekly day-off or holiday as such. Traditionally only Eid ul Fitr & Eid-al Adha were the days when Muslims did not normally work or trade.

Hijra calendar was by the 2nd Khalifa Hazrat Omer (RA) in 639 AD by working backwards to when t Hijra actually took place (622) as year 1. It is not certain when the Islamic New Year became an off –day, in many Islamic countries it is still not.

10th of Moharram as a day of mourning may have been observed earlier privately by the Shiites; however, historical records suggest that during the Caliphate of Al Muqtadir ( 946-974), political power was in the hands of the Buyids dynasty who instituted the formal Ashura observance in 963 AD

According to Al Tabari, there was no formal Friday prayer during the Mecca period. Public Friday prayer was instituted after the Hijra. Understand that Friday was chosen because it was the weekly market day when Jews of Medina bought their provisions for the Sabbath. It has also been suggested that the timing of the Friday (Noon) is roughly the time when the market would normally break and people went home to eat and for the afternoon Siesta.

In Surat at Taubah there is mention of Friday prayer:

(9) O true believers, when you are called to prayer on the day of the assembly, hasten to the commemoration of God and cease trading. This is better for you, if you have understanding.
(10) Only when prayer is ended, scatter in the country and ask for the bounty of God: commemorate God frequently, so that you may prosper.
(11) However, when they see any business or amusement, they flock there and leave you standing. Say: that which is with God is better than amusement and business; and God is the best supplier.

Since the above verse says stop trading, it implies that people had been trading / working before the call to the prayer.

In my personal opinion, practice of the weekly day-off is copying of the Sabbath tradition of weekly holiday and started much later, probably during the Abbasside times. Most Muslim countries including Saudi Arabia now observe Friday & Saturday as weekly off-days.

In conclusion: Friday weekly holiday is not an essential part (Rukn) of Islam. As long as there is time-off for the Friday prayers, the country is free to have any day as weekly holiday without breaking the Islamic law or Tradition of the holy Prophet (PBUH). Hence there is nothing wrong with having Saturday & Sunday as weekly day- off in Pakistan.

All other Islamic holidays are later additions and hence optional.