The Rooted Trouble of the Islamic Republic in Changing Weekend Holidays in Iran

After much controversy regarding weekend holidays, the Islamic Consultative Assembly has approved Saturday as the second day off of the week. This proposal was confirmed on Wednesday, May 16, with 136 votes in favor, 66 against, and three abstentions. This is not the first time such an issue has been raised in the Assembly; the debates date back to 2019 when Saturday was proposed as the weekend holiday instead of Thursday, but ultimately did not reach a conclusion. Despite this, the struggle between reason and religion over holiday days in Iran has historical roots. Following the news of the initial rejection of the proposal in the Assembly on May 13, just two days before the approval of Saturday as a holiday in the public session, a video went viral on Iranian social media in which Arman Khalaghi, a member of the board of the House of Industry, Mine and Trade of Iran, spoke about the opponents of the Saturday holiday proposal, stating that those who want Thursday off believe that taking this day off affects fertility rates and that Thursday is a suitable day for visiting the graves of the deceased. Although many jokes and memes circulated on social media regarding this statement, it is indeed part of the reasons provided by religious forces in Iran; forces that see changes in the 'status quo' as detrimental to a culture they refer to as 'Iranian-Islamic'. Some, like members of the Assembly's Velayati Commission, argue for the necessity of keeping pace with the world due to this proposal. The plan to reduce working hours and increase weekend holidays was approved in the Assembly on January 29, 2024, with 126 votes in favor and entered the seventh development program. With this resolution, the weekly working hours were reduced from 44 to 42.5 hours, and one day was added to the weekend holidays. However, the resolution did not specify which day would be the holiday. On Sunday, May 13, after the Social Commission approved the amendment to Article 87 of the Civil Service Law, it was put to a vote. This commission initially approved Thursday as the holiday but changed the resolution due to internal opposition and objections from members outside the commission. Before the vote, members of this commission stated that Saturday should be a holiday because it 'will have multiple benefits for trade and production growth'. The Chamber of Commerce protested the designation of Thursday instead of Saturday as the second weekend holiday. The issue of weekend holidays has existed in Iran for nearly 150 years and this is the ninth time in the past 15 years that the issue of changing weekend holidays has been raised in the government or the Assembly. However, it has not led to any decisions and remains blocked amid disagreements over 'values', yet it is closer than ever to reaching a conclusion. Working more and having less leisure under the 'Thursday trap' is now described as one of the symbols of discrimination and exploitation of labor in Iran. For nearly a decade, the weekend holidays in Tehran have not been the same as in other parts of the country, and its residents practically experience two days off. Meanwhile, only Friday is the official weekly holiday in the country. Although some provinces have also implemented Tehran's decision, only schools have been declared closed on Thursday nationwide, albeit with many fluctuations. However, the perspective from Tehran as the center of officials is such that even the parliamentary deputy of the president states, 'Thursdays are practically holidays; I don't know what has happened that some say Saturday should be a holiday.' However, there are officials who refer to Thursday as 'quasi-holiday' or sometimes 'trap'. This long-standing indecision has frustrated Iranian bureaucracy alongside a weary labor force. The head of the Administrative and Employment Affairs Organization of the country mentioned four reasons for the chaos in the bureaucracy in 2022. He stated that 'the quasi-holiday of Thursday' has created problems for interaction between headquarters and counties, issues regarding school closures (as schools are closed on Thursday in most areas of the country while parents go to work), imbalance between work and leisure, and ultimately reduced productivity due to the additional work of Iranians. In Iran, there are 79 annual holidays, while the average holiday in various countries around the world is 120 days. Even one member of the Assembly states, 'Iran is among the 30 countries with the highest working hours per week.' This representative says that by changing the law and reducing working hours, 'it should be compensated with increased work quality.' Meanwhile, defenders of the current situation have had the upper hand until today, including Mohammad Taghi Naghdi, a representative of the people of Khomeini Shahr, who says, 'In a situation where the slogan of the year is production growth, which requires more work and activity, reducing working hours and increasing holidays is unjustifiable.' This perspective is also concerned about the government's income from changes in working hours. Alireza Salimi, another member of the Assembly, also states that adding to the holidays 'means imposing a financial burden on the government and reducing government revenue.' In April 2024, a bill for closing Thursdays was presented to the Assembly. Supporters of Saturday and defenders of Thursday have been trying to resolve the issue in their favor with various arguments over the years. Individuals like Rouhollah Harizavi, the deputy of the Islamic Propagation Organization, have even used statements from Ali Khamenei in this matter. Before the vote on May 13 in the Assembly, he said, 'The weekend holidays are clear, and the leadership has repeatedly warned about the consequences of following the lifestyle of infidels.' The newspaper Khorasan, a media outlet close to the IRGC, wrote, 'Friday is a special day and a symbol of Islam, and is recognized as one of the Islamic rites. In contrast to Saturday, which symbolizes Judaism, and Sunday, which symbolizes Christianity. We neglect the symbolic dimension of days. The symbolic dimension of religion is one of the elements of religious identity formation. The identity-forming element determines your boundary with others, but neglecting it leads to cultural mixing, identity loss, and lack of distinction for that society.' This newspaper also emphasizes that 'the issue is not just the closure of one day; it is about changing the social order.' Nevertheless, one of the most important defenders of this proposal has been the Chamber of Commerce. They have long argued that cutting economic ties with the world for four days seriously harms trade and production. In the current government, only the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has agreed to support private economic activists by approving Saturday instead of Thursday as a holiday. Meanwhile, IRGC-affiliated news agencies have reported that the government is generally in favor of closing Thursdays. Arguments in favor of Saturday include: lack of relationship with the world, negative cultural effects, economic damage due to closed markets, positive message to Jews, greater possibility for trade interaction with the world, more rest for employees and workers, increased domestic travel and improved tourism, and environmental benefits due to reduced energy consumption. Arguments against Saturday include: loss of religious obligations, change in lifestyle and values of Muslims, and the perception that accepting Saturday as the weekend is a form of 'surrender'. The struggle over weekend holidays in Iran began during Mohammad Khatami's presidency and especially in the sixth Assembly. The issue also arose several times during Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's presidency, but since 2015, the government's efforts to change weekend holidays have become more serious, and in 2019, a bill for closing Thursdays was sent to the Assembly but did not pass. However, the issue of weekend holidays is not only related to the past 45 years. Baqer Mirdamadi, an Iranian cleric, states, 'Even the Shah intended to remove Friday as a holiday, the day when performing prayer is obligatory for everyone, and instead make Sunday the official holiday of the country. His excuse was that since we have political relations with the West, we should follow them, not the other way around. If their government had continued, Iran would certainly have become one of the irreligious countries.' This is part of the fear of the religious and conservative community in the country, which sees the slightest change as equivalent to losing everything. This perspective emerged from the time of Esfand 1354, when the calendar changed from the solar calendar to the royal one. Clerics considered this change a precursor to the elimination of Islam and even claimed that the government chose the day of 'Jewish people's freedom' instead of the date of 'the migration of the great prophet' of Islam. In a letter dated Esfand 25, 1354, Mohammad Reza Golpayegani, a prominent Shia cleric at the time, wrote to the head of the Senate, stating that this change 'caused severe surprise and concern among Muslims and anyone interested in the stability and survival of the country.' After this change, Ruhollah Khomeini declared the use of this calendar as forbidden. He stated in a message, 'This change is an insult to Islam and a precursor to the erasure of its name; God forbid, its use by the public is forbidden and supporting the oppressor and tyrant is contrary to Islam's justice.' In those days, some considered this change the beginning of 'removing Friday from the calendar' to declare Saturdays and Sundays as holidays. This also sparked reactions. Morteza Motahhari, in a speech related to the interpretation of Surah Jumu'ah, stated that some Islamic countries have succumbed to this change in holiday time, but 'these are all precursors to being absorbed and assimilated into the cultures of others.' He even stated that the word Saturday has Jewish roots, while Friday is entirely Arabic and Islamic and was established for holding Friday prayers. He was firmly opposed to changing the holiday from Friday to any other day. This concern has even deeper historical roots; during Reza Shah's time, the idea of changing holidays to follow Atatürk's reforms was also proposed. Hossein Maki quotes the director of the newspaper Ettelaat at that time, stating, 'If World War II had not happened, perhaps Reza Shah would have changed the official Hijri calendar like Turkey and changed the holiday from Friday to Sunday.' Our values or our rationality? The Islamic Republic is, in a sense, a system of unfinished affairs. The contradiction and conflict within the framework of this government between reason and Islamic values causes decision-making on most major collective matters to be postponed. The lack of a final decision on weekend holidays so far is a sign of this situation. The reasons given by supporters for closing Saturday and making the holidays two days appear clearly rational or, more precisely, economic, but the responses from opponents are solely based on Islamic values, which have no statistical justification, and this is one of the reasons for the rejection of Thursday as a holiday in 2019. In recent years, various Islamic countries have chosen the path of connecting with the world and trade, accepting the closure of Friday and Saturday one after another. Some have even completely aligned with Western holidays as a criterion. However, in Iran, some opponents of closing Saturdays argue that accepting Saturday as the weekend is a form of 'surrender'. Meanwhile, the Iranian government considers itself the leader of the 'resistance front'. They see sending a message to the world as more important. In fact, they perceive themselves at the center of the world and, as the leader of the Islamic Republic claims, are in the process of establishing a new Islamic civilization, and thus consider most of their actions as messages to the world, without pausing to consider whether the world pays attention to them or not. Now that supporters of Thursday consider themselves in a war with Israel, they take this message even more seriously and have raised a louder voice against the change. This issue has turned the weekend holiday situation in the country into a security matter. Accepting Saturdays as the holiday for some is equivalent to 'abandoning resistance' and 'falling into the enemy's trap'. Meanwhile, some view the lack of interaction with the world and material losses as equivalent to undermining national security. This situation has made decision-making for government pillars difficult in recent years and now more so.