Public holiday on Holi and Easter

[SYED KAMRAN ALI SHAH]

What you people think about public holidays on the events of Holi, Ester etc?? I think we have already umpteen number of holidays and we cannot afford a lot more because it will have bad effects on over economy. But when i think about right of minorities, my thoughts get changed. As we are always criticized for ill-treating minorities, if we do so- public holidays- it will be a good sign that Pakistan is now being considerate about its minorities.Some of you might say: we cannot afford this good sign at cost of our economy;therefore, i have come with answer in advance. If we are not able to declare these holidays for all Pakistan, then,at least, the community which the event belongs to should be given offical holiday, in all public and private sectors, so that they may celebrate the event. To support this we can take the example of china's two provinces: Ninxia and Xinjiang where three days holidays are given to muslims and one day holiday to non- Muslim; in other provinces where muslims are very few they give official holiday to only muslims.

But what about UK and USA where muslims are not given holiday on the Eve of EID? you are right they are not doing so but they do a lot more for their minorities that Pakistan does not.They have already achieved what Pakistan yet to achieve, i.e a label of being safe place for minorities etc. so there is nothing bad in allowing them to have free day to celebrate their religious or other rituals. By doing so we are doing an other great work too. Because if we allow minorities to celebrate their events, it is possible that taking us as a model UK and US would also decleare holidays for Muslims and Hindus on their respective days.

[fawadhash]

Is there any such debate in the law-making circles going on? Sorry, I am a bit cut-off from the news nowadays.

[SYED KAMRAN ALI SHAH]

yes. But it is not in limelight; i do not know why.

[Mrkhansaab]

If there is a holiday given on Eid, there should be one given on Christmas and Holi.

Personally I believe all these days should be work-days.

[fawadhash]

I don't think these holidays should be given. Taking from your point, we should do for minorities what USA has done for its minorities. To be clear, I am against holidays altogether except for few necessary ones like Eid and 14th August. It only causes economic losses nothing else. Eid and 14 August are useful as holidays because prior to these events there is a significant surge in economic activity which makes up for the loss suffered during the holidays.

And, I also believe that we should STOP justifying ourselves, our religion and our culture to the westerners. Yesterday, there was an attack on Belgium, as you might be aware. I saw numerous Muslims on Facebook trying to communicate to the westerns that Islam is truly a religion of peace, which it no doubt is. However, I felt pitiful for the present state of Islam and its followers who feel that there is something to be acquired by gaining acceptance westerner's acceptance. I am not a religious man or an extremist, but I wouldn't feel the need to justify this to a westerner who doesn't know a bit about our religion. They were calling all the Muslims savages. They seem to have forgotten their dark ages. We Muslims have reigned over this world for more than 1200 years. Now, just after 350 years something, we are so subjugated that we feel the need to pander to the west and modify our religion for them? I don't feel that need. If the west stop interfering with us, we would probably be the religion of peace we purport to be. We Muslims need to realize that peaks and troughs are a cycle of history, and we surely don't need to base our decisions on western's image of Pakistan or Islam. My brother, there are no universal objective principles, no one can claim to have a grasp over absolute truth except for Allah and same goes for western principles of equality, liberty, democracy etc. No doubt aforementioned principles are laudable and indeed are the most advanced form of ideas humans have conceived UNTIL now. But, they are not absolute or something which cannot be improved upon. We are not at the end of history.
The point of saying all this was, that if we are going to give holidays to please western world, then its better to not give any holidays.

P.S I can't and won't write this opinion in CSS paper :P

[mujipak]

It would be better to only declare public holidays for minorities not for whole country.

[SYED KAMRAN ALI SHAH]

Originally Posted by fawadhash

I don't think these holidays should be given. Taking from your point, we should do for minorities what USA has done for its minorities. To be clear, I am against holidays altogether except for few necessary ones like Eid and 14th August. It only causes economic losses nothing else. Eid and 14 August are useful as holidays because prior to these events there is a significant surge in economic activity which makes up for the loss suffered during the holidays.

And, I also believe that we should STOP justifying ourselves, our religion and our culture to the westerners. Yesterday, there was an attack on Belgium, as you might be aware. I saw numerous Muslims on Facebook trying to communicate to the westerns that Islam is truly a religion of peace, which it no doubt is. However, I felt pitiful for the present state of Islam and its followers who feel that there is something to be acquired by gaining acceptance westerner's acceptance. I am not a religious man or an extremist, but I wouldn't feel the need to justify this to a westerner who doesn't know a bit about our religion. They were calling all the Muslims savages. They seem to have forgotten their dark ages. We Muslims have reigned over this world for more than 1200 years. Now, just after 350 years something, we are so subjugated that we feel the need to pander to the west and modify our religion for them? I don't feel that need. If the west stop interfering with us, we would probably be the religion of peace we purport to be. We Muslims need to realize that peaks and troughs are a cycle of history, and we surely don't need to base our decisions on western's image of Pakistan or Islam. My brother, there are no universal objective principles, no one can claim to have a grasp over absolute truth except for Allah and same goes for western principles of equality, liberty, democracy etc. No doubt aforementioned principles are laudable and indeed are the most advanced form of ideas humans have conceived UNTIL now. But, they are not absolute or something which cannot be improved upon. We are not at the end of history.
The point of saying all this was, that if we are going to give holidays to please western world, then its better to not give any holidays.

P.S I can't and won't write this opinion in CSS paper :P

One of our grave mistakes is that we do nothing and want to dwell in past. we had reigned all our the world for more than 1200 years; is this means we should take rest now? Or do struggle to ge back our lost heritage: ILM (EDUCATION)? If latter is our choice then we have to look at and learn from the countries, Western or Eastern, which are on high positions at the field(EDUCATION). For this we must establish good relations as well as copy their good virtues.
Now comes to your second point : we must not justify ourself ...... . i dissent from you at this point. Muslims all over the world are in great trouble today. The are considered terrorist, some suggest ban on Muslims in their countries- DONALD TRUMP. The foremost reason for this thought is the propaganda that western media is spreading against Muslims. They shows the terrorists,who consider themselves devoted Muslims, being the real face of Muslims and trying their best to make people agitate against Muslims. They do so because of the anti-west sentiments of the Muslims.The suffering of Muslims will be compounded If educated people in Muslims do not come forward and tell the world that Islam enjoins Peace, tolerance, and Those who carry out the terrorist attacks and kill innocent people have no respect for Islam; that they are doing so for their vested interests; their acts are antithesis to Islam. Now, it is up to you which way you decide to go on: Either continue dreaming about past days, support the acts of terrorists and hate the super powers ,OR come forward and tell the world WE ARE PEACE LOVING PEOPLE.

Originally Posted by Mrkhansaab

If there is a holiday given on Eid, there should be one given on Christmas and Holi.

Personally I believe all these days should be work-days.

What if there is not? Cannot we take any initiative our self ? Or it has become our nature to let other do first then we will start following them. I think it has become our nature. In the field of science and technology have we same thought; this is the reason we, Pakistanis, have almost Zero Contribution in contemporary technology.

[fawadhash]

Originally Posted by SYED KAMRAN ALI SHAH

One of our grave mistakes is that we do nothing and want to dwell in past. we had reigned all our the world for more than 1200 years; is this means we should take rest now? Or do struggle to ge back our lost heritage: ILM (EDUCATION)? If latter is our choice then we have to look at and learn from the countries, Western or Eastern, which are on high positions at the field(EDUCATION). For this we must establish good relations as well as copy their good virtues.
Now comes to your second point : we must not justify ourself ...... . i dissent from you at this point. Muslims all over the world are in great trouble today. The are considered terrorist, some suggest ban on Muslims in their countries- DONALD TRUMP. The foremost reason for this thought is the propaganda that western media is spreading against Muslims. They shows the terrorists,who consider themselves devoted Muslims, being the real face of Muslims and trying their best to make people agitate against Muslims. They do so because of the anti-west sentiments of the Muslims.The suffering of Muslims will be compounded If educated people in Muslims do not come forward and tell the world that Islam enjoins Peace, tolerance, and Those who carry out the terrorist attacks and kill innocent people have no respect for Islam; that they are doing so for their vested interests; their acts are antithesis to Islam. Now, it is up to you which way you decide to go on: Either continue dreaming about past days, support the acts of terrorists and hate the super powers ,OR come forward and tell the world WE ARE PEACE LOVING PEOPLE.



What if there is not? Cannot we take any initiative our self ? Or it has become our nature to let other do first then we will start following them. I think it has become our nature. In the field of science and technology have we same thought; this is the reason we, Pakistanis, have almost Zero Contribution in contemporary technology.

You actually didn't get my point. I said that Muslims should be patient, not content. I never said that positive aspects should not be adopted or that westerners should be abhorred. I said that peak and troughs, rise and fall are a part of history. We should not be influenced by the west to an extent that we lose our identity and culture. I hope you do accept that there is a competition going on between western and non-western world which will never stop. Do you think that these attacks can't be orchestrated by westerners themselves only to malign Islam? Secondly, the westerners will never understand Islam no matter how much we try to prove that Islam is a religion of peace. And If the west has never justified its campaign in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria and Libya, I certainly feel no compulsion to say that the backlash you are getting is really unjustified.

[SYED KAMRAN ALI SHAH]

Originally Posted by fawadhash

You actually didn't get my point. I said that Muslims should be patient, not content. I never said that positive aspects should not be adopted or that westerners should be abhorred. I said that peak and troughs, rise and fall are a part of history. We should not be influenced by the west to an extent that we lose our identity and culture. I hope you do accept that there is a competition going on between western and non-western world which will never stop. Do you think that these attacks can't be orchestrated by westerners themselves only to malign Islam? Secondly, the westerners will never understand Islam no matter how much we try to prove that Islam is a religion of peace. And If the west has never justified its campaign in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria and Libya, I certainly feel no compulsion to say that the backlash you are getting is really unjustified.

Brother, you also did not get my point. I said we should try to get back our lost heritage: ILM ( KNOWLDGE). Nobody said that we should have been so merged that we lost our identity.
Would you like to tell what do you mean by western? means you are saying western will never understand Islam. If your western points to the people of west,you are going opposite direction to the fact. You can google this people of west are accepting Islam day after day; i fear; lest the propaganda retard the pace of the progress.

[umark]

Definitely in favour of these holidays. No harm.