Should Eid Be A Public Holiday?

As Ramadan comes to an end, the Muslim festival Eid will take place but do Muslims get a holiday to celebrate?

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Ramadan will be coming to an end which calls for a celebration, known as Eid-al-Fitr which marks the end of the daily fasting that takes place during Ramadan.

Eid takes place at the beginning of the next month in the Islamic calendar, Shawwal.

The months in the Islamic calendar are based on sightings of the moon. Eid is also only confirmed after the moon sighting however it is expected to be on July 6 or 7.

A major Eid event is held in Small Health Park, Birmingham, which takes place every year.

But is Eid a public holiday?

In some Muslim countries, Eid is undeniably a holiday. In the United Arab Emirates, for example, public sector workers are given a seven-day holiday and private sector workers are given two days off.

However, in the UK, Eid is not a bank holiday, in spite of recent efforts to make it one.

In 2014, a petition was signed by almost 122,000 people which called for the UK to embrace the Muslim and Hindi faiths by affirming Eid and Diwali public holidays.

But the Government’s Department for Business, Innovation and Skills reacted by taking out any additional bank holidays in Britain.

In a statement, it said: “Whilst we appreciate a new national holiday may benefit some communities and sectors, the cost to the economy remains considerable and any changes to the current arrangements would not take place without a full consultation.

“The Government is committed to bringing people together in strong, united communities. We encourage and support people to have shared aspirations, values and experiences.

“Festivals such as Eid and Diwali contribute to this objective. We regret however that we cannot agree to create new bank or public holidays to mark these festivals.

“The Government regularly receives requests for additional bank and public holidays to celebrate a variety of occasions including religious festivals. However, the current pattern is well established and accepted.”

According to the Centre for Economics and Business Research, each public holiday costs £2.3billion per day due to the loss of retail, commercial services and other industries.

A number of community leaders were against the idea, saying that if all religious festivals were a public holiday, Britain would toil to a halt.

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