Expressing his frustration and anger in this Arab News column, Tariq Al-Maeena complains bitterly about the speed with which religion is used to score political points. Commenting on the issue of a change of the days to be considered the weekend, he excoriates those who would demean religion on such literally mundane matters. He names names and kicks out.

The Debate About Changing the Weekend
Tariq A. Al-Maeena, close_encounters@gawab.com

Know what members of our esteemed Shoura Council were up to recently? They were engaged in a lively debate on an issue forwarded to them by the Civil Service Ministry.

The ministry had recommended changing the country’s weekend to Fridays and Saturdays as reported by this paper a few days ago.

The underlying logic is no secret. As things stand now, there are four days of rest in a week when it comes to dealing with countries around the world, leaving only three days common to business. The countries in the Gulf, realizing the adverse effects of such a gap, took steps last year to lessen them by changing their weekly holidays to Fridays and Saturdays.

So when the proposal hit the Shoura floor, one would have expected it to pass without much fuss and be quickly forwarded to the Council of Ministers for approval. At least, a rational person would not have been faulted for thinking along those lines.

But I suppose among the members of this esteemed council were those who thought otherwise. One such member, the deputy president of the Shoura, Mahmoud Taiba, strongly criticized the proposal citing Islamic reasons.
…