by Selina Bakkar in World on 17th October, 2018
A recent petition started by a Nurul Islam has garnered over 45,000 signatures, the petition asks for both Eid ul-Fitr and Eid-ul-Adha to be made into a public holiday. The petition explains that a public holiday would allow families to come together and share Eid celebrations with the wider community. It seems some who aren’t Muslim would love an extra holiday and thus support the petition too and of course the Islamophobes have taken the time to come out.
Yes public holidays for Diwali & Eid – Great for believers and everyone else gets a public holiday – UK gets so few compared to others #sml
— Benji #TTFN (@Benjamin_Huish) October 26, 2014
@DrBehbehaniAM @DrFarahJS it's a struggle with Eid here living in the UK as it's not deemed as a public holiday. Great petition indeed.
— Faz Hussain (@Peaky_Blinder1) May 10, 2014
They have been wanting that barbaric festival (Eid) to be made a public holiday in the UK. God forbid.
— Dawn #iamtommy (@DDawn0) March 20, 2017
What’s unusual about the petition is that for a debate to occur petitions must reach 100,000 but the committee have scheduled the debate for Religious festivals including Eid and Diwali as no other petitions reached 100,000. They have also recognised that the topic affects many groups and therefore “…that individually they may find it harder to meet the 100,000 signature threshold.”
The debate will take place on Monday 29th October, and will start at 4.30pm. You can watch it live and read the transcript of the debate the day after. The last response from the government on the topic was on the 26 June 2018: “The Government has no plans to create a public holiday to commemorate religious festivals such as Eid. The costs would be considerable expensive. The cost of the 2012 Diamond Jubilee holiday was around £1.2bn.”
Eid Petition: 45,602 as of October 17th 2018
Diwali Petition, 11,000 as of October 17th 2018
Petition: Public Holiday on Muslims religious occasions in the UK(Eid ul Fitr&Eid ul Adha) https://t.co/b5uKpMwDWW
— Abd Sukkar (@abdu48) October 17, 2018
Sign & Share this petition so that we can make Eid a public holiday in the UK.
We need 100,000 signatures.http://t.co/hYl0PF5wTQ
— A ???? (@__Thegoodgirl) May 11, 2014
Make Eid a Public Holiday in UK http://t.co/TMYnemXEEn #Petition
— Anjum Kiani (@AnjumKiani) May 8, 2014
Eid should be a public holiday in the UK kmt
— n (@nz987) September 12, 2016
I'm a simply striving to be better and improve in different areas of my life through more self awareness, experiences and learning more about the deen. You'll find me talking about community, connection, planting & growing, seeking the truth in an age of propaganda and misinformation. This year I want to document more to do with food heritage and history so watch this space or reach out. Have a listen to the Amaliah Voices podcast where I talk passionately about Islam, nature, motherhooding and back home. Link in bio peeps. To join the Amaliah Writer Community email me at selina@amaliah.com IG: SelinaBakkar