By Royal Decree

Saudi Arabia,
Sunday, June 23rd, 2013

I mentioned in a previous that Saudi Arabia has been thinking about changing it's weekend from Thursday/Friday to Friday/Saturday. They have been talking about it for years and none of us thought it would happen anytime soon. Boy were we wrong. It appears over night the government changed it's mind (of course government is a relative term. There is of course the Shoura Council who governs the country but since Saudi Arabia has what is considered to be one of the last true Monarchy's in the world, all final decisions are made by the King....and by extension the Grand Mufti). A Royal decree has been written and announced and the weekend has been changed....and it would go into affect in one week's time.

Now Saudi Arabia is not known for it's quick changes so it is a little curious that this one was made so quickly. It will be a good thing of course. The country loses millions of dollars in business with the West and even other members of the GCC with the current weekend, but that isn't new news. Many people believe the decision was made so quickly and by Royal Decree so the Grand Mufti, the Imams and other religious figures wouldn't have a chance to object.

Either way, I'm happy about it. My new job has me spending most of my time talking to hospitals in the United States so I am very often at work on Thursday and Friday (my current weekend). With Friday being the Holy Day it is very hard to get Doctors here to do much (understandably) and since my business partners are closed on Saturdays I hope to see a lot less overtime and more actual weekends.

We will be switching over the first week of July, which means we'll get a long weekend!!!

So yeah to Royal Decrees!!!

http://www.alriyadh.com/en/article/846326/royal-order-weekend-is-on-saturday-and-friday

Julie