Saudi Arabia ends use of the Islamic lunar calendar and adopts the Gregorian calendar system

This was done as part of austerity measures due to loss of revenue from decreasing oil prices and the rising costs of their military destroying Yemen. Welcome to phase one of your eventual Democratization SA, next your royal family will have to step aside for a representative system.

PressTV
Saudi Arabia has dropped the Islamic lunar calendar and adopted the Gregorian calendar system for paying civil servants as part of an austerity measures regime. The kingdom adopted the calendar changes on Sunday, in a move which results in the loss of 11 salary days for government employees. The lunar calendar system was adopted by the Saudis when the country was founded in 1932, and is made up of 12 months of 29 or 30 days based on the sighting of the moon. Its year consists of 354 days, which is 11 days shorter than the Gregorian or “Western” calendar.

The kingdom is facing a budget deficit of nearly $100 billion caused by a sharp slump in oil prices as well as Riyadh’s rising army expenditure, a large amount of which is being funneled into a military campaign against Yemen, where at least 10,000 people have been killed and thousands more injured.

So much for their faith. How will they pay the people who have begun to sue their government for 9/11???

a reply to: worldstarcountry

Not quite. From another news source:

The decision to switch from the lunar-based Hijri calendar will take effect from October 1 and will bring the public sector in line with how private sector employees are paid.

Public sector loses 11 days of salary after calendar switch in Saudi Arabia

In other words, this is just an accounting "trick" to pay their public employees based on the same time scale that their private companies already pay. It's not a cultural adoption of the Gregorian calendar, which would do away with the Islamic Lunar calendar and months like Ramadan.

ETA: The article I linked also goes into detail on a lot of the other financial measures they're changing.

If the lunar calendar is 354 days, how is switching from it to the Gregorian calendar a loss of 11 days?

a reply to: enlightenedservant

Thanks for the added information. I mentioned it was about austerity. I was just teasing at the whole Democratization thing, but I feel like its closer to reality than fiction in the next two decades.

originally posted by: AdmireTheDistance
If the lunar calendar is 354 days, how is switching from it to the Gregorian calendar a loss of 11 days?

It's a loss of 11 days worth of pay for the affected employees. Now they would get paid the same amount every 365 days as they previously got every 354 days.

originally posted by: worldstarcountry
a reply to: enlightenedservant

Thanks for the added information. I mentioned it was about austerity. I was just teasing at the whole Democratization thing, but I feel like its closer to reality than fiction in the next two decades.

They literally can't do that. For example, Ramadan is a holy month for Muslims. But there is clearly no equivalent in the Gregorian calendar.

Even if they didn't really care about Islam, it would be a disaster for them financially and reputation-wise. The Hajj and Umrah pilgrimages are big business for them, as is Eid al-Adha (which occurs on the 10th day of the Dhu al-Hijjah lunar month). And with Saudi Arabia constantly trying to present itself as the leading authority in the Islamic world, changing over to the Gregorian calendar would wreck their credibility.

Not to mention, birthdays and other celebrated days are also based on those calendars. So I highly doubt they'd change everyone's IDs, their history books, and more as a cost saving measure. It would be like America officially switching over to the shorter Islamic lunar calendar. Think about how many contracts and other legal documents would have to be converted, not to mention social days, holidays, and more. And since the years are roughly 11 days off from each other, it would be a pain in the neck to convert days the further back you go.

a reply to: enlightenedservant

That was an enlightening explanation. What has me curious now though is, how the heck are they measuring days if they are short eleven out of the year??

a reply to: worldstarcountry

The Gregorian calendar is based on the Sun, while the Islamic calendar is based on the Moon. It takes a little less than 365 days and 6 hrs for the Earth to make a complete loop around the Sun, which is the "solar year".

But every cycle of the moon (from crescent to full to crescent) is a "month" by the Islamic calendar. The "New Moon" is the slimmest crescent moon, which comes every 29 or 30 days. That month continues until the next "New Moon"/crescent moon, which signals the beginning of the next month. That's also why the crescent moon is used by many Muslims as a "symbol" of Islam (like my necklace in my avatar).