Be fair and make Muslims' Eid festival a public holiday, HK's chief imam urges

The chief imam for Hong Kong, Mufti Muhammad Arshad, wants the Eid, which marks the end of Ramadan, to be classed as an official public holiday so Muslims can enjoy one of their important days of celebration like other religions in the city.

Ramadan starts on Thursday and finishes on September 9.

Eid ul-Fitr, which is often abbreviated to Eid, is the Muslim holiday that marks the end of the Islamic holy month of fasting. Eid is Arabic for 'festivity', while fitr means 'to break fast'.

Arshad believes the government should declare Eid a public holiday. 'There's an estimated 200,000 Muslims living in Hong Kong, and life is good for Muslims here,' he said. 'In general, people's lives have improved. It's a peaceful, progressive city, but it would be good if during Ramadan we are able to celebrate Eid as other communities celebrate their religious days.

'Here, we don't get this on Eid, when it's the end of Ramadan. It's unfair to those Muslims who have to work all over Hong Kong at this time, when others will not have to go to work on important Buddhist or Christian holy days.'

With only five mosques spread across the city, Muslims sometimes found it difficult to get to one, Arshad also said.

'We have many Muslims living all over Hong Kong and the New Territories, but they find it difficult to get to a mosque as there are so few here. It's a problem for us, but overall Muslims are happy in Hong Kong,' he said.