daily life is dominated by islamic observance. businesses are closed three or four times a day for 30 to 45 minutes during business hours while employees and customers are sent off to pray. the weekend is friday-saturday, not saturday-sunday, because friday is the holiest day for muslims. for many years only two religious holidays were publicly recognized – "ʿīd al-fiṭr" and "ʿīd al-aḍḥā". ("ʿīd al-fiṭr" is "the biggest" holiday, a three-day period of "feasting, gift-giving and general letting go".)