These days, Lebanon is waking up in two different time zones, as a result of a growing dispute between political and religious authorities over the decision to extend winter time by a month.
Interim Prime Minister Najib Mikati decided on Thursday to move the clock forward an hour only on April 20, instead of entering daylight saving time yesterday (Saturday), as is usually the case in Lebanon, Europe and other regions.
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Although no official explanation was given for the move, Mikati, a Sunni Muslim, announced the decision after a meeting with the Speaker of the Shia Parliament, Nabia Berri, who repeatedly insisted on the change, according to the video of the meeting published by the Lebanese Magfon network. “Instead of the hour being 7 , let her stay 6, from now until the end of Ramadan,” Berry said, according to the video.
During the meeting with Berry, Mikati is seen responding in the video that Berry’s request is not possible because it would cause “problems”. Still, later that day, Mikati issued the decision to stay in winter time. Mikati said that the change would be a particularly difficult move because it would cause problems in the airlines’ flight schedules. To this Berry responded: “Which flights?”.
After the postponement of daylight saving time was announced, the state airline of Lebanon, Middle East Airlines, announced that the departure times of all flights scheduled to depart from Beirut airport between Sunday and April 21 – will be advanced by an hour.
A general feeling of chaos
While public institutions are expected to follow the new ruling, many of the private institutions, such as television stations, schools, and private businesses, but also churches, refused to follow suit, and announced that they would continue to observe daylight saving time as previously established.
Adding to the sense of chaos, the government has not yet said whether it has notified those responsible for synchronizing times on mobile phones, laptops and other electronic devices about the change. Meanwhile, Lebanese find themselves navigating work and school schedules in different time zones—in the same small country. At the same time, the two mobile phone networks in the country sent messages to customers asking them to change their clock settings to manual operation instead of automatic so that the time would not change at midnight, although in many cases the time did change anyway.
Haruka Naito, a Japanese who works for an NGO and lives in Beirut, found she had to be in two places at the same time on Monday morning. “I had an appointment at 8 a.m. and a class at 9 a.m., which will happen now at that time,” she told The Guardian. The appointment she made at 8 o’clock to receive her residency forms is at a government agency that follows the official time, while the Arabic class she made at 9 o’clock is at an institute that is expected to switch to summer time.
Christian or Muslim watch?
The move is seen as an attempt to achieve victory by Muslims, allowing those who fast during the month of Ramadan to break their fast an hour earlier, and in many discussions the issue continues to take on a religious character. Politics in Lebanon is very bigoted, and seats in parliament are allocated by religion.
While in many cases the division was colored along religious lines, some Muslims also opposed the change, pointing out that the fast should begin at dawn and end at sunset, regardless of the time zone.
The current justice minister, Henry Khoury, a Christian, called on Mikati in a statement on Saturday to reverse the move, in what was the first opposition from within the cabinet, where political loyalties usually follow religious lines. Khoury said that the decision “violated the principle of legitimacy” and caused divisions in Lebanese society and along religious lines at a time when Lebanon is already facing multiple crises.
Many see the issue as a distraction from the country’s larger economic and political problems.
Lebanon is in the midst of the worst financial crisis in its modern history. IMF officials recently warned that the country could be headed for hyperinflation if action is not taken. Since Michel Aoun’s term ended at the end of October, Lebanon has been left without a president, since the parliament was unable to choose a replacement.
And there are those who see the current situation as amusing. A video circulating on social media shows a digital clock at Beirut-Rafik Hariri International Airport showing two different times: on one side the clock flashes at 10:05, and on the other side it shows 9:05. At a cafe in Beirut on Saturday evening, a Reuters journalist reported hearing one customer ask: “Will you follow the Christian or Muslim clock starting tomorrow?”.