Afternoon siesta Istanbul

[Heba E. Husseyn]

Back in those days, after lunch and Dohr (afternoon) salat, people at workplaces were entitled to rest or take a nap for between one and two hours before resuming work.   Good idea.    It was a startling change from the hardcore materialism in modern workplaces where the slave-drivers are counting every dime they can mint out of the  sweat & toil of their over-worked and underpaid employees.

Recently a leading UK brain researcher, Prof. Vincent Walsh, was quoted in Telegraph that "a nap of between 30 and 90 minutes in the afternoon could help companies improve productivity."  Since the industrial revolution, people have been focused on sleeping only during night time which may be damaging to human ability to think/work creatively.  “It’s best to give your brain downtime. I have a nap every afternoon,” he said.  Telegraph also put up a poll on this subject.  94% supported the idea of napping at workplace;  only 5% didn't.

In the town of Ador in eastern Spain's Valencia province afternoon nap is the entitlement of all citizens by law.   In 2016 the town's mayor ordered that between 2 p.m. and 5 p.m . all workplaces stay shut, the town's inhabitants stay quiet and  children must remain indoors so they don't play outdoor games and disturb people resting in their homes.

 

[N. Truth Seeker]

Excellent idea!   Instead of those pathetically hurried business lunches at the executive desk, relax while lunching, then offer salat and then take a brief afternoon nap, waking up refreshed to start the second session of the day's work.

[Ruhi_Rose]

So very interesting.   Must show this to my husband.  He loves the idea of afternoon siesta even if it's just for 30 minutes.  He says it really helps to "recharge" the body mechanism.  But with the rat-race kinda mad rush in the western working world, this is one thing he can hardly get for himself on working days.

 

[Ruhi_Rose]

....... waking up refreshed to start the second session of the day's work.

O dear!  then how many more hours in the 'second session' of work?

[N. Truth Seeker]

lol   ...... in most places within Spain I think it's about 3 hours in the second session.   From 2 to 5 in the afternoon they're closed.  They start at 5 and continue working until 8 evening.

[Ruhi_Rose]

Until 8 in the evening?       Sounds a bit late. 

[Heba E. Husseyn]

     Sis Ruhi, did you think the siesta break from 2 to 5 and then no more work after that?    That would mean just 5 hours of work daily (9 a.m. to 2 p.m.) 

[N. Truth Seeker]

 

[Zainab_M]

Amazing art and culture, Alhumdulilah.  Ottoman era was so admirable. 

We, in Muslim countries, must have no more than 5 hours of work during the month of Ramadan only, right?

[N. Truth Seeker]

Of course yes sister.  Ramadan is an exceptional month. 

This siesta break for 3 hours in the afternoon is in parts of Spain, so it's a daily thing and they make it up by putting 3 hours at the tailend of the day.

[Zainab_M]

Right ....

[Ruhi_Rose]

     ...........   That would mean just 5 hours of work daily (9 a.m. to 2 p.m.) 

    I wish it was 5 hrs daily.    Instead, imagine, 8 hours daily plus add one more hour commuting both sides, 9 hours each day, 5 days a week gone on this harrowing routine.  The depraved industrial revolution has made such a slave out of the working class.

But did they also work 8 hours/day in Ottoman era?

[N. Truth Seeker]

   
 
  .....   But did they also work 8 hours/day in Ottoman era?

That's a superb question sister.  Even though the Ottoman empire didn't represent an industrialized state, the workers' rights were much respected under the guidance of Islam which honors hard work and honest labor.    The relation between employee and employer was founded on strong religious and ethical principles according to the Islamic-Turkish culture.  There were no such flat durations of 8 hours or 9 hours per day as in the modern industrialized secular world.  It depended on the nature of every contract.  Some contracts involving a heavy load of work with a shorter than usual timeframe could require an 8 hour/day working period. Similarly contracts lesser work could require 5 or 6 hours daily.   The system was based on free enterprise production/manufacture along with social justice for distribution of proper income among the middle-class.   A labor contract would be based on mutual consent with specified validity period.   If terminated earlier, would be done by mutual consent or when the specified term or the project was completed.   The employee was entitled to demand their specified payment and the employer could only demand the specified service, marking a complete end to the slave-driving practice that had been rife for centuries in Europe.  Issues such as working hours and food given to the employee were determined according to the social system that included lunch breaks, prayer breaks and afternoon rest.   Workers' foundations was founded in the Ottoman Empire in early 1870s to help needy workers.

[Ruhi_Rose]

Wowie!   That's taught me a lot.  Many thanks brother.

[Zainab_M]

hummmm ..... thanks for that input br. TS.   You summarized the system very well, extremely informative.