Hamtramck becomes second city to officially recognize Eid holidays

The Hamtramck City Council recently made the two Eid holidays official city holidays, which means they will be paid days off for city employees. Hamtramck adopted the resolution about a week after the City of Dearborn took the same action. File photo

By Charles Sercombe
Recently, Hamtramck’s city council added two more holidays for city employees.
Last April, the all-Muslim council designated two Eid holidays for city employees to have as paid days off.
The two holidays added are for Eid a-Fitr, which is the celebration for the end of Ramadan, and also for Eid al-Adha, which happens in June and celebrates sacrifice.
Eid a-Fitr has already been observed this year, but Eid al-Adha will be on June 29. This upcoming Eid holiday is when some Muslims perform an animal slaughter, such as a goat, which will then be eaten.
Religious animal slaughtering is also now allowed in Hamtramck, which was passed last December amid public controversy.
City officials passed the Eid holidays about a week after the City of Dearborn made the holidays paid days off for its city employees.
At the time, Dearbornwas the first community to take this action in the U.S, and the policy then attracted national media attention.
Dearborn has a Muslim mayor, and also has the largest Muslim population in the country. Hamtramck now has a majority population of Muslims. Hamtramck’s mayor, Amer Ghalib, is also the city’s first Muslim to be elected to that position.
At the time of Hamtramck’s action, City Manager Max Garbarino said that “our staff has indicated their thanks over this – my Muslim staff of course.”
Councilmember Nayeem Choudhury also said, at the time, that state Rep. Abraham Aiyash (D-Hamtramck) is working on making the Eid holiday a state holiday as well.
The Democratic-controlled state legislature is considering a proposal to expand state-recognized holidays not only for the two Eid celebrations, but also for a host of other religious holidays, such as the Jewish holidays Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, as well as holidays for Sikh, Jain and Hindu religions.
Private companies are not obligated to allow their employees to take the days off or have them be paid holidays.
The last state holiday adopted by Michigan was several years ago for Juneteenth, which is celebrated on June 19.
Posted June 9, 2023