Cultural Post 6- Bethany- 110- Attitudes About Time

[bethany marcelle]

Time in Afghanistan is a more flexible concept. There are many reasons for this, but two of them have to do with religion. Muslims in Afghanistan pray five times a day. These times regulate days, when people rise in the morning and when they must pause from their work. While not everyone follows this standard many people do. Additionally, religious holidays change every year because they are based on the cycles of the moon as "read" by Islamic religious leaders. Thus planning and scheduling of time must be flexible inasmuch as one's meeting may conflict with this years feast or fast or prayers. Thus time is a shiftable concept. For example, an afternoon meeting or appointment is general...somewhere between 12-3, but not 1:30pm on the dot. While in cities where there is a lot of Western influence is more prevalent meeting times are more strictly adhered to as an expression of cultural diffusion and necessity, but in Afghanistan as a whole time is a more flexible concept.