Muslim Holidays Weighed in California

California lawmakers have sent a bill to Governor Gavin Newsom’s desk adding two Muslim holidays, Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha, to the state’s official calendar. Assembly Bill 2017 sounds like respect for religious diversity, but misuses government time in a bid to leverage identity for political power. It represents a practice across the country that is fracturing our national unity.AB 2017 was pitched as assurance that Muslim students and state employees could observe their holy days without penalty from their teachers or employers. However, section 48205 of the California Education Code already grants students excused absences for religious holidays provided a parent makes a request in writing. Plus, state law already requires accommodation for state employees for religious practices.There was no problem that required state intervention, but the Muslim advocacy group, CAIR-California, and the Muslim Impact Council still advocated for AB 2017. The activists’ real goal is state recognition that could be converted into power. The bill is about identity politics, not religious liberty.This didn’t start with California. A similar bill passed in Washington and is currently being considered in Michigan. Utah lists both Eids as “state holy days,” and New York City schools are already closed for both. It also isn’t just about Muslim holidays.Also on Governor Newsom’s desk is AB 395 which requires government agencies and schools to make good faith efforts to refrain from scheduling important events on days that would conflict with the religious festivals of members of the community. Some of the days cited include Jewish holidays, Hindu holidays, and Christian holidays in addition to both Eids. Importantly however, unlike AB2017, AB395 does not call for making any of these holidays official days on the government calendar.It doesn’t need to, because California officials have already carved up the state calendar recognizing holidays like Cesar Chavez Day, Genocide Remembrance Day, Diwali, Juneteenth, Native American Day, and Lunar New Year. California Muslims want their days too.“So what? It does no harm,” some say. I disagree. Framing efforts like AB 2017 as a benign, well-intentioned nod to “diversity” allows elected officials to continue to practice political theater instead of doing their actual jobs. The list of religious groups who might want a “holiday” documented on the state calendar is long: Wiccans, Atheists, Mormons, Zoroastrians, Sikhs, Unitarian Universalists, among others Religious freedom in America is vouchsafed by the First Amendment, which says: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.”That prohibits the Congress, and the states, from creating an official religion, or punishing an individual for his beliefs. It doesn’t guarantee state recognition for every identity. No one has the right to “be seen” on a public calendar.Yet that is what the advocates of AB 2017 want. The founder of the Muslim Impact Council, Hala Hijazi, said in a March 2026 press release that, “AB 2017 is a historic step toward a California that truly sees and values its Muslim community.” A Democratic assemblyman, Matt Haney, who introduced the bill, said, “Muslim communities” merit “recognition and respect.”Not by the state. We know why the assemblyman repeats this line straight from the identity politics playbook — he is hoping to win votes. California Muslims encourage him hoping to gain power and influence. None of this is new. What is new is the readiness of elected officials to sacrifice national unity to their political god of “diversity” — and the expectation among identity groups that they are owed such a trade. This is the most important reason Mr. Newsom shouldn’t sign AB 2017 into law. It crosses a line that has been crossed too many times already and needs to be redrawn.National holidays are markers of a country’s shared identity. They help to define culture and maintain social cohesion. Our federal holidays are unifying and inherently American. Christmas belongs on this list, having transcended any intrinsic religious associations for many Americans. It became a federal holiday in 1870, five years after the Civil War, in part to bind the nation together in shared celebration. Adding to this list, especially for the purposes of minority group recognition, defeats the point of having national holidays. If everything is an American holiday, then nothing is — and that would be intolerable in a society seeking to rebuild its identity. The damage is equally felt at the state level.American Muslims are the luckiest Muslims on the planet because they live in a country that guarantees their right to celebrate their faith. Every American shares in that same good fortune, and none of us needs a holiday on a state or a national calendar to preserve it. What we do need is for American identity to endure — that is the best guarantor of our freedoms.

Muslim Holidays Weighed in California

Muslim Holidays Weighed in California

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