Prophet Mohammed's Birthday (Mawlid al-Nabi) 2026

Type of holiday: statutory public holiday, a non-working day.

The birthday of the Prophet Mohammed, Mawlid al-Nabi, falls on 12 Rabi al-Awwal and is a single public holiday in the UAE. It is the last of the year's lunar holidays before the calendar turns to its two fixed December dates, and in a normal year it is also the last day off before December arrives.

How it is marked

Observance varies considerably across the Muslim world — some countries hold large public processions, others treat the day as a matter of private recognition, and in a few it is not a holiday at all. The UAE sits at the quiet end. There are religious lectures, readings and charitable activity, and mosques may hold additional gatherings, but there is no national parade and no public spectacle attached to it. For a large part of the resident population the day registers chiefly as a break in the working week.

The widest gap so far between the date and the day off

2026 produced the clearest illustration yet of how the transfer power works. 12 Rabi al-Awwal 1448 fell on Tuesday 25 August, and on 7 August the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation announced that the paid public holiday for federal government and private sector employees would be Friday 28 August — three days after the religious date. Employees on the Saturday-Sunday weekend took a three-day break and returned on the Monday. No calendar published at the start of the year could have shown that date, because it did not exist until the decision was taken.

Planning around an announcement rather than a rule

The announcement for this holiday typically arrives a few weeks in advance, which is enough time to arrange leave and not much time to arrange travel. A calendar produced in January can only show the expected astronomical date, and a plan built on that date carries the risk of the day off landing several days either side of it. Where the difference matters, the safest approach is to hold the astronomical date as a placeholder and confirm once the ministry has published.

In the working-day count a single day is deducted, and it is the declared day off that leaves the count. Where the holiday has been moved, subtracting both the religious date and the transferred date would remove a day that was never a day off — the most common error made with this particular holiday.