Where things stand right now — as of 22 August 2026. Eid Milad un Nabi falls on Tuesday 25 August this year. The UAE Government Media Office has set the public holiday for Friday 28 August, for the public and private sectors alike, which gives anyone on a Saturday–Sunday weekend a three-day break. Everything below the box explains the occasion itself — it holds for every year, not just this one.
Eid Milad un Nabi marks the birth of the Prophet Mohammed. In the UAE it is an official public holiday, listed by the Government on 12 Rabi’ Awwal in the Islamic calendar — which is why its place in the Gregorian year moves, arriving roughly eleven days earlier each time.
That moving date is the single thing that causes most of the confusion. People plan around a fixed week in August or September, and the following year the day has already slipped past. This piece explains what the occasion is, how its date is set, and what it means in practice for anyone living and working in the Emirates.
What is Eid Milad un Nabi?
It is the commemoration of the birth of the Prophet Mohammed. The UAE Government’s own public-holidays page lists it plainly as Prophet Mohammed’s birthday, alongside Eid Al Fitr, Eid Al Adha, Arafah Day, the Hijri New Year, Gregorian New Year and National Day.
Observance is not uniform across the Muslim world. Some countries mark the day as a national holiday, as the UAE does; in others it carries no official holiday status, a difference that rests on long-standing scholarly disagreement rather than on anything about the date itself. Gulf Times Now takes no position in that discussion; what follows sets out what each government has actually announced.
When does it fall?
On 12 Rabi’ Awwal, the third month of the Islamic calendar. That is the date the UAE Government publishes.
In the Gregorian calendar the day therefore lands somewhere different each year. In 2026 the occasion falls on Tuesday 25 August; in 2025 it fell on 5 September. Nothing about the occasion has changed — only the calendar it is being read against.
Why does the date change every year?
Because the Islamic calendar is lunar and the Gregorian calendar is solar. Twelve lunar months run to roughly 354 days, about eleven days short of a 365-day solar year. Every Islamic date consequently drifts about eleven days earlier against the Gregorian year.
This is the same mechanism that moves Ramadan and both Eids, which is why none of them can be pencilled into a fixed slot the way Christmas or National Day can. Our guide to the Hijri calendar across the Gulf sets out the months and the key dates in full, and our Ramadan guide covers the other major date that shifts the same way.
One practical consequence worth knowing: because several Islamic dates depend on the sighting of the new moon, the precise day is confirmed close to the time rather than fixed years ahead. Long-range calendars carry estimates. The sighting, and then the announcement, are what settle it.
2026 shows the sequence clearly. Khaleej Times reported that the new Hijri month began on 14 August after the crescent moon was sighted; counting to 12 Rabi’ Awwal puts the occasion on Tuesday 25 August. Only then does the question of which day is given off arise.
Is it a public holiday in the UAE?
Yes, and for the private sector as much as the public one. The UAE Government portal states that the official holidays apply to “both, public and private sectors” — this is not a government-only day off.
The specific dates each year are set by Cabinet resolution and announced by the Government Media Office. For 2026 the announced holiday is Friday 28 August, while the occasion itself falls on Tuesday 25 August. For the full list of what remains this year, see our calendar of UAE public holidays.
Why is the day off not always on the day itself?
Because the Cabinet is allowed to move it. This is the part most people miss, and it is the reason the 2026 holiday sits on Friday 28 August when the occasion itself falls on Tuesday 25 August.
The power sits in Article 2 of Cabinet Resolution No. 27 of 2024. Khaleej Times reports its wording as: “Except for Eid holidays, the UAE Cabinet may, by issuing a resolution, move any of the public holidays to the beginning or end of the relevant week on which the concerned event falls.”
So a midweek occasion can become a Friday or a Monday day off, which is how these long weekends are created. The two Eids are carved out and stay where they fall. This is also why a date you read months in advance may not be the date you are actually given off work.
What happens if the holiday lands on a weekend?
Then it is not moved, and that is the other half of the same resolution. The UAE Government portal cites Article 3 of Cabinet Resolution No. 27 of 2024: a public holiday cannot be transferred to another day where it coincides with another public holiday or falls on the weekend.
So a holiday that lands on your existing rest day is simply absorbed by it. There is no automatic replacement day, and no obligation on an employer to provide one in that situation.
Is it a holiday across the rest of the Gulf?
Not everywhere, and the dates differ where it is. For 2026, Khaleej Times reported the following announcements:
- UAE — Friday 28 August, announced for the public and private sectors.
- Oman — Thursday 27 August, a public holiday across the Sultanate.
- Kuwait — Thursday 27 August, announced as a paid holiday for the public sector. Private-sector staff should check their own employer rather than assume it applies.
- Bahrain — Tuesday 25 August, by circular from the Crown Prince and Prime Minister.
Saudi Arabia and Qatar do not include the day in their official public holiday lists. Both keep a short official calendar built around the two Eids and their national days.
If you work for a regional business, that spread matters more than it looks: four different working days across six states in the same week is a real scheduling problem, and it is worth checking each office’s calendar rather than assuming the UAE date applies group-wide.
What if I have to work that day?
Then the labour law, not the calendar, decides what you are owed. Under Article 28 of Federal Decree-Law No. 33 of 2021, an employer that requires you to work a public holiday must give you either another day off, or the day’s wage plus at least 50 per cent of your basic wage for that day.
Two details decide most arguments about it: the choice between those two remedies belongs to the employer, and the uplift is calculated on basic wage rather than your total package. We set the whole thing out, with the article text, in our guide to what the law owes you on a UAE public holiday.
Note also that the law covers the private sector and expressly excludes domestic workers and government employees, who sit under separate arrangements.
How is the day usually marked?
As a day of reflection rather than a public festival. Muslims mark it through prayers, Qur’anic readings and study of the Prophet’s life, and mosques and community centres hold lectures and programmes on it.
For non-Muslim residents it usually registers simply as a day off, and in 2026 as a long weekend. We are not listing what will and will not be trading that day: those hours are set business by business and announced close to the time, so the only reliable check is the venue, bank or school’s own notice.
How do I plan around it in future years?
Work from the drift, then wait for the confirmation. Because Islamic dates move roughly eleven days earlier each Gregorian year, you can estimate the following year’s window to within a few days simply by subtracting eleven from this year’s date. That is accurate enough to book leave around, and far more reliable than assuming it sits in the same week as last year.
What you should not do is treat a long-range calendar entry as final. Several Islamic dates depend on the sighting of the new moon, and the holiday itself is set by Cabinet resolution, so the confirmed day is announced relatively close to the time. Two habits cover it:
- Estimate early, confirm late. Pencil in the window for flights and leave; treat it as provisional until the announcement.
- Watch the official channel. The UAE Government Media Office announcement and the Government’s own public-holidays page are what settle the date. Because the Cabinet may move the day off away from the occasion itself, a third-party calendar showing the religious date is not the same thing as your day off.
If you are the one setting rotas or approving leave, the same logic applies in reverse: build the schedule on the estimated window, and confirm shift cover once the date is official. That way you are not re-planning a week of coverage at short notice, and you know in advance whether you are triggering the public-holiday pay rules at all.
What do the different names mean?
You will see the same day written several ways, which makes searching for it harder than it should be:
- Prophet Mohammed’s birthday — the wording the UAE Government uses on its official public holiday list.
- Mawlid, or Mawlid al-Nabi — the transliteration of the Arabic, and the form used across most regional coverage.
- Eid Milad un Nabi, also written Eid-e-Milad-un-Nabi — the rendering most widely used in the UAE’s South Asian communities.
They refer to the same occasion. Transliteration from Arabic accounts for the variation, which is worth knowing mainly because searching one spelling will not always surface announcements written in another.
What is the short version?
Eid Milad un Nabi marks the birth of the Prophet Mohammed and falls on 12 Rabi’ Awwal, so its Gregorian date moves about eleven days earlier each year. It is an official UAE public holiday for the private sector as well as the public one — but the Cabinet may move the day off to the start or end of that week, which is why 2026’s occasion is Tuesday 25 August and the holiday is Friday 28 August. Oman has set Thursday 27 August, Kuwait the same day for its public sector, and Bahrain Tuesday 25 August; Saudi Arabia and Qatar do not list it as a public holiday. If it coincides with your weekend it is not carried forward; if you are required to work it, you get a replacement day or your wage plus at least half your basic wage.
Last updated: 22 August 2026. We update this guide each year rather than replacing it — the explanation below the box does not change; only the dates in it do.
Primary sources: the UAE Government portal’s official public holidays page, which lists Prophet Mohammed’s birthday on 12 Rabi’ Awwal, states that the holidays apply to both the public and private sectors, and cites Cabinet Resolution No. 27 of 2024; and the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation’s own text of Federal Decree-Law No. 33 of 2021 for Articles 3 and 28. The 28 August 2026 holiday was announced by the UAE Government Media Office and reported by The National. The other Gulf states’ announced dates, and the wording of the Cabinet’s power to move a public holiday to the beginning or end of its week, are reported by Khaleej Times. Those two are news reports rather than primary sources, and are cited as such.
