Great news: There are two potential long weekends in September…

Yes, most national holidays in the UAE are based on the sighting of the moon, so we don’t know exactly what days we’re going to have off in the rest of 2017, but here’s a general guide to the final long weekends and public holidays coming up in 2017.

We’ll announce each holiday as it’s definitely confirmed by the government, but, in the meantime, here’s our very best guess…

THE REST OF THE HOLIDAYS IN 2017

Thursday September 21 – Al Hijri

Isn’t it, is it? Well now we definitely know – Thursday September 21 is a public holiday in the UAE for everyone.

This weekend will mark Islamic New Year, and we will soon ring in 1439AH. And the UAE government (the Ministry of Human Resources to be exact) has now announced that the public holiday for both the private and public sector, and the first day of Muharram, will in fact be Thursday September 21.

Thursday November 30 – Commemoration Day

uae national day

Formerly referred to as Martyr’s Day, this new holiday honours the Emiratis who have died while protecting their country. It will always fall on November 30, last year it fell on a Wednesday but we didn’t get that specific day off (we instead got a combined day off for this and National Day). But we’re likely to get Thursday November 30 off as it falls on the same day as the next official public holiday…

Thursday November 30 – The birthday of Prophet Mohammed (PBUH)

The date of this holiday is called by the moon-sighting committee, but it is predicted to fall on Thursday November 30 in 2017 – the same day as Commemoration Day. This will likely mean a four day weekend when combined with National Day.

As the Prophet’s birthday is a lunar holiday, this will likely be the only year that it coincides with Commemoration Day. 

Saturday December 2 – National Day

UAE National Day falls on December 2 every year, irrespective of the day. As it falls on a Saturday in 2017 it’s likely a day off will be granted on the Sunday (maybe as a combined public holiday with Commemoration Day and/or the birthday of Prophet Mohammed). When releasing the official list of public holidays in 2017, the government wrote down National Day as December 2/3, perhaps acknowledging that the Sunday will be off.

2017 will mark the UAE’s 46th birthday.

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