General Information » Facts & Figures » Public Holidays

Most public holidays are dates that are of importance in the Islamic calendar. The Islamic calendar started from the year 622AD, the year of Prophet Mohammed’s journey (Hijra) from Mecca to Medina. The Islamic year is called the Hijri year and denoted by AH. The Hijri year is based on lunar months and is 11 to 12 days shorter than the Gregorian calendar. Religious public holidays therefore fall upon different dates in the Gregorian calendar on a year-to-year basis (approximately 11 days earlier each year).

As the start of religious holidays are based on the sighting of the moon, quite often holidays that occur at the beginning of an Islamic month are only announced officially 12 hours before the start of the holiday. This often leads to great uncertainty on the part of schools and business establishments, and has occasionally resulted in one or other of the neighbouring countries deciding to start the holiday a day before the rest of the Gulf states, which leads to all sorts of confusion.

Every year one or two local scientists urge the authorities to set the holiday dates according to scientific principles, but this has not so far been accepted. Holidays such as New Year and National Day follow the Gregorian calendar.

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