The private sector workers in the United Arab Emirates are ready to mark another long weekend on the calendar this current year. The four-day long weekend is going to fall at the end of the current month, as the Sharjah Government has announced the official date to mark the birth anniversary of Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him).

According to the Islamic calendar, the occasion is going to take place on Wednesday evening, September 27, 2023, till Thursday, September 28, 2023. The public sector employees will get one paid holiday on Thursday, September 28, 2023.

Since the employees working under the Sharjah Government work for only 4 working days (Monday to Thursday), and get the 3-day-long weekends off from Friday to Sunday, the holiday dedicated to the occasion of Prophet Muhammad’s birthday will trigger one extra day off in a row. Hence all the employees will get a 4-day-long holiday starting from Thursday.

The Federal Government employees, and other private sectors in UAE will get a paid holiday on Friday, 29, 2023. As the majority of the government and private sectors in other parts of UAE have Saturday and Sunday off, they will get a 3-day long weekend starting from Friday.

The announcement of a 3-day long weekend has been made by MoHRE, Ministry of Human Resources, and Emiratisation on their official X platform, also known as Twitter.

The MoHRE posted, “The Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation (MoHRE) has announced that Friday, 29 September 2023 (14 Rabi al-Awwal 1445H) is a paid public holiday for private sector employees to mark the birthday of Prophet Muhammed (peace be upon him).

On this auspicious occasion, we extend our heartfelt greetings to the UAE leadership, citizens, and residents.”

All the employees will resume work from the first working day of next month, Monday, October 2, 2023.

In the year 2019, the UAE government made an important announcement, where they declared to allocate the same number of holidays for the private sector employees as the public sector staff.

The government has also said that the move has been taken to maintain a balance between the two sectors, which will equally help the national economy to grow. Before the announcement, the public sector employees were getting more paid holidays compared to the employees working in the private sector.

The long weekend at the end of this month is going to be the last long weekend of this year as well.

The National Holiday of this year is going to be landed on December 2 and December 3, Saturday and Sunday.

The residents of the United Arab Emirates have witnessed many long weekends throughout the year. The maximum holiday the residents have enjoyed is a six-day-long weekend holiday during the holy occasion of Eid Al Fitr, and a five-day long weekend holiday to mark Eid Al Adha.