Gearing up for a long Eid Al Adha holiday

With a few weeks left until Eid Al Adha, most of us already plan short breaks and foreign travels for the middle of September. Let’s get organized and fix the dates of the Eid Al Adha holiday precisely.

The public holidays usually begin a day before Eid, on the day of Arafat, so airplane tickets can be booked for the weekend ahead.

Since the Islamic Hijri calendar is based on moon sighting, the Islamic months span over 29 or 30 days – unlike 31 days in Gregorian calendar. Based on this calculations, if the current month of Dhul Qadah ends after 30 days, then the private sector could have a five-day break, including the weekend, as the Arafat Day will be marked on Sunday, September 11, and Eid will begin the next day.

Private sector employees will most likely be allowed an Eid Al Adha holiday from September 9 to 13 and will resume work on Wednesday, September 14.

If the current Islamic month of Zulqada spans over 29 days, then the private sector will most likely have four holidays from September 9 to September 12.

For public sector, which generally enjoys a four-day break on Eid Al Adha, government employees could have six days off from September 9 to 14 if the current Hijri month of Dhul Hijjah ends after 30 days.

In case it ends after 29 days, public sector employees will likely have five-day break from September 9 to 13.

The UAE and Saudi Arabia’s moon-sighting committees will meet on September 1 to announce Haj and Eid dates. Barring some Asian countries, most of the Arab countries and the Muslims in the Western countries mark Eid Al Fitr and Eid Al Adha on the same days.