Eid Al-Adha normally lasts two or three days and Eid Al-Fitr four or five days, except in Saudi Arabia, where each holiday usually lasts around a week. However, there’s generally a difference between the duration of holidays in the public and private sectors, government workers generally enjoying longer breaks than those in private enterprise (some things are the same in the Gulf as in the west!). Another holiday called Ashura, which commemorates the death in battle of the Prophet’s grandson, Imam Husain, is observed in Bahrain, Oman, Qatar and the UAE.
Islamic holidays are determined by lunar sightings but, whereas some Muslim countries use information derived from observatories, unaided observations are preferred in Bahrain, which makes exact dates difficult to predict, as the moon may be obscured by cloud, for example. There’s also a complicated conversion to be made from the Islamic to the Gregorian calendar. The only way to be sure that a holiday has begun is to hear the gun that’s traditionally fired on such occasions, to hear an announcement on the local radio or to wake to hear less than usual traffic noise!
| Holiday | Date (Islamic calendar) | Approx. Date (Gregorian Calendar) |
| Eid Al-Adha | 10 Dhul-Hijah | Jan - Feb |
| Muslim New Year | 1 Muharram | Feb - March |
| Ashura | 10 Muharram | Feb - March |
| Prophet’s birthday | 12 Rabi II | April - May |
| Prophet’s ascension | 27 Rajab | September |
| Ramadan | 1 Ramadan | October |
| Eid Al-Fitr | 1 Shawaal | November |
| New Year’s Day | 1st January |
|
| National Day/Independence Day | 16th December |
Note that a National ‘Day’ usually lasts two or three days!