UAE declares Isra’a Wal Miraaj holiday for public and private sectors

Public sector employees in the UAE will have a holiday on Sunday, April 23 to mark Isra’a Wal Miraaj, it was announced on Sunday.

The holiday announcement was made by the Federal Authority for Government Human Resources. Work for the public sector will resume on Monday, April 24.

Meanwhile for the private sector, the official holiday marking Isra’a Wal Miraj will be on Saturday, April 22 for those companies that only have weekly offs on Fridays.

Private companies that have Fridays and Saturdays off will mark the holiday on Sunday, April 23.

The announcement was issued by Saqr bin Ghubash Saeed Ghubash, minister of Human Resources and Emiratisation, stating that the decision is “in implementation of the provisions of Article 74 of Federal Law No. 08 of 1980 on regulating labour relations and its amendments, whereby the private sector holiday has been moved to align with the private-public sector holiday,” official news agency WAM reported.

The holiday was expected to fall on Monday, April 24.

However, as per the federal law, public holidays in the UAE can be moved to the beginning or end of the week if they fall between two working days.

Isra’a Wal Miraj, or The Night Journey, refers to a journey undertaken by Prophet Mohammed from Mecca to Jerusalem in one night.

Also read: UAE reveals public holidays for 2017