Sultan of Oman issues decree on dates of national holidays

Historically, the dates of Oman’s national holidays were only announced about two weeks in advance of each holiday.

His Majesty Sultan Haitham Bin Tariq has issued a new Royal Decree on April 20th 2020, to allocate the official days for national holidays for both public and private sectors in Oman.

We wouldn’t recommend using a permanent marker on your Oman calendars as all but two of the defined dates are given using the Arabic Hijri calendar, which means there could be some variation as to what date they will fall on in the western calendar. Also, the recent practice of delaying National Day by a few weeks hasn’t been ruled out. Two holidays, Renaissance Day (July 23rd) and Sultan’s Birthday (November 19th) have been cancelled, though National Day will be extended by one day to make up for the loss of the latter.

The Royal Decree states that:

One day will be given as a public holiday to mark the Islamic New Year on the 1st of Muharram.

One day will be given as a public holiday on the 12th of Rabi Al Awal in celebration of the Birthday of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).

One day will be given as a public holiday on the 27th of Rajab to mark the occasion of Al Isra’a Wal Miraj.

Two days public holiday will be given on November 18th and 19th in celebration of Oman National Day. If these days happen to coincide with the weekend, then the public will be compensated by one day’s holiday on another day of the week. The date of the Oman National Day holidays are subject to change, for the public benefit, if necessary.

Public holidays for Eid Al Fitr will start from the 29th of Ramadan, until the 3rd of Shawal*.

Public holidays for Eid Al Adha will be from the 9th to the 12th of Dhu Al Hijjah*.

* If the first day of either Eid Al Fitr or Eid Adha falls on a weekend, then an extra day will be compensated.

We have assumed that the holiday changes kick in immediately and have adjusted our 2020 national holiday list for Oman accordingly. If you have subscribed to the Oman holiday list, your calendar feed will update automatically to reflect the new holidays.