Eid Al Fitr 2026: March 20 likely date reshapes UAE and Egypt holiday plans
Work and school schedules could shift as early as late March as eid al fitr 2026 is increasingly expected to begin on Friday, March 20. As of Sunday at 5: 18 a. m. ET, the Sharjah Academy for Astronomy, Space Sciences and Technology said astronomical conditions in the UAE make a March 20 start likely, while Egyptian officials are preparing separate decrees to confirm days off.
Sharjah Astronomical Observatory points to March 20 for Eid Al Fitr 2026
The Sharjah Academy for Astronomy, Space Sciences and Technology, represented by the Sharjah Astronomical Observatory, said March 20 is astronomically likely to be the first day of Eid Al Fitr in the UAE and the first day of Shawwal.
The academy’s forecast hinges on moon-visibility calculations around the expected crescent-sighting window. It said there would be no visible new moon on Wednesday, March 18, which it identified as 29 Ramadan and the eve of crescent sighting, because the moon would set before the sun in the western sky that night.
With that setup, the academy predicted Thursday, March 19 would complete the holy month in the UAE, putting Friday, March 20 as the likely start of Eid Al Fitr.
March 19 crescent conditions in Sharjah make local sighting improbable
The Sharjah Astronomical Observatory also described technical details it said make local sighting difficult on Thursday, March 19. It said the moon’s surface conjunction over Sharjah would occur at 4: 24 a. m. on Thursday.
By sunset on Thursday, the academy said the crescent would be 14 hours and six minutes old, with a 6. 5-degree elongation from the sun and about six degrees above the western horizon, remaining visible for 29 minutes after sunset.
Those conditions, the academy said, render a sighting improbable even with telescopes and impossible by naked eye locally. It added that advanced stacked imaging could capture the crescent faintly, but the odds would remain slim.
Still, the academy said some Arab and Muslim nations may be able to glimpse the crescent moon unaided or with telescopes due to favorable geography. It also said states that rely on naked-eye or telescope sightings might delay Eid to Saturday, rather than Friday.
Egypt awaits Cabinet decree as Eid al fitr 2026 holiday expectations take shape
In Egypt, the approach of Eid is already affecting planning for what was described as the first major official holiday of 2026 as spring approaches. The Cabinet is expected to issue a decree shortly before the holiday specifying the number of official days off for government offices, followed by a decree from the Ministry of Labor covering the private sector.
Based on astronomical calculations cited in Egypt’s holiday coverage, the first day of Shawwal 1447 AH would astronomically fall on Friday, March 20, 2026, coinciding with the first day of Eid al-Fitr.
Egypt’s expected holiday period for both public and private sectors was described as three days, starting Friday, March 20 and continuing through Sunday, March 22. Employees are awaiting the Cabinet’s official announcement, which is expected to be published at the end of Ramadan, to confirm full details based on the date of the first day of eid al fitr 2026.
For now, the key practical consequence is timing: if March 20 is confirmed, government and private employers in Egypt will be positioned to finalize three days of time off around that weekend, while the UAE forecast centers on a Friday start with the possibility of a Saturday start in places that depend on different sighting outcomes.
The next decisive step will be the official decrees in Egypt that specify the number of days off, issued shortly before the holiday. If astronomical expectations hold and March 20 is treated as the first day, the associated holiday schedules described for March 20 through March 22 would follow.
