What Day Is It? UAE Works On Friday For First Time

Some grumbled at the change and businesses were split, with many moving to the Western-style weekend but other private firms sticking with Fridays and Saturdays, as in other Gulf states.

Employees and schoolchildren juggled work and studies with weekly Muslim prayers on the first ever working Friday in the United Arab Emirates as the Gulf country formally switched to a Saturday-Sunday weekend.

Some grumbled at the change and businesses were split, with many moving to the Western-style weekend but other private firms sticking with Fridays and Saturdays, as in other Gulf states.

The weekly day of prayer has always been a free day in the UAE, which had previously observed a Thursday-Friday weekend until 2006.

However, mosques appeared busy as worshippers carrying prayer mats arrived as usual, before many of them later headed back to the office.