Mawled El Nabawi “Prophet’s Birthday”

Expected date. Islamic holidays follow the lunar Hijri calendar, so they move about 11 days earlier every year. Egypt confirms the exact day by moon sighting (Dar al-Ifta) shortly before, and the government may shift the day off. Last checked October 2026.

Timing

Egyptians celebrate the anniversary of the Prophet Muhammad’s birth, known as Mawled El-Nabawi, on the 12th of Rabee’a al Awwal, the third month of the Hijri calendar. It is one of the most important Islamic celebrations in Egypt, marked with great joy in popular neighbourhoods everywhere.

Celebrations

People usually celebrate by putting up large marquees around major mosques, along with candy and food sellers and a simple fairground with games, acrobatics and concerts of Islamic chants.

Sweet shops sell many kinds of sweets made especially for the occasion, including a sugar doll for girls and a sugar horse for boys, which children eat once the celebration is over.

The sugar doll, “Aroset El Moled”, is one of the symbols of the day. It was made of sugar, shaped and outlined in dyes, decorated with ornaments, with a dress covered in roses. Today the doll is made of plastic so that it lasts longer as a toy, which means it can no longer be eaten.

How it is celebrated

In the weeks before the Mawled, sweet shops fill their windows with halawet el-mawled, the special sweets of the season. Look for bars of sesame, peanuts, chickpeas and coconut held together with sugar or honey, sold in boxes that families buy as gifts.

Sufi orders take part in processions and gatherings of chanting and prayer, known as dhikr, especially around the large shrine mosques. In Cairo the area around Al-Hussein Mosque and Al-Azhar is one of the liveliest places on the night of the Mawled.

Mosques hold lectures on the life of the Prophet, and television and radio broadcast religious songs and programmes.

What is open and closed

Government offices, banks and schools close for the day. Shops, restaurants and cafes are usually open, and most archaeological sites and museums usually keep their normal hours. If you need a bank or any official paperwork, sort it out a day or two before.

The streets around big mosques can be very crowded in the evening, so allow extra time if you are driving through these areas.

Like all Islamic holidays, the date depends on the sighting of the new moon. The date above is the expected one; Dar al-Ifta confirms it shortly before, and the government then announces the official days off.