A final morning collapse from England, including four wickets for 11 runs, handed Pakistan a 2-0 series victory with a 127-run third Test win in Sharjah.
Beginning the day on 43-2 and with eyes on leveling the series by chasing down 284, the tourists were soon 59-6 as the Pakistan spin duo of Zulfiqar Babar and Yasir Shah ripped through the middle order.
A battling 63 from Alastair Cook temporarily delayed the hosts, before Shah returned to mop up the tail and consign England to sixth place in the ICC's Official Test Rankings.
The leg-spinner finished with innings figures of 4-44 and 7-143 in the match. Babar, who played the supporting role to perfection, took 2-31 from 18 frugal overs.
Requiring a further 241 to win on the final day, England had added five before a Shah delivery kept low to trap Joe Root LBW for six.
That wicket initiated the collapse as James Taylor (2), Jonny Bairstow (0) and Samit Patel (0) all fell to the Pakistan spinners.
Cook remained unmoved and - joined by Adil Rashid - the pair took England to the brink of lunch before the latter fell victim to Rahat Ali, bowled for 22.
Stuart Broad, who has been impeccable with the ball alongside James Anderson throughout the series, added a brisk 20 with his captain before sweeping Shah in to the hands of Shoaib Malik at square leg.
The injured Ben Stokes came out one place higher than the first innings, at number ten, and took the attack to the Pakistan spinners despite clearly being in discomfort with his injured shoulder.
Cook also unfurled his array of shots; reverse sweeping Shah for four before falling to Malik, who finished with match figures of 7-59 in his last Test before retiring.
The England captain used his feet to attack the off-spinner but the turn deceived him, stumped for 63 off 164 balls to end the series with 450 runs at an average of 90.
Stokes then went on the attack, taking six from two Shah deliveries before he also fell to a stumping, Shah finishing off the innings to secure the series 2-0 with a 127-run victory, England all out for 156.
The result sees Pakistan leap to second in the ICC Rankings and England captain Cook believes his side failed to take their chances at critical moments across the series.
"It's a hard place to come and play. We competed really well for a lot of the three games but at critical moments in each game, we couldn't take our chances,” he said.
"We're lucky to have Stuart Broad and Jimmy Anderson but they were incredibly backed up by Mark Wood and Ben Stokes. Losing Ben in this game hurt us. Pakistan have struggled to score against our seamers in this series, so it would have been nice to have the option of Stokes in the second innings.
"When we won in India, we had Swanny and Monty bowling incredibly well. We knew we had inexperienced spinners out here, hence why we played four seamers.
"Pakistan played Mo and Rash incredibly well. They probably didn't settle throughout the series.
"Our seamers were outstanding. I felt a bit sorry for them because we were always turning to them.
"We win together and we lose together. It's disappointing in that we've been really competitive, but when it came to the crunch we couldn't knock them over.
"The games have hinged on small margins and we've not been good enough to take advantage of the small margins."
England are returning to the scene of their Ashes triumph in 2016 for Royal London One-Day Internationals against Sri Lanka and Pakistan.
Don't miss the opportunity to watch some of the best players in the world go toe-to-toe in the unique surroundings of Trent Bridge and secure your seats now.