Moon not sighted, first Ramazan tomorrow

ISLAMABAD: The Central Ruet-e-Hilal Committee said on Sunday that moon was not sighted and the first day of Ramazan will be tomorrow (Tuesday), May 7. The committee with Mufti Munib-ur-Rehman in the chair met in Karachi on Sunday for the sighting of the crescent of Ramazan-ul-Mubarak, Geo News reported.

An official of the Ministry of Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony earlier said that other members of the committee have attended Zonal and District Ruet-e-Hilal committees at their respective places.

The Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) had predicted the possibility of Ramazan moon sighting on the evening of May 6 (Monday). Saudi Arabia and other countries in the Middle East were able to see the moon on Sunday and observe the first fast of the holy month today (Monday). South Asian neighbours Bangladesh, India and other countries in Asia and Africa will also sight the Ramazan moon today like Pakistan.

Peshawar Bureau adds: The faithful would start fasting in parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa today (Monday) as the Mufti Shahabuddin Popalzai-led unofficial moon-sighting committee announced late Sunday night that the Ramazan moon had been sighted. “We received 22 witnesses and hence the first of Ramazan will begin tomorrow,” Mufti Shahabuddin Popalzai told reporters at the Masjid Qasim Ali Khan where the moon-sighting committee led by him traditionally holds its meetings and receives witnesses who claim to have sighted the moon.

Mufti Shahabuddin Popalzai, a respected religious scholar of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, in his brief statement said 22 witnesses who had sighted the Ramazan moon approached his committee and eight of them reached the mosque in person to record their statements and answer questions. He said the committee after consultations decided that Ramazan would begin today (Monday) as the witnesses were credible. In Peshawar city, witnesses claiming to have sighted the moon were received from Regi, Nauthia, Bashirabad and Khazana localities. People from Bannu, Karak, Mohmand, Bajaur and other parts of the province made telephone calls to the committee to make the claim that they had sighted the moon. Local clerics in some other parts of the province also made the announcement that Ramazan would start today. The announcements were made from mosques on loudspeakers.

The majority of the faithful in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa follow Masjid Qasim Ali Khan and the unofficial moon-sighting committee based there for observing Ramazan and celebrating Eid. However, the people in Hazara and Malakand divisions of the province and in parts of Peshawar city follow the announcement of moon-sighting made by the official Central Ruet-e-Hilal Committee led for the last many years by the Karachi-based Mufti Munib-ur-Rahman. The people residing in the cantonment areas in the province also follow the official committee’s announcements.