The Central Ruet-e-Hilal Committee on Sunday announced that the Shawwal moon was not sighted at any place in Pakistan and therefore Eidul Fitr would be celebrated across the country on Tuesday, May 3.
The announcement was made after the moon sighting committee met in Islamabad with its Chairman Maulana Abdul Khabir Azad in the chair.
Addressing a press conference following the meeting, Maulana Azad said that the zonal committees did not receive any shahadats (testimonies) from anywhere in the country and the decision was made unanimously.
“No credible testimonies of moon sighting were received from any part of the county,” he said, adding that the committee reached the decision after consulting with the all zonal moon sighting committees.
“The first day of Eid will fall on May 3 (Tuesday).”
The meeting was also attended by members of the Ruet-e-Hilal Committee and representatives of the Ministry of Religious Affairs, SPARCO, Meteorological Department and Ministry of Science and Technology.
Astronomers last week predicted that Eidul Fitr was likely to be celebrated on Tuesday, May 3 this year, saying the Shawwal moon may not be sighted anywhere in the country on the evening of 29 Ramazan (Sunday, May 1).
They added that the new moon will be born at 1:28am between the night of April 30 and May 1.
The experts further said that the dimensional difference between the moon from the sun needs to be at 10 degrees but it will be at 8 degrees in Pakistan, which will make it near impossible to be seen even with a telescope.
On the other hand, the time difference between the sunset and moonset, which should be at 40 minutes, will be more than 89 minutes in all areas of the country.
Therefore, if there are clear skies on Monday evening, the moon will be sighted clearly and for long in all areas of the country.
However, the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) government has announced officially celebrating Eidul Fitr tomorrow (Monday) across the province after the Central Ruet-e-Hilal Committee announced that the Shawwal moon was not sighted in Pakistan.
“No credible testimonies of moon sighting were received from any part of the county. The first day of Eid will fall on May 3 (Tuesday),” announced top moon-sighting body chief Maulana Abdul Khabir Azad following the meeting.
K-P Chief Minister Mahmood Khan will offer Eid prayer at the Governor House Peshawar along with cabinet members and senior government officials, according to an official announcement.
K-P government spokesperson Barrister Muhammad Ali said as many as 130 moon testimonies were received from different parts of the province.
“The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government has decided to officially celebrate Eidul Fitr on Monday, May 2,” he said in a statement.
The announcement comes minutes after a local Ruet-e-Hilal Committee led by Mufti Shahabuddin Popalzai in Peshawar has also announced that the Shawwal moon was sighted and Eidul Fitr will be celebrated on Monday in the light of “more than 17 testimonies”.
Mufti Popalzai is the Khateeb of the historic Qasim Khan Mosque in Peshawar and the head of his own Ruet-e-Hilal committee.
However, he has become controversial after his committee sighted the moon — which marks the beginning of the Islamic months — at different dates than the central moon-sighting body. As a result, Ramazan and Eid in parts of K-P were observed at different times to the rest of the country.
