KARACHI: The Central Ruet-e-Hilal Committee has announced that the Shawwal moon has been sighted, therefore, Eid in Pakistan will be observed tomorrow (Sunday).
The committee’s session to sight the Shawwal moon was held in Karachi with Mufti Muneeb ur Rehman in the chair.
Meetings of the zonal committees took place at their respective provincial headquarters. The Pakistan Meteorological Department experts were also a part of the session.
Referring to science minister Fawad Chaudhry — who had already declared Eid in Pakistan on Sunday — the mufti said that the minister “has no real authority” to decide over such matters.
Earlier, in Quetta, the province’s zonal committee announced that it has received a few testimonies from Pasni and Ormara. “We have informed the Central committee of this,” said Qari Abdul Rasheed.
The zonal committee said the final decision will be made by the Central committee.
Mufti Muneeb, addressing the media, had said that “when the final decision will be made, it will be announced before the media”. He said it was “not appropriate” to speculate at this time.
Religious affairs minister Pir Noorul Haq Qadri, in a conversation TV Channel, said that the committee will be the one to make the final decision about the observance of Eid.
“The matter is a religious one, which needs religious expertise,” he said.
He said input from science “will never be turned away and can be used” but it is “unacceptable” to declare the moon sighted in advance without eyewitness testimony.
Qibla Ayaz of the Islamic Council of Ideology said that if Badin and other cities of Sindh provide testimony, there will be greater chances that Eid will be held tomorrow. He said that word from these cities is being awaited.
Speaking of technology, he said that ulema do not oppose science but “the tradition of Ruet must be kept alive”.
India has declared it will celebrate Eid on Monday.
Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) will celebrate Eid-ul-Fitr on Sunday as the moon was not sighted on Friday.
The Jeddah-based Okaz paper reported that the moon-sighting committee had said that Saturday, May 23, would be the last day of Ramadan, while Sunday, May 24, would be the first day of Eid — Shawwal 1, 1441.
The UAE will also celebrate Eid on Sunday as the moon-sighting committee set up by the justice ministry announced that the moon was not sighted and Shawwal 1 would fall on Sunday, May 24.
The newspaper also reported that Indonesia, Turkey, Indonesia, and Qatar would also observe Eid on Sunday.
Earlier this week, Federal Minister for Science and Technology Fawad Chaudhry had claimed that Eid-ul-Fitr will be celebrated on May 24 (Sunday) in many countries, including Pakistan.
Speaking during a TV programme, Chaudhry said that according to the calendar prepared by the science ministry, this year Eid will be celebrated across the country on May 24.
The minister had said the interesting thing is that the festival will be celebrated on the same day in almost all parts of the world along with Pakistan, including Indonesia, Malaysia and Saudi Arabia.
Pakistan, like all Muslim countries, is gearing up to mark Eid-ul-Fitr amid the coronavirus pandemic, which has taken more than 1,000 lives in the country. The country started observing Eid holidays from May 22 and will continue to do so till May 27, a notification from the interior ministry said on Saturday.
