Ramazan begins in K-P with rest of country

First Ramzan was observed in Peshawar and much of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) on Wednesday like the rest of the country in what should be called a rare occasion. This doesn’t happen so often as K-P has its own moon-sighting ‘mechanism’ in place under Mufti Shahabudin Popalzai.

Indeed in the past 11 years only on five occasions K-P celebrated Ramazan and Eid together with the rest of the country and in six cases it was a day ahead both in Ramazan as well as Eid. This is a divide which, if not impossible, is very difficult to bridge.

In 2016 the Ramazan started across the country and K-P on June 7 and this was also the case in 2012, 2013 and 2018.

This show of unity is, however, difficult to maintain for long.

In 2014, all the efforts to unite the nation on one Ramazan failed as Mufti Shahabudin announced his own moon sighting and the federal government’s moon sighting committee under Mufti Muneeb Rehman made a ‘moon not sighted’ decision. As a result there were two or even three Eids and Ramazan in the country. Same was the case in 2015, 2017, 2019 and 2020.

It is worth mentioning here that most people residing in the former Fata and Afghan refugees celebrate Eid and Ramazan with Saudi Arabia, normally two days ahead of the rest of the country. It is followed by Mufti Shahabudin Popalzai and on the third day Eid and Ramazan is observed in all of the country. For decades this was the norm but in the recent years Mufti Popalzai narrowed the gap and started celebrating the arrival of Ramazan and Eid with Saudi Arabia.

In the past there were moon sighting committees in nearly every village and they often had separate announcements regarding Ramazan and Eid moon sighting which was often criticized so with the passage of time Mufti Popalzai emerged as the sole authority on the subject as most village-level clerics disappeared.

Indeed the official moon sighting committee often tries its best to remove the differences in the moon sighting but it has little say in this matter in the K-P where people follow Masjid Qasim Ali Khan’s Mufti Shahabudin Popalzai without any hesitation.

“In the year 2003 there was a dispute on the moon sighting and after that the central moon sighting committee or Ruet-e-Hilal Committee did not have a meeting in Peshawar. This year the meeting was held in Peshawar after almost 18 years and its efforts to engage the local clerics on the matter were fruitful,” said an official while talking to The Express Tribune.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 15^th, 2021.