Ramazan is expected to begin on Thursday. PHOTO: REUTERS/FILE
The first fast will now be observed on Thursday, July 11, 2013.
Ruet-e-Hilal Committee Chairman Mufti Muneebur Rehman said that they received no reports of moon sightings from anywhere in the country, including from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Hence, the first Ramazan will be on Thursday July 11, 2013.
The decision was also endorsed by cleric Mufti Shahabuddin Popalzai in Pesahwar.
Earlier, Express News reported that per sources in the Ruet-e-Hilal committee, no reports of citing the moon was received from the zonal committees.
The committee had convened to form a decision on the sighting of the moon, which is to mark the beginning of Ramazan in the country.
Ruet-e-Hilal Committee Chairman Mufti Muneebur Rehman oversaw the committee proceedings in Karachi, which had convened in the meteorological department's office.
Rehman had said the decision will be formed on the basis of sightings by the zonal committees and asked everyone not to contact him before the official decision was announced.
He said the committee will come to a decision after consensus, as prescribed in Shariah law.
The session in Peshawar was presided by Mufti Shahabuddin Popalzai.
The Pakistan Meteorological Department had said that the moon should ideally be sighted between 7:12 pm to 7:43 pm but chances of it being sighted are low.
Earlier, during the day, the government unveiled a Rs2 billion Ramazan relief package providing subsidies on 13 essential items and selling about 1,500 items on reduced rates through the Utility Stores.
COMMENTS (23)
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For those who champion local sighting, can they explain how an event is going to be written in history books using Islamic calendar? For example the day of WTC destruction in NY would be written in Pakistan as Tuesday 25 Jumaada al-THaany 1422 A.H. by a Pakistani writer while a historian in Saudi Arabia will put down the date as Tuesday 23 Jumaada al-THaany 1422 A.H. So is the Hijri calendar faulty and not suitable for application in the modern world where distances have disappeared due to air travel and telecom? Or is it the application of this calendar given to us by our creator not understood by modern Muslims who are divided by sects and pseudo geographical boundaries? I believe it is us Muslims to blame who cannot unite even to implement a simple calendar.
I assume people who want to start Ramadan with Saudi Arabia are not barred by Mufti Muneeb ur Rehman to start their fasts from todayJuly 10, 2013. All those can go for one extra roza if so concerned, after all its sawab.
The Ruet-i-Hilal Committee was there to sight moon LOCALLY i.e. in Pakistan and start of Ramadan varies according to hemisphere you live in. At least we Pakistanis should be unified at this big ISSUE of our lives!!
@Adeel: you referred to moonsighting.com which mentions that 1st Ramadan in our region will most probably be on Thursday. But you inferred otherwise. Maybe by mistake, but that sounds like trolling!
Moon has a well defined orbit and its position with respect to any point on the Earth can be calculated very precisely for next million years. One can have real time computer generated images of moon as they will appear from a given point on the Earth. Time for Islamic world to go modern and use scientific tools.
@Muhammed Usama Aziz:
Since you brought it up, in Muslim ummah the concept of countries and geographic boundaries does not exist. You should really improve your knowledge of Islam before you start parroting the lines you learn from you local mosque mullah.
@ali...this time we will have one eid...ANP is not in power in KP
@Mustafa: what is isro???? Try searching for it on halalgoogle!....
@Mustafa: Indian Space research organization ---- you know the very one that sent unmaned prob to moon & mars while mullahs from pakistan were looking for moon :-)
except says citing instead of sighting
This just goes to show how backward we muslims are.
@Muhammed Usama Aziz: I'm not an expert but since when Islam started having boundaries based on geography. I doubt 1400 years ago Arab Desert had the notion of countries. In addition, at that time how could one inform the entire country when the moon was sighted. I mean it had to be local, simply due to logistics.
@munna what is isro????
moonsighting.com and makkahcalendar.org both use scientific lunar calendars to determine which regions of the world could possibly sight the crescent. Ramadan should've started on Tuesday or Wednesday depending on where you are in the world. There's no justification for Thursday. As for Mr. Usama Aziz, there is no magic lunar line between Saudi Arabia and Pakistan that consistently sets us one day behind. It's just another symptom of the pervasive 'jahalat' within Pakistan.
@Concerned Citizen: I would appreciate if you take complete knowledge of Islam and how month transition takes place!!
@ Muhammed Usama Aziz.. I appreciate your reply.. But my point is every year we celebrate Ramadan and Eid after Saudia... So the decision was obvious...
@Muhammed Usama Aziz:
That was the worst analogy ever!
@Maher: In Islam, a new month starts with sighting of new moon. So since new moon was not visible today, hence 1st Ramazan would be from Thursday. As regards for difference from Saudi Arabia, in Islam, a new moon has to be sighted within a countries geographical boundary. Since both Pakistan and Saudi Arabia are different countries with their own geographical boundary, a new month will always start when the moon will be visible in their respective countries.
Ramazan Mubarak to all Muslims!!
While ISRO and NASA fight for technology to reach moon, people in this planet, still fight about moon. While Developed and developing nations have their flags on moon, under developed countries have moon on their flags.
May Ramadan be the harbinger of joy and prosperity for all. Cheers everybody.
As expected... Ramadan is starting in Saudia from Wednesday so how come moon could have sighted??? Why we see Moon for Ramdan and Eid? We in Pakistan celebrate Ramdan and Eid a day after Saudia so it should be automatic....
Great. We seem to be masters at keeping one "roza" less every time.
hope we don't have 2 Eids this time around...
Ramadan Mubarak to all Muslims in the world.