Ruet-e-Hilal Committee meeting underway for Ramazan moon sighting
The meeting will be chaired by Chairman Ruet-e-Hilal Committee Mufti Muneeb-ur-Rehman.
KARACHI (Dunya News) - A meeting of the central Ruet-e-Hilal Committee is underway for moon-sighting for the holy month of Ramazan.
Prominent religious scholar and committee’s Chairman Mufti Muneeb-ur-Rehman is presiding over the meeting.
The meetings of zonal and district Ruet-e-Hilal committees are also holding meetings at their respective headquarters for collecting evidences in respect of sighting or other wise of the Ramazan moon.
Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) had expressed fair chances of sighting the new moon of Ramazan. As per the website, the moon’s age will be 26 hours and 45 minutes today and will remain on the sky for 59 minutes after sunset.
Met Office had also announced the raise in temperature of Karachi in the first week of the holy month.
PMD director said that the mercury level will heighten more than usual from Thursday to Wednesday. Heat wave is expected in May and June while no chances of rainfall exist.
Saudi Arabia announces Thursday start for Ramadan
The Islamic holy month will begin Thursday in Saudi Arabia, the land of the religion’s two holiest sites, authorities said.
"The first day of the holy fasting month of Ramazan falls on Thursday corresponding to May 17, 2018," the Royal Court said in a statement published by state news agency SPA.
The start date is set by both lunar calculations and physical sightings which determine when the last day of one lunar month ends and a new one begins.
Traditionally, many Muslim-majority countries have followed the dates set by Saudi religious authorities, but in recent years many have used their own astronomical calculations.
Ramazan is a holy month for the world’s nearly 1.5 billion Muslims, many of whom practise the ritual of dawn-to-dusk fasting and prayers. Tradition holds that it was during Ramazan that the Prophet Mohammed started receiving revelations of the Muslim holy book, the Koran. It is one of the five "pillars" of Islam.
The others are the profession of faith ("there is no God but Allah and Mohammed (PBUH) is his messenger"), the obligation to pray five times a day, charity, and the pilgrimage to Mecca.
--- with inputs from AFP.
