Ahead of the Ruete Hilal committee’s meeting scheduled for later today for moon sighting, Federal Minister for Science and Technology Fawad Chaudhry has said that the Shawwal moon could be sighted tonight.
“The Shawwal moon was born on May 22 at 10:30 pm and will be visible between 7:36 pm and 8:15 pm tonight in Badin, Thatta and Pasni,” Chaudhry said while addressing a press conference in Islamabad on Saturday, and also tweeted it.
The minister said that according to the calendar prepared by his ministry, Eid will be celebrated on May 24 in many countries including Pakistan. He also shared the link to ‘The Ruet’ app on Twitter.
Saturday will be the last day of Ramzan and Sunday is the first day of Eid in many countries.
The government has earlier announced six Eid holidays from May 22 to 27 both of the public and private sectors. According to a notification issued by the Ministry of Interior, Friday, May 22 to Wednesday, May 27, will be Eid holidays in the country.
Meanwhile, addressing the presser, Fawad regretted that “there are always different announcements by the Reute Hilal Committee and Qasim Khan Mosque [of Peshawar, headed by Mufti Popalzai].”
He also rejected the notion that there was no relation between the sighting of the moon according to Islamic practices and the use of technology in doing so.
“Nowhere in the world is moon sighting an issue. With advances in technology it has become easier to sight the moon,” Fawad said.
