After the moon of the holy month of Shaban was sighted on February 21, Muslims marked their calenders predicting Ramadan to fall exactly one month later shy of one or two days ahead or before.
Under the chairmanship of Maulana Abdul Khabir Azad, a meeting of the Ruet-e-Hilal committee was held in the Federal capital to sight the crescent of the eighth Islamic month.
Following the commencement of Shaban, calculations predict that the holy month of Ramadan will likely fall on either March 23 or 24, in Pakistan.
In the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the first day of Ramadan is also expected to fall on March 23, according to a report from an Arab media outlet where Dr Abdullah Al-Massand, a former professor of astronomy at Al-Qassim University in Saudi Arabia and deputy chairman of the Meteorological Society, stated that “the first day of Ramadan is expected to be observed on March 23, (Thursday).”
Dr Massand suggested that the holy month of Shaban will likely have 30 days because on the 29th of Shaban, the “crescent will be lightening just before nine minutes after the sunset”.
“The convergence of the sun and the moon will be taking place on 29th of Shaban which means on the evening of March 21 at 8:23pm. Therefore, the first day of Ramadan will be observed on March 23,” he added.
Prior to this, Ibrahim Al-Jarwan, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Emirates Astronomy Society, also forecast that the first day of the holy month would likely be observed on March 23 while Eid ul Fitr may take place on April 21.
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