On Tuesday, April 9, the Pakistani Central Ruet-e-Hilal Committee will gather at the Ministry of Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony to see the Shawwal moon.
In Pakistan, the Central Ruet-e-Hilal Committee is a key player in determining when the new moon is visible. Here are some important facts regarding this committee:
Following a resolution approved by Pakistan’s National Assembly, the Central Ruet-e-Hilal Committee was founded in 1974.
Remarkably, there are now no written rules and regulations that specify how the committee is to be run.
- The committee’s main duty is to report any new moon sightings.
- Maulana Abdul Khabir Azad is its current head.
- To collect data on moon sightings, the committee works with 150 observatories run by the Pakistan Meteorological Department.
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In attendance will be members from the Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD), the Ministry of Science and Technology, and the Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (Suparco).
Allama Muhammad Dr. Hussain Akbar, Maulana Muhammad Yasin Zafar, Mufti Fazl Jamil Rizvi, and Director General Syed Mushahid Hussain Khalid are among the participants. Furthermore, the procedure of viewing the moon would be assisted by zonal committees in Peshawar, Quetta, Lahore, and Karachi.
In order to signal the end of the month of Ramadan, Chairman Maulana Azad stressed the importance of public participation in seeing the Shawwal moon.
With an estimated birth time of 11:21 pm local time on April 8, the PMD predicts that the Shawwal moon will likely be seen in Pakistan on April 9. It is predicted that on April 9, the moon will be 19 to 20 hours old and visible with the unaided eye for around 50 minutes following sunset.
On Wednesday, April 10, Eidul Fitr will be observed if it is visible on April 9.
In the meantime, the federal government is giving the people a four-day respite to celebrate Eidul Fitr by declaring a five-day holiday that will run from Wednesday, April 10, to Saturday, April 13.
When someone sees the moon for themselves, they can use the appropriate phone numbers to report its position to the Pakistan Meteorological Department or the Ruet-e-Hilal Committee.
For the purpose of reporting new moon sightings in Pakistan, these phone numbers are open to the public.
The Islamic calendar’s Eid ul Fitr, which marks the end of Ramadan, is extremely important. Muslims all throughout the world conduct a month-long fast, which ends with Eid celebrations.