Preparations for Ramadan are underway in Pakistani mosques

Asif Farooqi, IOL Correspondent

ISLAMABAD, October 25 (IslamOnline.net) – The Pakistani moon sighting committee will meet late Sunday, October 26, to ascertain whether the start of the holy fasting month of Ramadan will fall in Monday or Tuesday.

The committee, appointed by the government and consisting of eight religious scholars representing various schools of thought, is the final authority on declaring the beginning of Ramadan in the country.

Headed by Mufti Muneeb Ur Rehman, the Ruet-e-Hilal Committee will meet in the northwestern city of Peshawar to examine evidence gathered from all over the country on the appearance of the new moon.

Several provincial and district level committees will also meet at the same time and report to the central committee on their findings about the moon sighting.

Ordinary Pakistanis can also take part in the exercise of sighting the moon for Ramadan.

But while examining the evidence presented by an individual to a central, provincial or district committee, the official members of the committee are to verify the credibility of such an evidence.

After compiling the evidence from all over the country the central committee announces a decision which has to be taken as official declaration.

The mechanism of moon sighting was introduced in the country in the early 1970s when differences over the moon sighting turned into political nightmare for the government.

While people in the north used to mark the start of Ramadan with the Gulf countries, people in many other parts used to wait until seeing the moon themselves.

It all landed the government into chaos as to what would be the day of Eid as the government had to observe special Ramadan regulations in some parts while in others, Eid, or the day to end Ramadan would be celebrated.

This prompted the government to appoint a special committee assigned with determining whether the moon has been sighted or not.

Still in many parts of the country, especially those bordering Afghanistan, people follow the Middle Eastern countries or Saudi Arabia where generally moon is sighted a day ahead of Pakistan.

Moon sighting has always been a controversial issue among Muslim countries, and even scholars seem at odds over the issue.

While one group of scholars sees that Muslims in other regions and countries are to follow this sighting as long as these countries share one part of the night, another states that Muslims everywhere should abide by the lunar calendar of Saudi Arabia.

A third, however, disputes both views, arguing that Islam is against division and disunity, since Muslims, for instance, are not allowed to hold two congregational prayers in one mosque at the same time.

This group believes that the authority in charge of ascertaining the sighting of the moon in a given country (such as Egypt 's Dar al-Iftaa [House of Fatwa]) announces the sighting of the new moon, then Muslims in the country should all abide by this.