Summary Saudi Arabia announces Thursday start for Ramazan
KARACHI (Dunya News) – Millions of Muslims around the world are marking the start of the holy month of Ramazan today (Thursday), a time marked by intense prayer, dawn-to-dusk fasting and good deeds .
Prominent religious scholar and committee’s Chairman Mufti Muneeb-ur-Rehman presided over the meeting.
The meetings of zonal and district Ruet-e-Hilal committees were also held meetings at their respective headquarters for collecting evidences in respect of sighting or other wise of the Ramazan moon.
Addressing a press conference, Mufti Munib-ur-Rehman said that testimonies declaring that the moon was sighted have been received from Upper Dir, Buner, Nathia Gali, Quetta and Abbottabad. The first fast will be observed across Pakistan on Thursday.”
Millions of Muslims across the world are marking the first day of holy month of Ramazan. Scores of Islamic faithful usually commemorate the month-long period with dawn-to-dusk fasting and prayers.
Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) had already 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.
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.
