CAIRO – Millions of Muslims will celebrate the beginning of the holy fasting month of Ramadan on Monday, June 6, following announcement that the new moon was sighted on Sunday.
“Tomorrow is the beginning of the holy month of Ramadan,” the Saudi Arabia Supreme Court reportedly said.
Egypt’s Iftaa House said the new moon of Ramadan was sighted Sunday, June 5.
“Therefore, Monday, June 6, will be the first day of Ramadan.”
A similar announcement was made by the UAE’s Moon Sighting Committee and other gulf states.
Jordan, Palestine and Yemen also confirmed that the holy month will start on Monday.
Other Muslim countries, mainly in Asia, confirmed that the moon was sighted earlier today.
According to Mufti Abu Huraira Udasan of the Darul Ifta for Maguindanao and Cotabato, the moon was sighted in Malaysia, and that fasting will start Monday, Inquirer.net reported.
A similar announcement was made in other Asian countries.
In Singapore, Muslims will start Ramadan fasting on Monday, kicking off a month of fasting during daylight hours and prayers with fellow believers around the world.
“I would like to take this opportunity to wish every Muslim in Singapore a blessed Ramadan,” the Mufti of Singapore, Dr Mohamed Fatris Bakaram said in a statement cited by Straits Times on Sunday, June 5.
“In this blessed month, let’s take the opportunity to strengthen friendship and foster stronger family ties and perform activities such as having the pre-dawn and break-fast meals and performing the night prayers together as a family.”
Indonesia’s Religious Affairs Minister Lukman Hakim Saifuddin announced on Sunday that Ramadan will start on Monday, June 6.
“The first day of Ramadan will begin tomorrow, June 6, 2016,” Lukman said.
Tuesday
While major Muslim countries confirmed that Ramadan starts Monday, some countries said the holy month will start on Tuesday.
In the Philippines, there was no sighting of the moon on Sunday. Therefore, Ramadan starts on Tuesday.
The Moroccan Ministry of Endowments and Islamic Affairs said in a statement that the calculated results of the administrative Calendar show that the crescent of the month of Ramadan 1437 AH will not be sighted on the evening of Sunday, Sha’ban 29.
Since the month of Sha’ban will complete 30 days, according to the same calculations, the first day of Ramadan will be June Tuesday June 7, Morocco World News reported.
In Oman, the crescent was not sighted on Sunday.
The Sultanate’s moon sighting committee announced that Monday will be the last day of Shaaban and Tuesday the first of Ramadan, Bahrain News Agency reported.
The first day of Ramadan and moon sighting have 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 the same moon 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 the authority in charge of ascertaining the sighting of the moon in a given country announces the sighting of the new moon, then Muslims in the country should all abide by this.