The Muslim festival of Eid Al Fitr in Pakistan will be celebrated on June 5, according to the country’s first moon sighting website and Hijri Calendar launched by Chaudhry Fawad Hussain, Minister of Science and Technology.
This is the first time that Eid day has been announced much before the moon sighting in Pakistan.
The new calendar however challenges the Islamic clerics who believe that Eid and other main religious events such as Ramadan and Islamic months should be announced only after physical moon sighting.
However, it is not yet clear whether the moon-sighting committee will still meet to decide the Eid day.
Federal Minister Hussain told Gulf News that he has sent the five-year Hijri Calendar to the Islamic Ideology Council. He said that the calendar will be presented before cabinet on Wednesday.
“I personally believe that there is no need to have Ruet-t-Hilal (moon sighting) Committee in the country.”
Hussain said that a number of departments have collaborated to make the moonsighting website and Islamic Hijri calendar.
The minister has been criticised by some Islamic scholars since he challenged the working of the moon sighting committee and the role of Islamic clerics involved in the moon sighting exercise.
Earlier this month, Hussain formed a committee to determine the exact dates of Ramadan, Eid Al Fitr, Eid Al Adha and Muharram for the next five years with 100 percent accuracy through technology.
