PESHAWAR: The mysterious disappearance of a self-appointed head of the moon-sighting committee in Peshawar city has alarmed member clerics and generated a debate on social media about how witnesses should record their statements in case they face any hurdle reaching them.

Every year, an unofficial moon-sighting committee headed by Mufti Mohammad Shahabuddin Popalzai holds its meeting at the Masjid Qasim Ali Khan located in Peshawar city on 29th Ramazan welcoming witnesses from all over the province.

Not only is Mufti Popalzai missing, there are also reports about the law-enforcement personnel entering the Masjid Qasim Ali Khan to discourage clerics from holding any meeting on Saturday.

Members of cleric’s moon-sighting panel ask mosque heads to take decisions they consider correct

The family sources have revealed that Mufti Mohammad Shahabuddin Popalzai, head of the non-governmental provincial moon-sighting committee, had left for Islamabad for a meeting on June 22 and had not returned home since. His cell-phone is also off.

The deputy of Mufti Popalzai, Khairul Bashar, is also missing since Friday, sources said.

The members of district moon-sighting committees and religious leaders in Peshawar and Mardan held protests demanding the recovery of Mufti Popalzai and his deputy.

When contacted, information minister Shah Farman said the provincial government had nothing to do with the disappearance of Mufti Popalzai.

He clarified that the opposition’s party, Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl, might be behind the propaganda that the police were trying to stop the holding of the moon-sighting committee at the Masjid Qasim Ali Khan.

“The moon-sighting is the job of the federal government’s committee and we have nothing to do with the issue or disappearance of Mufti Popalzai. A ticket in circulation in media shows he is sitting in Dubai,” he said.

Both Mufti Popalzai and his deputy hold a meeting of the moon-sighting committee annually and challenge the federal government’s official committee by announcing its decision on the basis of the witnesses’ statements on the sighting of moon in the province.

Majority of the people follow the decision of Popalzai’s committee and thus, causing division over the celebration of Eidul Fitr in the country.

The whereabouts of both clerics were not known and it has alarmed other committee members and also generated a debate on social media.

The debate on social media, which began week ago with the sharing of photos and jokes about how Mufti Popalzai might have gone to moon wearing an astronaut attire to some suggesting he was sent abroad perhaps to Dubai and told not to make an appearance until the federal moon-sighting committee successfully went on with its task.

Proving this, a purported air ticket in the name of Mufti Popalzai traveling on June 22 from Islamabad to Dubai via Emirates Airline was also in circulation on social media.

His return’s date is Aug 2 according to the air ticket meaning the cleric, who had been holding moon-sighting committee and announcing Eid a day before the rest country would not be observing Eid with his family this time around.

To make things more interesting, the federal moon-sighting committee headed by Mufti Munibur Rehman would also be holding its meeting on Sunday evening in Peshawar to sight moon and make announcement about the possibility of Eid on Monday.

Thought alarmed by the disappearance of Mufti Popalzai, other clerics have issued an announcement on social media to use the forum for sharing witnesses regarding sighting of moon on Saturday evening.

It informed that since June 24 (Saturday) is 29th of Ramazan, a moon-sighting committee would be holding its meeting in the Masjid Qasim Ali Khan.

If the committee received the witnesses in accordance with Shariah, then June 25 (Sunday) would be observed as Eidul Fitr otherwise on Monday (June 26) definitely the religious occasion would be observed, says the statement issued by the clerics of mosque in the heart of Peshawar city.

“If somebody disrupts the committee proceedings at the mosque and doesn’t allow witnesses to reach here, then the witnesses, who sight Eid moon, should appear before the religious heads of the local mosques to record their statements and share the statements on social media and Facebook to fulfil their religious duty,” says the statement allowing the local religious heads of the mosques to decide in accordance with what they consider correct.

The statement of the Masjid Qasim Ali Khan clerics seems to have been issued few days ago as it has also a note about how religious leaders should encourage people at Friday prayers to make efforts to sight the moon (crescent).

Published in Dawn, June 25th, 2017