Ramazan moon sighted in Pakistan

E-Paper | June 13, 2026

Chairman of the Central Ruet-i-Hilal Committee Mufti Munib-ur-Rehman leads the moon-sighting duties in Karachi. – Photo by PPI

KARACHI: The Islamic holy month of Ramazan will commence in Pakistan from Saturday, Chairman of the Central Ruet-i-Hilal Committee Mufti Muneeb-ur-Rehman announced late Friday.

Mufti Muneeb said evidences of moon-sighting were reported from various areas of the country, confirming the commencement of the month of fasting.

A meeting of Central Ruet-e-Hilal Committee was held at the Pakistan Meteorological Department

After the meeting, Mufti Munib-ur-Rehman announced that the moon of Ramazan has been sighted in different parts of the country including D.I. Khan and 1st Ramazan, 1433 Hijri, will fall on Saturday, July 21.

Following the announcement, President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf sent messages of felicitations on the arrival of Ramazan.

Preparations for Taraveeh prayers also got underway at leading mosques across the country as it prepared for its first fast.

The holy month had already commenced in most Arab countries, including Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Egypt.

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khurram janjua

Jul 20, 2012 04:53pm

ramadan mubarak to all Ummah!

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adeel

Jul 20, 2012 04:47pm

y they always announced late?????????

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Ramesh N G

Jul 20, 2012 04:50pm

Happy Ramazan my dear brothers and sisters in India Pakistan and rest of the Islamic world - may you be blessed with lots of happiness, good luck, peace and prosperity

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M. Ovet

Jul 20, 2012 05:20pm

The Saudis have already seen the Ramzan Crescent. Astronomically and mathematically it was just under the horizon when it could be not be seen. But they make their own laws unto themselves. The actual Sunnat of a local group of witnesses is irrelevant to them.

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innohunter

Jul 20, 2012 05:46pm

Ramadan Mubarak everyone

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shah

Jul 20, 2012 06:24pm

Thanks God they have seen it .

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Salman

Jul 20, 2012 11:19pm

Apparently moon sights within 45 mins of maghrib so why it took so long ? is it because a) committee was under pressure cause saudi announced sighting yesterday or B) govt wanted the whole country to start at once ?

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crk

Jul 20, 2012 11:20pm

No issue using scientific instruments here to sight the moon ? Something that the west developed?

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abhi

Jul 20, 2012 11:27pm

for the first time ever, mufti sahib has given in to false sightings, and I always said that if there is one good thing in Pakistan it is the ruet e hilal committee.....sadly looks like we have lost this one too

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Mustafa

Jul 21, 2012 12:11am

The sighting of new moon as a proof of beginning of new lunar month was the only way to determine start of new lunar month when there were no scientific means available to know when lunar month started. When there were no clocks, the only way people could know sunset is go out and see the sun is set. Today no one in Karachi, Lahore or Islamabad goes out to see the sun set before Maghrib Salaat or before breaking fast in Ramadan. The same way Muslim scientists know the timing of birth of a new moon and they also know that moon is visible from naked eye 18 hours after birth. Muslim scientists’ can calculate with 100 percent accuracy for the next 100 years when new moon will be visible in Pakistan or in any country of the world. If we use scientific knowledge to perform Maghrib Salaat and break fast in Ramadan, why we do not use this knowledge to start the month of Ramadan? Scientific knowledge is a gift from Allah. Why should we reject it?

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Riaz Murtaza

Jul 21, 2012 12:11am

Ramadan Mubarak to all the Muslims !

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Ahmad Ali Rafi

Jul 21, 2012 03:04am

Good but I've an opinion and want to share with you all. Why don't we get a youngster in place because Mufti Saab barely even see due to his weak eye sight. You can see by just viewing this photo as he's wearing spectacles to over come his eye sight. That's the issue we had been having for so many years that a part of Pakistan celebrating Eid the first day and other part on the other day just because we didn't do it right the first time!

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saba

Jul 22, 2012 01:19pm

ramadan mubark all of nd dua me yaad rakhna

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Nusrat Abbas

Aug 19, 2012 02:34pm

I am agree with your opinion and i also want to share some thing. I just want to know that before the start of Ramzan at 23:00 they announced that tomorrow will be start of ramzan. now we have completed the Ramzan and i try to see the moon but i haven't seen any where. I just want to know that tomorrow will be Eid or not. If not then who will be responsible for this. We are muslim and we should be careful about our religious months. But in our country its all in the hand of Muhlana.

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