FEDERAL Minister for Science and Technology Fawad Chaudhry announced recently that his ministry would help in the preparation of an Islamic calendar for 10 years to resolve the moon-sighting controversy for good. I congratulate the minister on his initiative.

For centuries Muslims have differed on moon sighting which has resulted in Ramazan and Eid being observed on different dates. Thankfully, Allah has blessed us with modern knowledge and science has progressed to the extent that we too can develop our own fixed calendar like the ancient Egyptians.

Even the Islamic University of Al Azhar follows this calendar perfected in the Fatimid era. As a result the Egyptian people have a uniform calendar.

I hope the science minister will succeed in his efforts to address an age-old issue.

Asghar Z. Attarwala

Karachi

Published in Dawn, May 11th, 2019