KARACHI: The moon of Islamic month Zilhaj was sighted on Friday and Eidul Azha will be celebrated in the country on Aug 12.

“The moon of Zilhaj has been sighted and it has been decided with consensus that 1st Zilhaj, Hijri 1440 will fall tomorrow [Aug 3, Saturday] and the nation will celebrate Eidul Azha on Aug 12 (Monday),” announced Cen­tral Ruet-i-Hilal Committee chairman Mufti Munib-ur-Rehman at a press conference after chairing a meeting of the committee at the Met Office here.

Mufti Munib said evidence regarding the moon sighting had been received from various parts of the country.

Meetings of the regional committees were also held in the provincial capitals. The central committee received several eyewitness accounts about the moon sighting from different districts and cities.

The country’s ‘first official’ moon-sighting website and a calendar showing main Islamic dates and months for the next five years based on scientific evidence also carried the same date for 1st Zilhaj. The website was launched by federal Minister for Science and Technology Fawad Chaudhry in May this year.

Named Moon Sighting Pakistan, the website features sections such as a monthly Hijri (Islamic) calendar for the next five years, a day-to-day lunar calendar against dates from the Gregorian calendar and the dates on which the first day of every lunar month will fall.

Published in Dawn, August 3rd, 2019