KARACHI: With the month of Ramazan drawing to a close, Muslims across the world are getting ready to celebrate Eidul Fitr this week.

According to a statement issued by Saudi Arabia, the Shawwal crescent was sighted on Monday and Eidul Fitr would be celebrated across the country on Tuesday (today).

“#BREAKING: Supreme Court announces #Eid Al-Fitr in #SaudiArabia on Tuesday June 4 following the sighting of the moon. #EidMubarak,” the Saudi Gazette tweeted.

According to a statement, the Shawwal moon was sighted in Tumair region of Saudi Arabia.

The United Arab Emirates also announced June 4 as the first day of Eid in a Twitter posting.

However, people in Indonesia, Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, Australia and New Zealand will observe Wednesday (tomorrow) as the first day of Eid.

According to a statement issued by the UAE Embassy in Bangkok: “The Islamic Centre in Thailand has announced that the final day of Ramazan is on Tuesday and Wednesday 5 June will be the first day of Eid Al Fitr.”

Australia was among the first countries to declare the first day of Eid. The Australian National Imams Council announced last week that Eid would be celebrated on Wednesday.

The National Commission on Muslim Filipinos (NCMF) in a statement confirmed that no sighting of the new moon was reported from moon-sighting committees on Monday evening and so the Philippines would celebrate the annual the festival on Wednesday.

According to the Hurriyet newspaper, Turkey will observe Tuesday (today) as the first day of Eid.

Published in Dawn, June 4th, 2019