WHILST it is a matter of satisfaction that the whole country started observing Ramadan on the same day (Thursday) and to achieve this purpose, the very meeting of Central Ruet Hilal Committee was also held in Peshawar as previously people in the city used to keep fast a day before rest of the country because of the pronouncement of a local cleric there.
Though this was not the first time that the decision on moon sighting was delayed as history is littered with them, yet it once again raised many speculations with many early bed goers could not offer their Taraveehs. According to the officials of Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD), the Ramadan moon could be sighted at about 7:28 pm and this is the reason that the announcement about moon sighting at about ten pm raised suspicions and doubts amongst the people. To avert the same kind of situation in future, there is a dire need to properly and thoroughly streamline the whole mechanism of moon sighting so that nobody could raise any finger on the process. We in this regard can follow the model of Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries. In our country, a section of Islamic scholars believe that seeing the moon with the naked eye should be the criterion for declaring the start of a new month. Another section advocates that we can rely solely on the calculations, and there is no need to visually see the moon. During this age of technology, we really believe that help can be acquired from science to make the process controversy and doubt free. We could use calculations and modern simulations for knowing where and when to look for the moon, how high it will be in the sky and what are the chances of its visibility. It is now possible to calculate the exact window of the moon’s visibility after sunset. While the Central Ruet Hilal Committee works in coordination with the PMD and the Ministry of Science but there is need to genuinely bring to play the technology to resolve controversies over moon sighting once and for all. Then, there should also be a complete ban on any unauthorized person or entity making the announcement of moon sighting.
