RIYADH – The crescent moon for the month of Shawwal 1442 was not sighted on Tuesday evening, Saudi Arabian authorities, announced moments, ago – meaning that celebrations to mark the 2021 Eid-ul-Fitr will be held Thursday.
Muslims across the world are gearing up to the sighting of the crescent moon to welcome the month of Shawwal with Eid-ul-Fitr. The ninth month in the Islamic Lunar Calendar is Ramadan and the tenth is Shawwal whose first day is marked as Eid-ul-Fitr across the world.
While the West culturally follows the Gregorian calendar, the Islamic calendar is lunar, which means it is based on the sighting of the crescent moon. Every year, Eid-ul-Fitr occurs approximately 10-11 days earlier depending on when the crescent moon is sighted since lunar months are shorter than solar months and so it varies from country to country by about a day.
Saudi Arabia’s Supreme Court called Muslims in UAE, Qatar and other Arab states to report the sighting of the crescent moon for the month of Shawwal on Tuesday evening but all reports were negative.
Attempt to search for the Shawwal crescent was officially launched at different observatories in Saudi Arabia but according to Chief Astronomer Abdullah Al Khudairi, there is ‘Little to no possibility to seeing the crescent today.’
