The Holy Month of Ramadan will start according to astronomic calculations, on Aug 11, said astronomer Adel Al-Saadoun on Saturday. Al-Saadoun told KUNA that the crescent for Ramadan will be formed on Aug 10, Tuesday, at 6:01 am making Wednesday the first day of the Holy Month in Kuwait. Read more
The Ramadan moon will be visible on August 10, making the next day the first day of the month of fasting, said Ibrahim al Jarwan, astronomy researcher and supervisor of the Sharjah Planetarium. Read more
The Islamic new moon should not be confused with the astronomical new moon Many Muslim communities make a calendar predicting the dates of Ramadan based upon scientific predictions of when the moon should be visible. The actual start and end of the month of Ramadan (just like every other month on the Islamic calendar) is based upon the sighting of the moon. Do not confuse the Islamic new moon, which is when the moon is first visible, with the astronomical new moon.
Residents in Saudi Arabia can now use telescopes to sight new moon that marks start of Ramadan For the first time, residents in Saudi Arabia will be able to use telescopes, not just the naked eye, to sight the crescent moon that marks the start of the holy fasting month of Ramadan. In a statement issued Monday, the Supreme Court called upon the public to sight the new moon on Thursday evening.
Ramadan, the month of fasting, prayer, generosity and charity begins today. Or does it? Across the Middle East, it does start today, mainly because of the religious influence of Saudi Arabia, even though nearly all Muslim astronomers disagree with the outdated Saudi methods of determining dates. In Nigeria and Libya, Ramadan began yesterday. In Pakistan, Bangladesh and possibly Indonesia, three of the most populous Muslim countries, Ramadan is expected to begin tomorrow. Muslims living as minorities in India, Europe and the Americas, often without centralised religious authorities, are frequently left in confusion. For example, various Muslim communities in Britain will begin their fasting today, tomorrow or even on Wednesday.
A Qatari astronomer said on Saturday that the Holy Muslim fasting month of Ramadan would start on Thursday, September 13, 2007. Astronomer Dr. Khalid Abdullah Turki Al-Subaie said in a statement that the Ramadan moon would be born at 15:44 Doha time (12:44 GMT), Tuesday September 11 but the moon will set almost five minutes before the sun set that day, while moon would set 4:22 minutes before the sun sets in Makkah the same day. Therefore, it will be almost impossible to see the Ramadan crescent and so month of Sha'ban will complete 30 days and Ramadan will start on September 13, he noted.