The Central Ruet-i-Hilal Committee on Saturday announced that the Rabiul Awwal moon was not sighted anywhere across the country, therefore, the Islamic month will commence from Monday (September 18), and Eid-i-Miladun Nabi is set to fall on September 29.
The announcement was made after a meeting of the committee presided over by Chairman Abdul Khabeer Azad in Islamabad. Religious scholars from all schools of thought and weather experts attended the meeting.
“The weather was cloudy in most places of Pakistan and clear in some places,” Azad said, adding that no evidence of a moon sighting was received from any location in the country.
The Ministry of Religious Affairs later issued a notification announcing the same.
Members of both the Central and Zonal Ruet-e-Hilal Committees, including Mufti Zameer Ahmed Sajid, Mufti Muhammad Iqbal Naemi, Mufti Abdul Salam Jalali, Allama Mustafa Haider Naqvi and others, attended the meeting.
Muslims around the world celebrate the birth of Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him), known in Arabic as the Mawlid al-Nabawi holiday, on the 12th of Rabiul Awwal — the third month of the Islamic lunar calendar.
