News Desk: Saudi Arabia has announced that it will celebrate Eid al-Fitr on Monday, as the Shawwal moon was not seen on Saturday.
According to the Saudi Gazette, neither the Tamir Observatory nor the Majmah University Observatory in the town of Houtat Sudair observed the month of Shawwal on Saturday.
According to local media, the last day of the month of Ramadan will be celebrated on Sunday and the first day of Shawwal will be celebrated on Monday.
The Muslim world celebrates EID on the first day of the month of Shawwal, subject to the sighting of the moon at the end of the month of Ramadan.
EID is celebrated in many parts of Bangladesh in line with EID in Saudi Arabia. Usually, EID is celebrated in Bangladesh on the day after EID.
This time the fast in Saudi Arabia started on April 2 and in Bangladesh, the Muslims started fasting the next day.
Apart from Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Australia and France have so far announced EID celebrations on Monday, Gulf News reports.
Earlier on Saturday, the International Astronomical Center (IAC), an Abu Dhabi-based think tank, said it was unlikely to see the Shawwal moon.
The IAC said in a statement on Saturday morning that it had not identified any of the faint moons identified as the last days of Ramadan. This means that there is no possibility of seeing the moon from any country in the Muslim world on this day.
According to the agency, the moon is unlikely to be seen in other Middle Eastern countries, including Saudi Arabia, in addition to the United Arab Emirates.
However, the UAE Moon Sighting Committee has called on all Muslims to report any sightings of the Shawwal moon on the evening of Saturday 29 Ramadan.
