Zilhaj Moon Sighting: Mufti Muneeb unhappy with Met Office predictions

KARACHI: Chairman Ruet-e-Hilal Committee Mufti Muneeb-ur-Rehman is uncomfortable with the Met Office’s moon sighting predictions.

The cleric wrote a letter to the Ministry of Religious Affairs demanding that the Met Office should not make moon predictions for Zilhaj. A copy of the letter was sent to the Met Office.

The Ruet-e-Hilal committee will sit for moon sighting in Karachi today.

When Geo News contacted DG Met Department he refused to make predictions over the Zilhaj moon. But at the same time he added that science can predict the lunar calendar for a 100 years.

The Met Office website states that the Zilhaj moon will be visible to the eye in Karachi for 40 minutes after sunset today. In Balochistan the moon will be visible to the eye for 42 minutes.

The moon will be visible at an angle of 8 degrees, it adds.

The weather is cloudy in Balochistan and partially cloudy in Sindh, the website states.

DG Met Department refused to comment on Mufti Muneeb ur Rehman or the letter. “The letter is with the Ministry of Religious Affairs,” he said.

When Geo News contacted Mufti Muneeb-ur-Rehman he said, “In any Muslim country such matter are not criticized."

Mufti Muneeb-ur-Rehman becomes a celebrity of sorts twice a year when the two Eid moons are sighted. News channels and leading dailies publish his statements.

On Eid-ul-Fitr this year television screens showed an angry Mufti Muneeb-ur-Rehman disconnecting a telephone cord angry at his spokesperson for leaking news of eye witness accounts to the media. News of Eid came well after Isha when mosques were preparing for the last Taraweeh prayers of the holy month of Ramzan.