Eid ul Fitr: Saudi Arabia asks citizens to sight Shawwal moon on Monday

RIYADH: The authorities in Saudi Arabia on Saturday asked the citizens to sight the Shawwal moon on the evening of April 8 (Monday).

In a statement, the Saudi Supreme Court called on the residents to report the moon sighting and notify the respective authority.

As per the Sharia, the sighting can be done with the naked eye or by using binoculars, following which the discovery must be notified to the nearest court or centre, Alarabiya News reported.

Ramadan in 2024 began on March 11, during which Muslims refrain from eating and drinking from sunrise to sunset.

In Pakistan, the Met Office, however, predicted that the first day of Eid al-Fitr would fall on April 10, as the Shawwal moon was expected to be sighted on April 9.

PMD said the crescent would be born on April 8 at 11:21pm and it would be aged between 19 and 20 hours the next day around Maghrib prayer.

The crescent could be spotted for over 50 minutes around sundown, it added.