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Confusion prevailed in the Kashmir valley after a late-night announcement by the Ruat e Hilal Committee of Pakistan that Ramadhan will commence on Thursday. For ages, Kashmir has always followed Pakistan’s Ruat e Hilal Committee for starting its Ramadhan and Eid and the other months of the Hijri calendar, however, the crescents for the rest of the twelve months hardly make any debate.
Ramadan, like all lunar months globally, begins the day after the first sighting of the sliver-thin new crescent moon, visible up to an hour after sunset on the appropriate evening. The orbit of the moon around the earth is such that it can take up to three days for the whole world to actually see the crescent for the first time each month, even after clouds have cleared.
Kashmir’s Grand Mufti, Nasir ul Islam had announced that the month of fasting will begin on Friday as the Ramadhan crescent had not been sighted anywhere in the valley. A late-night announcement left people in sheer chaos. Many people had already had their dinner, some even sleeping and the Isha (night) prayers had concluded in the mosques when the announcement was made.
It is important to mention that during the month of Ramadhan there is an addition to the routine prayers which are offered after the Isha prayers.
Several Shia and Sunni scholars of the valley have cleared the air, as people of the valley are observing the first day of fasting on Thursday.
Agha Syed Mohammed Hadi Kashmiri, a prominent Shia scholar from Budgam said that it was completely allowed to fast under confusing circumstances. He said, “The first day of fasting is being observed on Thursday can be observed as Youm-ul-Shaq (The day of confusion).”
Sunni scholar , Irshad Ahmed Hyderi said that as per the Hadith, it is said that we must not fast until we see the crescent-moon, and not break the fast until we have seen the crescent moon, but if conditions are overcast, we can then enumerate for it.
He said that in the air of confusion none of the groups is wrong. “If indeed it is the first day of Ramdhan today, the people who missed it can fast after the conclusion of Ramadhan and it is completely permissible,” he said. He told The Kashmiriyat that the controversy
“The presence of numerous hadith on this issue only indicates that even the Companions and their later contemporaries differed about the start and end of Ramadan, such difference did not cause disunity among them, and so there is no reason why it should for us?” he asked.
He said that the matter will be cleared by today’s crescent. “If indeed the crescent is clearly visible then it is the second day tomorrow, but people do not need to worry,” he said.