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TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The holy month of Ramadan is fast approaching, with Muslims around the world preparing to fast for 30 days, from dawn to sunset.
Unlike the Gregorian calendar, which follows the Earth’s orbit around the sun, the Islamic Hijri calendar follows a lunar calendar, meaning that months can fall in different seasons throughout the year, according to The New Arab.
Saturday or Sunday?
Traditionally, Islamic months begin and end with the sighting of the new crescent moon. In many Muslim-majority countries, official sighting committees gather to sight the moon by eye, and many committees around the world are expected to do so this year on the last day of February.
The sighting of the crescent moon will take place on Friday, February 28, or Shaban 29 in the Islamic calendar, to determine whether the fast will begin the following day.
Among the countries expected to sight the moon on Friday is Saudi Arabia, home to the two holiest sites in Islam, and a country that many Muslims in the West follow for official announcements of Ramadan.
If the moon is sighted on Friday, millions of Muslims will begin fasting on Saturday, marking the end of the month of Shaban and the beginning of Ramadan.
If there is no sighting, the month of Shaban will continue until the 30th day, and the first fast of Ramadan will begin on Sunday, March 2.
Here are predictions for the start of Ramadan in several countries:
Saudi Arabia
The Saudi Supreme Court has not yet confirmed the official date of Ramadan after the moon sighting a few days or before Ramadan.
Abdullah bin Sulaiman Al Manea, a member of the Council of Senior Scholars and an advisor to the Saudi Royal Court, said that Ramadan will last for 29 days this year, citing astronomical calculations.
He said Ramadan will start on March 1 because the month of Shaban will last for 29 days, as quoted by Al Sharq.
The Saudi Supreme Court has not yet confirmed the official date of Ramadan after the moon sighting a few days or before Ramadan.
Morocco
Ibrahim Akhyam, a researcher in the science of timekeeping and a member of the Islamic Moon Sighting Project, said that the start of Ramadan this year will most likely fall on March 2 in Morocco.
"The sighting of the Ramadan crescent will be very difficult in Morocco on the night of 29 Sha'ban 1446 AH, which corresponds to 2025," he told Morocco World News (MWN).
Astronomers estimate that Sha'ban will end in 30 days due to the lack of ideal sighting conditions.
"These astronomical calculations serve as a scientific preliminary to the sighting of the moon," he said, adding that the official date will be confirmed by the authorities.
Morocco is expected to announce whether the crescent will be "clear or not clear" on the day of sighting, which is Friday.
UK
Imad Ahmed, who founded the New Crescent Society, an independent moon-watching group in the UK, said that this year's Ramadan is likely to be divided in the UK.
"This year, as in previous years, Muslims in the UK will experience different dates for Ramadan and Eid al-Fitr," Ahmed told The New Arab.
"While mosques in the UK follow different dates from other countries, we can always expect this. The New Crescent Society is proposing that British Muslims 'bring the moon back home' and stop relying on news from overseas, and start observing the moon here in our own skies, bringing our calendar back to the community," he said.
Australia
More than 813,300 Australians will begin the month-long fast of Ramadan this week
The Australian National Imams Council (ANIC) has determined that the sun will set in Sydney at 7.32pm on Friday with the new moon visible at 7.44pm.
Ramadan will therefore begin on Saturday.
"The method used by the Grand Mufti of Australia and the Australian Fatwa Council to determine the start of Ramadan is based on the birth of the moon before sunset, the duration of the moon's setting after sunset and the probability of the moon being visible," the ANIC said in a statement, as quoted by 9 News.
"This is a method that has been adopted by many prominent and reputable Muslim scholars, councils and countries," the statement said.
Canada
Islamic Relief Canada said that, as in all countries, the confirmed date for Ramadan will depend on the sighting of the moon.
"Because the Islamic calendar is based on the lunar cycle, the holy month of Ramadan rotates around ten days each year," the source said.
Canada is home to more than 1.7 million Muslims.
"The proportion of Canadians who identify as Muslim has more than doubled in 20 years, rising from 2.0 per cent (579,640 people) in 2001 to 4.9 per cent (1,775,715 people) in 2021," Statistics Canada reported, as reported by Morocco World News.
United States
Muslims in the US are expected to begin fasting on March 1.
The Fiqh Council of North America predicts the crescent moon will be sighted on the evening of February 28, confirming March 1 as the start of Ramadan this year.
The council also predicts that Tarawih, the additional nightly prayers performed during the holy month, will begin on February 28, as reported by Morocco World News.
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