Dharul ifta to declare start of Ramadan fasting

A LUNAR observation will be commissioned on Tuesday by the Dharul Ifta (House of Opinion) for the country’s Muslim communities to collectively establish a more precise reckoning of the first day of the fasting month of Ramadan this year.If a crescent moon would not appear visible by the naked eye, the collegial body of scholars would then decide that the first of the month-long daily fasting will start on Thursday, May 17.The rule is that if the new moon is not visible on the last day of Sa’aban (the eighth lunar month), then fasting starts on the following day, an associate of the local Dharul Ifta said.Ramadan is the ninth of the 12-month lunar-based Hijra calendar. Because of the cycle of the lunar calendar, the Muslim fasting period varies each year by approximately 11 days when counted along the months of the solar-based Gregorian calendar.Muslims elsewhere expect the start of Ramadan fasting Wednesday in Saudi Arabia and Thursday in the U.S. and in Europe — although information would ultimately come from the rule of the moon-sighting by the naked eye as prescribed by the Qur’an.Muslims fast from dawn to sunset, abstaining from food and water after the suhur, or the pre-dawn meal.Fasting is called sawm in Arabic and is one of the Five Pillars of Islam.The Qur’an saysand O! ye who believe… Fasting is prescribed unto you as it was prescribed unto those before you, that ye may learn self-restraint… (2:128).Fasting is not exclusive to Muslims. Books of the Old and New Testaments have accounts of fasting attributed to the prophets, as narrated in Matthew 16:16-18 Isaiah 58and 3-7 Psalm 69:10 Daniel 10:3 Luke 18:12.Aside from food and drink, Muslims couples acquiesce to self-restriction on sexual contact at daytime during Ramadan.Families and friends then gather for the iftar meal to break the fast after more than 14 hours. Many Muslims begin the meal by eating dates, the naturally preserved fruit of the biblical palm trees.Upholding the so-called intra-faith dialogue in some places, non-Muslims are normally invited to observe night prayers or to even join the iftar meals.