Daily Times

LAHORE:  Unlike the rest of the nation that started observing Ramazan from 28th and is awaiting Eid to be on June 26th, Monday, Mufti Shahbuddin Popalzai of Masjid Qasim in Peshawar continues to declare war against the orders of the Ruet-e Hilal Committee.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is all set to celebrate Eid on Sunday, June 25th and this has been branded as an un-Islamic thing to do by well-known religious scholar Mufti Saeed who said, “It is truly un-Islamic to celebrate Eidul Fitr without sighting the Shawwal moon and without an official announcement from the Central Ruet-e-Hilal Committee.”

So while the Central Ruet- e Hilal Committee will search for the Shawwal crescent on the 29th of Ramazan or June 25th, many people in KPK would have already celebrated Eid ul Fitr earlier that day.

According to the Pakistan Meteorological Department’s announcement, it is impossible to sight the Shawwal moon on Saturday, June 24th anywhere in Pakistan. The rift between the two Islamic authorities is not getting any better, with prominent scholars making statements against Mufti Popalzai’s committee.

Minister of State for Religious Affairs and Inter-Faith Harmony Pir Muhammad Amin-ul-Hasnat Shah said, “People living in other provinces of the country and Azad Jammu and Kashmir have no objection to celebrating Eidul Fitr, except for a specific group of people in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P),” and added that there was only a “certain group” that had turned the situation into an “ego issue”

Mufti Saeed who had declared the decision un- Islamic also urged the government to take strict action against the “evil people trying to lead the country towards disunity.”

However, not everyone agreed with this opinion, Mufti Mukhtar Ullah, the Administrator of Darul Uloom Haqqania in Akora Khattak was of the view that, “Celebrating Eidul Fitr whether by following the Popalzai committee or the Central Ruet-e-Hilal Committee will be Islamic.” He also added that science was not to be trusted as theories keep changing over time, “We believe in sighting the moon with the naked eye, and not on what science says,” he said.