PMD says, 'good chance' of Muharram moon sighting on Aug 20

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) has predicted a ‘good chance’ of sighting the moon of Muharram on the evening of August 20.

The weather department in its statement said that the new moon of Muharram, 1442 AH, will born on crossing conjunction point at 07:42 Pakistan Standard Time (PST) on August 19.

According to astronomical parameters, there is good chance of sighting the new moon of
Muharram on the evening of August 20 (Thursday) i.e. on 29th of Zilhaj, 1441 AH, the PMD said.

According to climate record, the weather is expected to be cloudy or partly cloudy in most
parts of the country on that evening.

A meeting of Central Ruet-e-Hilal Committee in connection with the sighting of the moon of Zilhaj, 1441 AH is expected to be held on Thursday (August 20) evening.

The meeting of Zonal and District Ruet-e-Hilal committees also expected to be held on that evening for collecting evidence in respect of sighting of the new moon.

In Islamic lunar calendar Muharram is the first month of the year thus the new year begins with sighting of the crescent of this month.

It is to be mentioned here that the Ministry of Science and Technology has developed the moon sighting app ‘Ruet’ and federal officials have said that sighting the new moon is not an issue anymore.