A meeting of the Central Ruet-e-Hilal Committee is underway in Peshawar to sight the moon for Ramadan 2026, with zonal committees across the country also convened to collect testimonies of moon sightings.
Committee Chair Maulana Abdul Khabeer Azad had said the central body would meet at 4:30pm at the Auqaf Hall under Maulana Azad, while zonal Ruet-e-Hilal committees are simultaneously convening in Lahore, Karachi, Quetta and Islamabad to receive and scrutinise reports of moon sightings from their respective regions.
However, the central committee’s meeting was later rescheduled to begin after 5pm.
Ministry of Science and Technology, the Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD), and Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (Suparco) are also part of the committee and will assist the body in moon sighting.
The Suparco has forecast that the crescent for Ramadan 1447 Hijri is likely to be visible on February 18 (today) — making February 19 the expected first day of fasting.
It is estimated that at sunset on February 18, the moon’s age will be approximately 25 hours and 48 minutes. In coastal areas, the time difference between sunset and moonset is expected to be around 59 minutes, enhancing the chances of naked-eye sighting.
A day earlier, the Ramadan crescent was sighted in Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states, including the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Qatar and Kuwait, whose residents are observing their first fast today.
The countries reporting no sighting on Tuesday include Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, the Philippines, Japan, Turkiye, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, and Brunei.
The Muslim world welcomes Ramadan with deep religious devotion, as over a billion believers fast to practice patience, self-discipline, and generosity.
Islamic months last 29 or 30 days, with their start and end determined by the sighting of the crescent moon, so Ramadan does not fall on the same Gregorian date each year.
As the ninth month of the 12-month Islamic calendar — which is about 10 days shorter than the Gregorian year due to its lunar basis — Ramadan shifts annually across the Gregorian calendar.
This is a developing story and is being updated with further details.
