Pakistan’s Federal Minister for Science and Technology FawadChaudhrylaunched what he termed as the country’s first official ‘moonsighting’website and a calendar showing main Islamic dates and months for the next fiveyears based on scientific evidence.
The website, pakmoonsighting.pk, was launched on Sunday inan effort “to halt the moonsighting controversy” that rears its headin the country every year prior to religious festivals, reports Dawn news.
Named Moon Sighting Pakistan, the website features sectionssuch as a monthly ‘Hijri’ (Islamic) calendar for the next five years, aday-to-day lunar calendar against dates from the Gregorian calendar, and thedates on which the first day of every lunar month will fall.
Also available are the scientifically determined dates forall major Islamic festivals/days for the ongoing and next years. Readers canaccess year-wise data about the New Crescent Moon, monthly moon visibility mapsand monthly moon coordinates in major cities on the site as well.
Chaudhry had earlier this month announced that a mobilephone app was also under preparation by the scientific committee after whichpeople would also be able to sight the moon on their smartphones.
On May 3, the Minister had formed a committee of fiveexperts from the ministry of science and technology, Meteorological Departmentand the Pakistan Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (Suparco) todetermine moonsighting for key Islamic dates and months scientifically, puttingan end to the practice of looking for it physically through telescopes.