Muslims plan more subdued holiday

Eid celebration falls close to 9/11

Millions of Muslims gather in Mecca for Eid

Two Eids in Pakistan – again

Chairman Central Ruet-e-Hilal Committee Mufti Munibur Rehman has announced that Shawwal moon has not been sighted and Eidul Fitr will be celebrated on Saturday.

He made the announcement while addressing the media after the Central Ruet-e-Hilal Committee meeting for the sighting of Shawwal moon.

However, following Rehman’s conference, Mufti Popalzai, head of the controversial Masjid Qasim Ali Khan in Peshawar, announced the sighting of the Eid moon – claiming that they had received a number of Shahadats (testimonies).

His announcement was backed by senior provincial minister Bashir Bilour, who said that the province of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa will be celebrating Eid on Friday (today).

Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Lebanon are set to celebrate Eidul Fitr on Friday. The Supreme Court in Saudi Arabia ruled that since the Shawwal moon was not sighted on Wednesday, Eid would fall on Friday.

Most of the Gulf countries follow the lead of Saudi Arabia to set the day of the Eid feast.

More than three million Muslims were gathering in the holy city of Mecca on Thursday, ahead of the Eid holiday that marks the end of the Ramadan month of fasting.

Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah will join tens of thousands of worshippers for prayers at dawn on Friday at the main mosque in Mecca, Islam's holiest site, to begin the three-day long Eid al-Fitr.

Each year on Eid al-Fitr, the end of the Ramadan month of fasting, 8,000 to 10,000 Muslims stream into the Muslim Community Center in Silver Spring, Md.,US. in shifts for special Eid services, followed by food, singing, dancing, and henna decorating to celebrate one of Islam’s most festive holidays.

Eid, like other Muslim events, is calculated on a lunar calendar and occurs slightly earlier each year. This week, depending on when in August one started fasting, it is either on the 9th, 10th, or 11th.

Particularly, people are taking care not to do any celebrations on the day of 9/11, because it is a day of tragedy, and we have to be sensitive.