Eid al-Fitr 2025: Does Saudi Arabia report impossible moon sightings?
Another year and another moon-sighting controversy beckons within the Muslim community as the end of Ramadan approaches.
Astronomers say the crescent moon heralding the Islamic festival of Eid al-Fitr will not be visible from most of the world, including the Middle East, on Saturday 29 March, when many are expected to look for it.
But many believe that regardless of a sighting or lack thereof, Saudi Arabia may declare Eid for Sunday anyway.
For years, the kingdom - home to Islam's holiest sites - has been accused by critics of 'faking' some of its sightings of the moon by reporting them on days when scientists and astronomers insist it is impossible to see it. Saudi authorities have never responded to these criticisms.
So what is behind the controversy?
New MEE newsletter: Jerusalem Dispatch
Sign up to get the latest insights and analysis on Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and other MEE newsletters
Muslims follow the lunar calendar, which consists of 12 months lasting between either 29 or 30 days.
The end of the fasting month of Ramadan depends on the sighting (or lack thereof) of the crescent moon.
'Not even water?': Five Ramadan questions you may be too embarrassed to ask Read More »
Some countries rely on local moon sighters to spot the new crescent, while many leave it to Saudi Arabia to call it.
In countries without official moon-sighting bodies, like the UK, many Muslims also follow Saudi Arabia's lead, although some religious scholars in the kingdom have urged people elsewhere not to do so.
According to the kingdom's pre-determined calendar, the first day of Shawwal, Eid al-Fitr, will be this Sunday 30 March.
Yet astronomers say it will be impossible to see the moon - even with optical aid, such as telescopes - on Saturday.
Many Muslim-majority countries are expected to celebrate on the same day as Saudi Arabia, while others are likely to look for the moon on Sunday and declare Eid for Monday.
This follows a series of controversies in previous years.
'I challenge anyone to photograph it'
In April 2023, astronomers questioned the Saudi sighting of the moon for Eid al-Fitr, saying it had been scientifically impossible for the moon to be seen.
On 20 April that year, as Saudi Arabia's moon-sighting committee was looking for the moon, prominent Kuwaiti astronomer Adel al-Saadoun declared that it was 'impossible to see the crescent this evening' in the Arabian Peninsula.
'I challenge anyone who sees it to photograph it as evidence,' he added. But shortly afterwards, Eid was officially declared in Saudi Arabia.
Many observers called on Saudi authorities to produce a picture of the moon.
No official image was provided, although Saudi astronomer Mulham al-Hindi posted an image of the faintest outline of a moon that he claimed was taken using a charge-coupled device (CCD) infrared camera.
Last year, in 2024, Saudi Arabia announced on 6 June that Eid ul-Adha (the second Eid of the year) would commence in ten days after the new crescent moon for the month of Dhu al-Hijjah was sighted.
That was despite astronomical bodies insisting it was impossible for the moon to have been sighted.
Impossible to see the moon on 29 March
This year, the Qatar Calendar House has forecast that the moon will reach its conjunction with the sun on Saturday 29 March.
But the moon will not be visible in Saudi Arabia or in Britain that day, even with the use of optical aid, according to His Majesty's Nautical Almanac Office in the UK.
The government body, which produces astronomical data, has said that the crescent will be 'easily visible' the following day, on Sunday.
The UAE-based International Astronomy Centre has likewise explained that in the Middle East it will be impossible to see the crescent on Saturday, even with new technology.
'For countries that require the correct sighting of the crescent moon, Ramadan is expected to last 30 days and Eid al-Fitr is expected to fall on Monday March 31,' the IAC said in a recent report.
But it pointed out that because the moon will reach its conjunction with the sun on Saturday, 'it is not unlikely that some countries will declare Eid Al Fitr on Sunday, March 30.'
Ramadan: Why some UK Muslims stopped following Saudi Arabia's moon sighting Read More »
Saudi Arabia uses a calendar called the Umm al-Qura, which is based on calculations and marks key dates years in advance.
According to the Umm al-Qura calendar, the first day of the month of Shawwal - the day of Eid al-Fitr - will fall on Sunday 30 March.
This is why many experts predict that the Saudi authorities will declare Eid for Sunday, regardless of the crescent's visibility on Saturday.
Imad Ahmed is founder and director of the New Crescent Society, an astronomy society which specialises in the Islamic calendar in the UK.
Ahmed, who is doing a PhD at Cambridge University on the Islamic calendar, runs an astronomy programme with the Royal Observatory in Greenwich.
'We have noticed that Saudi are very willing to produce moon-sightings which are scientifically impossible,' Ahmed told MEE.
'They do so regularly, and we can predict them because they mostly match the Umm al-Qura calendar, which doesn't match lunar visibility.
'The same two or three moon sighters in specific locations in Saudi claim to see the moon every year. No one else makes the claim.'
Pre-calculated Eid
Saudi Arabia is not the only country to use a calendar based on calculations - Turkey does so too.
'Turkey's calendar is pre-calculated and their formula is more or less the same as Saudi Arabia's,' Ahmed explained.
'But they're transparent. They don't claim they've seen the moon, like Saudi do. They're clear about what their formula is.'
'The moon will be impossible to see in Saudi, because it will be too thin and too low on the horizon for there to be sufficient light coming from it'
- Imad Ahmed, New Crescent Society
So what about this Saturday?
'It will be scientifically impossible to see the moon in Saudi Arabia, all of Europe, Asia and Africa,' Ahmed said.
'The moon will be impossible to see in Saudi, because it will be too thin and too low on the horizon for there to be sufficient light coming from it. Even a telescope could not detect it.'
Saudi Arabia is not alone in its methods. Several other countries in the region, including Egypt, Kuwait and the UAE, customarily declare Eid on the same day as Saudi Arabia.
Other countries, like Oman and Jordan, often celebrate on the same day but on occasion do not.
In 2024, both Oman and Jordan did not accept Saudi Arabia's sighting on Sunday 10 March for Ramadan, and began fasting on Tuesday 12 March instead.
Shia-majority Iran, which has an official moon-sighting taskforce, began Ramadan a day after Saudi Arabia this year, and will look for the crescent on Sunday.
Divided communities in the UK
In countries like the UK, Muslims celebrate Eid on different days. While many follow Saudi Arabia, others look to Morocco - which is the nearest Muslim-majority country and never follows Saudi Arabia's lead.
But increasing numbers of British Muslims are opting for local moon sighting.
Ahmed's New Crescent Society carries out sightings across the country and aims to gather support for a unified Islamic calendar for Britain.
'Our goal is to unite the Muslims of the UK. We're trying to bring the moon back home'
- Imad Ahmed
'For decades in the UK we've celebrated on different days,' Ahmed said.
'We even have families who don't celebrate on the same day. It's caused hurt and division. Our goal is to unite the Muslims of the UK. We're trying to bring the moon back home.'
In the past, many Muslims commonly believed that the moon could not be seen in Britain due to cloudy weather. But that perception is changing.
'We don't need to outsource moon sighting,' Ahmed explained.
'And the younger generation of Muslims are interested in the notion of unity and an end to division, particularly after Gaza.'
Meanwhile in Saudi Arabia, whose government has never engaged with critics of its moon-sighting practices, it remains possible that the moon-sighting committee will say they have not seen the moon on Saturday, and that Eid will not be declared until Sunday 30 March.
This would mean a diversion from Saudi Arabia's pre-determined calendar, which many would see as a historic shift in policy.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Middle East Eye
14 hours ago
- Middle East Eye
Blood or bread: Surviving Israel's vicious hunger regime in Gaza
Gaza's tragedy is not limited to the visible victims of massacres or the destruction of homes and cities. Alongside these horrors, Palestinians endure an unbearable level of psychological and social exhaustion, the result of a systematic Zionist policy designed to turn life in Gaza into a living hell. Even basic daily routines now demand extraordinary resilience. The simple act of survival has become a form of heroism. For more than 100 consecutive days, the Zionist colonial regime has employed one of the most vile and despicable methods of warfare ever conceived: depriving children, women and men of the most essential requirement for survival - food. Since 2 March 2025, the Israeli occupation army has closed Gaza's border crossings and entirely prohibited the entry of food, medicine or fuel. New MEE newsletter: Jerusalem Dispatch Sign up to get the latest insights and analysis on Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and other MEE newsletters Even prior to that date, the limited number of trucks allowed in failed to meet basic needs. But Israel exploited the world's acclimatisation to this collective punishment regime and escalated it, enforcing a total ban on food supplies. Empty shelves Palestinians in Gaza survived on the last remnants of flour and stored goods. But as the days dragged on, most items ran out. The few remaining became astronomically expensive - their prices skyrocketing 20 to 30 times. The majority of the population can no longer afford these extortionate prices. Parents are forced to ignore the cries of their hungry children and urge them to sleep on empty stomachs. Many can barely manage to secure a single, poor-quality meal per day, often a dish from a charitable soup kitchen. I ask the seller to place the biscuit in a black wrapper. He says he has none. So I hide the biscuit in my pocket like a thief But those kitchens, too, rely on border crossings to replenish their supplies. With them sealed, they resorted to existing stockpiles, which are also now running out. As a result, most have been forced to cease operations. Markets are nearly bare, with only a few stalls displaying a limited selection of items. Each morning, I walk more than 3km in search of anything edible. The era of relative comfort - when one could go out and buy a specific item from a nearby shop - is over. Now, we walk long distances not to buy, but to find out if anything can be bought at all. "Anything" in my case means a loaf of bread, a packet of biscuits, a few falafel balls - nothing more. Sometimes, I circle the market two or three times before giving up and returning to my tent. If I happen to spot something potentially purchasable, the second step is to brace myself before asking the price. Regardless of one's expectations, the answer is likely to be shocking. For example, a biscuit that once cost one shekel rose to three, then five, then 10, then 20. A chocolate bar that once cost five shekels ($1.40) climbed to 15, then 30, then 50, then 100 - before vanishing altogether. A sack of flour that once sold for $10 now costs $1,000. Stolen meals One of the most painful sights is the way children's eyes follow the goods on display. These are children whose parents cannot provide even the bare minimum, let alone what has now become a luxury. War on Gaza: How Israel is replicating Nazi starvation tactics Read More » I cannot bear their gazes. I can do very little to help. That is why, when I buy something like a biscuit, I ask the seller to place it in a black wrapper. He says he has none. So I hide the biscuit in my pocket like a thief. It is an uncomfortable feeling, but reality imposes a tremendous inner conflict. That biscuit might be my only meal of the day, and the number of children bearing the visible marks of deprivation far exceeds my ability to help. But the disappearance of goods and astronomical prices are not the only problems. There is also a severe cash shortage. For more than a year, banks in Gaza have been completely shut down. The occupying government has blocked the injection of liquidity that would enable people to carry out basic transactions. This is no accident - it is part of a broader effort to drive people to the brink. This war on liquidity has strangled people's ability to buy and sell. Traders have become excessively strict, scrutinising banknotes and coins, often refusing to accept them on the grounds that they are worn, scratched or slightly torn. This adds yet another layer to the psychological exhaustion. One might finally locate an item at a relatively "moderate" price - only 10 times the normal rate - only for the transaction to collapse because the seller refuses the buyer's money. Follow Middle East Eye's live coverage of the Israel-Palestine war Gone are the days when a seller would kindly say, "Take it now and pay later." Harsh conditions have replaced kindness with severity. If someone argues, "I didn't print this banknote - it came from the market and will return to it," the seller replies that another trader won't accept it either. In those moments, a person may feel an overwhelming urge to argue or even shout: "Why are you creating new problems? Are the ones imposed by the occupation not enough?" These are the daily battles faced in Gaza - not isolated frustrations, but constant, grinding confrontations. Cash war Recently, an even more alarming trend has emerged: traders now deduct a so-called "commission" in exchange for providing cash. Before the war, this fee had never exceeded 1 percent. Now, with banks closed and liquidity scarce, it has risen to five, then 15, 25, 40 - even 50 percent. Another example of the madness is how traders now compete with the people for their own money, leaving them with scraps. This war has exposed the greed of those merchants who exploit death to enrich themselves. This war on liquidity has strangled people's ability to buy and sell - sometimes a listed price vanishes at the till because worn notes are rejected But we must not lose sight of the real architect of this collapse: the Zionist extermination authorities, who have deliberately drained Gaza of cash in order to make life utterly unviable. After a wave of international condemnation from western governments over Israel's starvation policy, the extermination authorities adopted a new trick. They claimed they would allow some aid trucks into Gaza. After days of delay, a few lorries were permitted entry, barely meeting two percent of the population's needs. Then, during their journey, Israel bombed the security personnel escorting them, killing them, while looters attacked the aid under Israeli air force cover. This tactic - bombing escorts - has been repeated dozens of times. It is a clear signal that Israel is intentionally promoting social collapse and looting in Gaza. Aid as target Israel claims to be fighting Hamas's control over food supplies - a blatant lie that easily falls apart under scrutiny. The entities responsible for distribution are globally trusted, including the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (Unrwa) and the World Food Programme. Since the start of this genocidal war, these organisations have proven their ability to distribute aid swiftly and effectively. But Israel's goal has shifted: it no longer seeks to merely "manage" the population - it wants to suffocate Palestinian society entirely, waging war on international humanitarian organisations in the process. Thus, it has adopted a policy of "permission to enter, not to deliver". A few trucks are allowed in - just enough to maintain a public relations cover - while those same trucks are blocked from reaching the warehouses of UN agencies for organised distribution. Israel has fully invested in generating chaos and societal collapse. With the repeated targeting of security escorts guarding aid trucks and worsening starvation, Gaza's social fabric is unravelling at a terrifying pace. The hungry now flood truck routes, attacking the lorries in a desperate bid to acquire flour or any other available food item. In this hopeless scramble, new victims fall daily, crushed in the chaos or attacked by armed gangs. These gangs, reading Israel's signal, now raid trucks and hoard the contents to sell back at extortionate prices to the starving population. Collapse by design The current equation in Gaza is brutally simple: To feed themselves or their children, people are left with only two options - either be wealthy enough to pay $1,000 for a sack of flour, or join an armed gang. And even then, success is not guaranteed - it may simply mean being shot by a rival group. Israel is starving Gaza to death, and still the world does nothing Mads Gilbert Read More » Israel has used every vile method imaginable to wage war on Gaza and render it uninhabitable: killing people with missiles, medical denial, starvation and now societal collapse. It is driving people to the edge, forcing them into a battle for food. How are decent people - those who sit in tents with their hungry children - supposed to survive this nightmare? How are they to compete with gangs and criminals for a loaf of bread for their families? Israel's message to the people of Gaza is clear: "If you want to survive starvation, you must become savages. You must abandon your humanity entirely. That's exactly what we expect of you." The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Eye.
Sharjah 24
a day ago
- Sharjah 24
Rulers of Emirates condole Saudi King on death of Faisal bin Turki
The messages were sent by Their Highnesses the Rulers, His Highness Sheikh Humaid bin Rashid Al Nuaimi of Ajman, His Highness Sheikh Hamad bin Mohammed Al Sharqi of Fujairah, His Highness Sheikh Saud bin Rashid Al Mu'alla of Umm Al Qaiwain, and His Highness Sheikh Saud bin Saqr Al Qasimi of Ras Al Khaimah. Their Crown Princes and Deputy Rulers also sent similar messages of condolences to the Saudi King.
Middle East Eye
2 days ago
- Middle East Eye
Islam is world's fastest-growing religion, new Pew study finds
The number of Muslims grew more than all other religions combined, making Islam the fastest-growing religion over the decade between 2010 and 2020, a new study by the Pew Research Center has found. Pew's Global Religious Landscape study, released on Monday, attributed the growth of Islam to natural demographic growth. It also concluded that at the global level, Muslim population change had "little to do with people converting into or out of the faith". "Muslims have more children and are younger, on average, than members of any other major religion," the study said. "Based on data for the 2015-2020 period, we estimated a Muslim woman would have 2.9 children, on average, in her lifetime, compared with 2.2 children per non-Muslim woman," the report added. The study, which examined how global religious composition changed between 2010 and 2020, concluded that while Christianity remained the world's largest religion, comprising 2.3 billion people, the gap between the proponents of Islam and Christianity continued to shrink. According to the study, the world's Christian population decreased by about 1.8 percent since 2010. New MEE newsletter: Jerusalem Dispatch Sign up to get the latest insights and analysis on Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and other MEE newsletters Regional changes The increase in the number of Muslims in the world was concentrated primarily in Muslim-majority countries. Islam saw the largest growth relative to other religions in Kazakhstan, Benin, and Lebanon, while the share of Muslims in Oman and Tanzania decreased. The quiet migration: Why Muslims are leaving India in staggering numbers Read More » The percentage of religiously unaffiliated people grew particularly steeply in the US, with an increase of 97 percent from 2010. The majority of religiously unaffiliated people live in China, where 1.3 billion people are not affiliated with any religion. Pew's analysis found that Christians were still a majority in 60 percent of all countries and territories surveyed. However, Christianity decreased by at least five percent in 40 countries, while only significantly increasing in one. Pew attributed part of this decline to people leaving Christianity, by measuring the number of adults who changed their religion to one different than the one they were raised in. Between 2010 and 2020, for every one adult that joined Christianity, three left. For the religiously unaffiliated, the opposite was true. For every one adult who stopped being unaffiliated religiously, three more became religiously unaffiliated. Both Buddhism and Hinduism also saw more adults leave their religion than join it. Islam was the only religion where more adults joined than left. The growth of Islam Islam is the world's second-largest religion, with around two billion people, or around a quarter of the world's population. It grew by nearly 350 million people since 2010, almost three times as much as Christianity and more than all other religions combined. There are also nearly two billion religiously unaffiliated people, an increase of 270 million people since 2010. They were the only category, along with Muslims, to grow relative to other religions as a share of the world's population. Hinduism, the world's third-largest religion, with 1.2 billion people, grew by 126 million people. However, its percentage of the world's population remained unchanged. The number of people belonging to other religions, such as Sikhism and Baha'i, grew to around 200 million people, or 2.2 percent of the world's population. Judaism grew by nearly a million people, and remained around 0.2 percent of the world's population. Buddhism was the only major religion to have fewer people in 2010 than in 2020, with a decrease of 18.6 million people. It fell from around five percent to four percent of the world's population.
