Shady Abdel Hafez
Every year, Muslims around the world await the announcement of the relevant legal authorities for the dates of the sighting of the Shawwal crescent, and specialists go out to search for the crescent before sunset on the 29th of Ramadan, each in their country.
There was almost an Arab consensus on the date for fasting Ramadan this year, as Friday began on April 24 making the day of vision is Friday May 22, but some countries (Oman, Sudan, the Kingdom of Morocco and many African countries) started fasting on Saturday, April 25 / April, which means that her day of vision will be Saturday 23 of this month.
Seeing the crescent.
The Islamic calendar for determining the date of the beginning of the Hijri months depends on the standard of vision. Some countries may differ in the mechanism of vision.
It is well known that the moon’s cycle begins with the moon standing next to the sun, before the moon is under the sun on the western horizon, then it stands next to it at the moment of conjunction, then skips it to the top, and this pairing occurs at exactly 20:39 Doha time on Friday, May 22.
This means that the moon will be basically below the horizon when the specialists exit to see in the countries that will try to see the crescent on Friday, which makes the vision impossible, and therefore these countries - according to the announcement of the Qatari calendar house - will complete several days of Ramadan 30 days and the start of Shawwal Sunday, May 24 / May.
As for the countries that will come out to see the crescent on Saturday, there is a great possibility to see the crescent with the naked eyes after sunset, and from the telescope it will be clear, which means that they will be announced the next day in the month of Shawwal, which will coincide with May 24 also, and thus the Arab countries agree new.
Global agreement
According to the International Astronomy Center, this consensus may be global, because seeing the crescent will be impossible or not possible all over the world on the evening of Friday, May 22, which means that the countries of the world that will come out of the vision will be announced the next day in order to complete the month of Ramadan.
Likewise, seeing the crescent will be possible on Saturday, May 23, whether through the bare eyes or through the telescope, in all countries of the world, which means that it will tend to consider the day following the start of the month of Shawwal.
The European Fatwa Council agrees with these results, as it announced in a recent statement that the accurate astronomical calculations of the Shawwal crescent 1441 AH confirm that it is impossible to see the crescent after sunset on Friday, and it can be seen Saturday, May 23 in the Americas, Africa, the Middle East and most of Europe.