AFP |
Imran Khan’s government has drawn the ire of Ruet-i-Hilal Committee with calls for a science-based lunar calendar to calculate the start of the holy fasting month of Ramadan in Pakistan, which faces an annual controversy over the date.
The beginning of the ninth and holiest month in the Muslim calendar – as well as the Eid holidays and the mourning month of Muharram – is determined by the sighting of the new moon. In Pakistan, a cleric-led “moonsighting committee” announces when the fasting should begin, but for decades it has faced disputes over the accuracy of its decision.
“Every year on the occasion of Ramadan, Eid and Muharram a controversy starts regarding moonsighting,” Pakistan’s science and technology minister, Fawad Chaudhry, explained in a video he tweeted on May 5 in which he recounted watching the committee use “old technology” – telescopes – to make their calculations.
The split is considered bad for national unity and social harmony – but years of efforts to reconcile Popalzai with the central committee have been in vain.
“When modern means are available and we can determine a final date, the question is why we should not use this latest technology?” he argued.
New “Scientific” Committee
His ministry will form a new committee of scientists, meteorologists and Pakistan’s space agency to calculate the correct dates for the next five years with “100 percent accuracy”.
پانچ رکنی کمیٹی قائم کی ہے جس میں سپارکو،محکمہ موسمیات اور سائنس اور ٹیکنالوجی کے ماھرین شامل ہوں گے یہ کمیٹی اگلے دس سال کے چاند، عیدین ، محرم اور رمضان سمیت دیگر اہم کیلنڈر کی تاریخ کا کیلنڈر جاری کرےگی۔ اس سے ہر سال پیدا ہونیوالا تنازعہ ختم ہو گا۔
— Ch Fawad Hussain (@fawadchaudhry) May 5, 2019
However the prime minister’s cabinet can reject the calendar, he added. In another tweet, he warned decisions on how the country should be run “cannot be left to the Maulana (clerics)”.
یہ فیصلہ کہ ملک کیسے چلنا ہے مولانا پر نہیں چھوڑا جا سکتا، اس رو سے پاکستان کا قیام ہی عمل میں نہ آتا کیونکہ تمام بڑے علماء تو پاکستان کے قیام کے مخالف تھے اور جناح صاحب کو کافر آعظم کہتے تھے، آگے کا سفر مولویوں نے نہیں نوجوانوں نے کرنا ہے اور ٹیکنالوجی ہی قوم کو آگے لیجا سکتی ہے https://t.co/HEXcJVWfTW
— Ch Fawad Hussain (@fawadchaudhry) May 5, 2019
“The journey ahead has to be undertaken by the youth, not mullahs, and only technology can take the nation forward.”
Mufti Muneeb-ur-Rehman, head of the moonsighting committee, warned that Chaudhry should stay in his lane and not to comment on serious religious issues. “I have appealed to Prime Minister Imran Khan that only the concerned minister should talk about religious matters,” he said in a press conference in Karachi.
Read more: Fawad Chaudhry’s tells ‘Moon’ sighting committee to enter the 21st Century
“Every minister who does not know the sensitivity of the religion does not understand it; they should not get the free license to comment on religious matters.” He also pointed out that the committee already has members from the space agency, and also works with the meteorological department.
Over the years the committee’s chief foe has been Maulana Shahabuddin Popalzai, an influential cleric based in Peshawar – the capital of northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province – who announces the start of Ramadan and Eid a day earlier than the moonsighting committee.
The split is considered bad for national unity and social harmony – but years of efforts to reconcile Popalzai with the central committee have been in vain. Chaudhry’s announcement has ignited an ongoing debate in Pakistan. Many social media users thanked the government for attempting to provide some clarity, but others saw the dark side.
Read more: Pakistan to Temporarily Defer Death Penalities during the Month of Ramazan
“This decision will further divide the nation,” complained one Twitter user, Mazhar Arshad, while another, who called himself Ezio Odyssey, warned that a “gang of ignorant has come to power”.
AFP with additional input by News Desk.