Srinagar, After last year’s controversy over the sighting of the new moon, the Grand Mufti of Jammu and Kashmir has announced the formation of an advisory committee of top religious scholars to validate the moon sighting claims for the holy month of Ramazan and Eid- ul- Fitr.
The advisory committee will be headed by Grand Mufti, Nasir ul Islam, and Kashmir’s chief cleric Mirwaiz Umar Farooq will be one among the ten members.
Last year, a major confusion prevailed in the Valley after an announcement was made by Kashmir’s Grand Mufti that the Ramazan moon was not sighted anywhere in Kashmir. However, the majority of the people in Kashmir followed the decision of the Ruet-e-Hilal (moon-sighting committee) of Pakistan to keep fast.
People in Kashmir over the years have traditionally followed the decisions of the Ruet-e-Hilal Pakistan for Ramazan and Eid.
After the controversy last year, the chairperson of J&K’s Waqf Board, Darakhshan Andrabi, who is a BJP leader, said that the board will constitute its own high-tech Ruet-e-Hilal Committees for Jammu and Kashmir for moon sighting.
The Grand Mufti said they have already constituted a Ruet-e-Hilal committee and the final announcement of the sighting of the Ramazan and Eid moon will be announced after consultation with the advisory committee.
“The scholars of the committee will discuss the reliability of witnesses before making the final announcement,” Grand Mufti said.
The advisory committee will now meet on March 11 to decide on Ramazan crescent.
Besides Mirwaiz, the other top scholars part of the committee include Moulvi Rehmatullah Mir Qasmi of Darul Uloom Raheemiya; Moulvi Ghulam Rasool Haami of Karwaan-e-Islam International; Hujjat-ul-Islam Agha Hassan Al-mousvi Al-safavi; Fayaz Ahmad Rizvi Vice President Sout-ul-Auliya; Syed Shabir Geelani President Saadat International; Syed Aslam Andrabi Vice President Muslim Personal Law Board; Masroor Abbas Ansari President Itehad-ul-Muslimeen; Nazir Ahmad Qadri from Jammu and Moulana Abdul Hameed Nayeemi.
