Lebanon Sunnis to Mark Eid al-Fitr Monday, Most Shiites Tuesday
Grand Mufti Sheikh Mohammed Rashid Qabbani has announced that tomorrow, Monday is the first day of Eid al-Fitr, the Muslim holiday that marks the end of the holy fasting month of Ramadan, as Shiite religious authorities said Eid begins Tuesday.
“We have verified according to the rules of Sharia that (tomorrow,) Monday, July 28, 2014 A.D. is the first day of (the lunar Islamic month of) Shawwal 1435 A.H., and accordingly tomorrow, Monday is the first day of Eid al-Fitr,” Qabbani, who heads Lebanon's highest Sunni Muslim religious authority Dar al-Fatwa, announced in a statement.
Later on Sunday, Lebanon's Higher Islamic Shiite Council announced in a statement that Tuesday is the first day of Eid al-Fitr.
The statement was issued following a meeting chaired by the council's Deputy Head Sheikh Abdul Amir Qabalan and attended by a number of clerics.
"We have not verified that Shawwal's crescent moon has been sighted, which means that tomorrow, Monday is the last day of Ramadan and Tuesday is the first day of Eid al-Fitr,” said the statement.
Qabalan apologized for not receiving well-wishers this Eid “due to the dangerous situations in the region and in mourning over the souls of the martyrs in Gaza, Iraq, Syria and Lebanon.”
Meanwhile, the office of the official representative in Lebanon of Iran's supreme guide Ayatollah Ali Khamenei also announced that Eid will begin on Tuesday.
Last Monday, the juristic committee of the institution of late Lebanese Shiite scholar Sayyed Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah issued a statement in which it announced that Monday, July 28 is the first day of Eid al-Fitr.
According to Muslim tradition, it is the sighting with the naked eye of the new moon that signals the start of Eid al-Fitr.
Sunni religious authorities in Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Iraq, the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait have also announced that Eid al-Fitr begins Monday.
During the fasting month of Ramadan, Muslim believers abstain from eating, drinking, smoking and having sex from dawn until sunset.
Ramadan is sacred to Muslims because it is during that month that tradition says the Koran was revealed to the Prophet Mohammed.
The fast is one of the five main religious obligations under Islam.
Y.R.
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