Kashmir's Grand Mufti has formed a committee to settle the dispute regarding the sighting of the Ramadan Moon, with Mirwaiz Kashmir Moulvi Umar Farooq as a member.
For nearly 1500 years, designated Muslim witnesses have spotted the crescent Moon to mark the beginning of every lunar month. The crescent Moon also determines the date for the beginning of the holy month of Ramzan and Eid-ul-Fitr in the following month of Shawal (the 10th month in the Islamic calendar).
In Kashmir, the ruling is that the sighting of the Moon is done by the Grand Mufti, which despite being a self-appointed position, is accepted by the government of Jammu and Kashmir.
The Grand Mufti told Sputnik that the committee has been made to tackle ‘differing’ views on the sighting of the Ramadan Moon in the Himalayan region last year.
The presence of the Mirwaiz, who heads the Hurriyat Conference - a prominent separatist conglomerate - is unprecedented in a committee that associates with the government of Jammu and Kashmir.
Neither the government in Jammu and Kashmir nor the Mirwaiz issued an official comment regarding the development.
The Committee
Committee members have been asked to remain in constant touch with each other to articulate the witness statements.
“Once any witness is received, the members are supposed to testify the reliability and if deemed proper are to accordingly share and convey it to the Grand Mufti J&K (Mufti Nasir-ul-Islam Farooqi) or to any member of the constituted committee,” the communication with Sputnik reads.
The communiqué also listed the names of Muslim Personal Law Board members from different parts of Jammu and Kashmir, who would remain in touch with Grand Mufti J&K Mufti Nasir-ul-Islam Farooqi on March 10 to report any possible sighting of the crescent.
“The move has been done to create a consensus among people of Jammu and Kashmir. It is not a committee created by the government as claimed by some news websites,” Islam told Sputnik.
'Differing Views'
Each year, the Jammu and Kashmir region ends up following the Moon sighting ruling in Pakistan and the exercise is largely seen as an affirmation of Pakistani rule.
Although Indian authorities haven’t objected to this so far, owing to the geographical proximity of Kashmir and Pakistan, some government officials in the past expressed concerns over Kashmir celebrating Eid with Islamabad rather than New Delhi.
In 2020, controversy erupted in a leading educational institute in Kashmir between local and non-local students after the former made remarks about Kashmir and Pakistan celebrating Eid on the same day.
The newly formed committee that will now be conducting the exercise is largely seen as a departure from following Pakistani ruling without doing due diligence.
“It is better to come to a consensus on the ground instead of following Moon sighting ruling by places far from Kashmir,” one official remarked without going into the specifics.