Muslims start fast Saturday

18/09/09
Story: Musah Yahaya Jafaru
Muslims in Ghana are to start this year’s Ramadan fast on Friday, August 21 or Saturday, August 22, 2009, depending on the first day that the moon will be sighted.
Thursday, August 20 is the first day for the sighting of the moon, and if the moon is sighted, Friday becomes the first day of fast, according to a communiqué issued by the National Hilal Committee at a two-day conference in Kumasi.
However, the communiqué said, if the moon was not sighted on Thursday, then Saturday becomes the automatic day for the start of the Ramadan fast.
The acting chairman of the National Hilal Committee, Sheikh Abdul Kadir Lomotey-Tagoe, who read the communiqué at a press conference in Accra yesterday, entreated Muslims to make it a point to sight the moon.
He said whoever sighted the moon in any part of the country was required to get a witness to confirm it. He is then supposed to inform the Regional Imam for onward relay to the National Chief Imam, Sheikh Osmanu Nuhu Sharubutu.
Sheikh Abdul Kadir said because of the difficulties in determining the exact date that the Ramadan fast ends, there was a difficulty in fixing the holiday for the Eid-ul-Fitr celebration.
Besides, he said, there were many Muslim professionals and public servants in other parts of the country who could not join their families to celebrate the day due to the uncertainty of the agreed date for the holiday and the fact that it was only a day’s celebration.
Therefore, Sheikh Abdul Kadir said, the conference agreed that a request would be made to the government through the National Chief Imam for the extension of the Eid-ul-Fitr holiday to two days.
“In an event of not getting an immediate response from government over the request, the National Chief Imam would officially announce the date of the end of the fast, pending the one-day public holiday enjoyed by Muslims in the country,” he said.
Sheikh Abdul Kadir said the conference requested the National Hilal Committee to liaise with the Information Services Department (ISD) and media organisations to disseminate the dates for the starting and ending of the fast.
The Public Relations Officer of the Council of Muslim Chiefs, Chief Imoro Baba Issa, stressed the need for the government to consider extending the Eid-ul-Fitr holiday to enable Muslim public servants serving in remote areas to join their families to celebrate the day.