UAE: Ramadan 1434 AH will start on July 10, 2013

Malam Lailatul QadarAccording to the announcement made by Sharjah Planetarium at the (United Arab Emirates) UAE Department of Culture and Information, the first day of islamic holy month of Ramadan is on July 10, 2013. The moon is born on July 8 at 11:14 but set at 19:08, five minutes before the sunset. Therefore, the crescent moon of Ramadan could only be sighted in the evening of July 9, making the 1st Ramadan starts on July 10.

The statement carried by the official news agency also added that 1st of Shawwal 1434 AH will be on August 9, 2013 which will be the day of Eid ul Fitr.

These dates are different from the calculated calendar of Ummul Qura, Saudi Arabia which sets both dates one day earlier. Apparently, the Planetarium used visibility of the crescent moon for local sighting in the UAE as the basis of the calculation.

Habib bin Hilal

Habib bin Hilal is Editor in Chief of this blog and manager of the website: Alhabib - Coloring with Islam.

Leave a Reply