Ramadan to start Tuesday in France and Tunisia, Saudi Arabia to sight the crescent Monday

The Grand Mosque of Paris has announced that the start of the month of Ramadan for the year 2021, 1442 AH, will begin in France on Tuesday April 13. In a statement published at the end of a meeting of the Coordination of its federations and a religious commission, the institution indicated that «the consultation of scientific calculations and universal astronomical data confirms that the first day of the holy month will be on that date».

In Saudi Arabia, the lunar crescent couldn’t been sighted on Sunday due to the weather conditions. Like the Awqaf ministry in Qatar, the Saudi Supreme Court said in a statement that this observation will take place again on Monday evening, in order to make an official statement.

COMMUNIQUÉ - La Coordination des fédérations (FFAIACA, GMP, @MF_Musulmans, @RMF_officiel)
réunies ce soir à la Grande Mosquée de Paris, annonçant le début du mois de Ramadan 2021 le mardi 13 avril 2021 : pic.twitter.com/DJI4MePqSA

— Grande Mosquée de Paris (@mosqueedeparis) April 11, 2021

In Tunisia, the Mufti of the Republic announced on Sunday evening that the next day will indeed mark the 30th of Chaabane and that Tuesday will thus be the first day of the month of fasting in the country. This is also the case in Egypt, Lebanon and Iraq at the Sunni Endowment Office, where religious leaders have reported the impossibility of observing the lunar crescent today and that the first day of the week will thus mark the end of Chaabane.

اجتمعت اللجنة اليوم ونظراً لعدم ثبوت دخول شهر شعبان مساء يوم 29 رجب، فلم يتقدم اليوم أحدُ للإدلاء بالشهادة
وعليه رأت اللجنة استمرار عملها، وإعادة تحري الرؤية يوم غدً.#وزارة_الأوقاف#انا_ملتزم_بالكمامة

— وزارة الأوقاف - قطر (@AwqafM) April 11, 2021

The observation committee in the United Arab Emirates said it was holding a videoconference meeting on Monday after the Maghrib prayer to observe the lunar crescent. This committee will be chaired by Sultan Saeed Al Badi Al Dhaheri, Minister of Justice. Sharia courts will also participate in the moon-sighting process and inform the committee of their findings.

The Ministry of Awqaf in Yemen said, for its part, to have formed «a committee of astronomers, judges and scholars», which decided to observe the crescent on Monday.