NEW DELHI — Eid-ul-Adha will be celebrated in India on May 28 as the crescent moon marking the beginning of the Islamic month of Zil Hijja was not sighted on Sunday evening in most parts of the country, Muslim clerics said.
Unlike Eid-ul-Fitr, Eid-ul-Adha is observed on the 10th day after the sighting of the moon.
Shahi Imam of Fatehpuri Mosque in Delhi’s Chandni Chowk, Mufti Mukarram Ahmed, said religious authorities contacted different parts of the country regarding the sighting of the Zil Hijja moon on Sunday evening, but no confirmed reports were received from anywhere.
“In view of this, it has been decided that Eid-ul-Adha will be celebrated on May 28,” he told PTI.
Shahi Imam of Jama Masjid, Syed Shaban Bukhari, also announced in a video statement that Eid-ul-Adha would be observed on May 28, saying there were no reports of the moon being sighted anywhere in the country.
Eid-ul-Adha, also known as Bakrid, is observed two months and nine days after Eid-ul-Fitr.
Muslim organisation Imarat-e-Sharia Hind also said in a statement that no authenticated report of moon sighting was received from any part of the country and therefore Eid-ul-Adha would be celebrated on May 28.
According to Islamic belief, the festival commemorates Prophet Ibrahim’s willingness to sacrifice his son Ismail on Allah’s command, before the latter was granted life and a sacrificial animal was offered in his place.
During the three-day festival, members of the Muslim community offer sacrifice of animals permitted under Indian laws, according to their means. — (PTI)