Oman announces expected Eid date, Bangladesh awaits moon sighting

Bangla Press Desk:   Devout Muslims across the world are observing the holy month of Ramadan through fasting. Meanwhile, Oman, a Middle Eastern country, has already announced the probable date for Eid-ul-Fitr, one of the two largest religious festivals for Muslims.

The Islamic calendar is a lunar one, so the beginning of each Hijri month depends on a sighting of the crescent moon that takes part on the 29th of the previous month. This means that Oman will sight Shawwal's crescent moon on Thursday, 19 March. Shwwal is the month that follows Ramadan and Shawwal 1 is the first day of Eid-ul-Fitr.

In Oman, the public holiday for Eid-ul-Fitr starts on Ramadan 29, which corresponds this year to Thursday, 19 March and lasts until Shawwal 3. And if the first day of either Eid-ul-Fitr or Eid-ul-Azha falls on a Friday, residents get an extra day off as compensation, as per decree 88/2022 determining the official holidays in the Gulf country.

Several local media outlets in Oman have reported that Eid-ul-Fitr in the Sultanate will likely start on Friday, 20 March as per astronomical calculations.

This means that the public holiday will be from Thursday, 19 March  to Sunday, 22 March 22 and residents will be entitled to an extra day off on Monday, 23 March, giving them a long 5-day break.

However, the exact dates for Eid-ul-Fitr will be confirmed after the sighting of the crescent moon in Oman.

Meanwhile, according to the list of public holidays approved by the government of Bangladesh, the official holiday for Eid-ul-Fitr in 2026 will be five days. Subject to the sighting of the moon, Eid-ul-Fitr is likely to be observed on 21 March (Saturday). Source: daily Sun

BP/TD