The photo has been used for illustrative purposes.

The International Astronomy Centre explained that seeing the crescent of Shawwal on Monday was impossible from all regions of the Islamic world because of the moon setting before the sun and because of the conjunction occurring after sunset.

The Centre said on its website that seeing the crescent on Tuesday is possible with the naked eye from many regions of the Islamic world.

The Centre pointed out that it should be noted that many jurists and astronomers believe that there is no need to look for the crescent after sunset on Monday, because the moon is not present in the sky at that time, and therefore seeing the crescent is absolutely impossible on that day from those areas, and this is known in advance from definitive scientific calculations, one of the recommendations of the Second Astronomical Conference, which was attended by jurists and decision-makers from many Islamic countries, was the following: “If astronomy determines that conjunction does not occur before sunset or that the moon sets before the sun on the twenty-ninth day of the month, then the calls for searching for the crescent moon.”

The jurists have agreed that there is no contradiction between this recommendation and the Sunnah of the Messenger, (PBUH), to look for the crescent, as this recommendation relates only to cases in which we know in advance that the moon is not present in the sky based on conclusive data, and among the jurists who called for such a recommendation even before the conference is held by His Eminence Sheikh Abdullah Bin Muni’, a member of the Council of Senior Scholars in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and an advisor to the Royal Court. In addition, this recommendation is of course approved in some Islamic countries that rely on the sighting of the crescent as a basis for the start of the Hijri month.