Shab-e-Barat will be observed on Apr 21, Islamic Foundation rules after complaint

Shab-e-Barat, a night for special prayers on the lunar Islamic calendar, will be observed on Apr 21 as the government has left the previous date unchanged after a review of complaints.

The Islamic Foundation announced the decision on Tuesday after a series of meetings.

The foundation had formed an 11-strong sub-committee to review the previous decision announced by the National Moon-Sighting Committee on Apr 6.

After a meeting on that day, State Minister for Religious Affairs Sheikh Md Abdullah said Shab-e-Barat, which falls on the 15th of Shaban, would be commemorated on the night of Apr 21 as the moon was not sighted.

Dates of ongoing HSC exams have also been changed in line with the announcement. 

Leaders of Mojlisu Ruiyatul Hilal, an organisation of Islamists, claimed that the moon for Shaban was sighted from Khagrhachharhi and different other places on Apr 6 but the authorities ignored the information.

The Islamic Foundation then invited the leaders of the organisation to a meeting set for Saturday to review their claim.

The leader of the group, however, set some conditions for the meeting instead of turning up, according to a press release from the foundation.

It said the previous decision has been kept unchanged as no witnesses came to claim the sighting of the moon.

It also said the condition for taking witnesses’ statements for setting date is baseless in line with Shariah or Islamic law.

The group of Islamists, Mojlisu Ruiyatul Hilal, however, refuted as “false” the Islamic Foundation claim that “no witness” came up with confirmed report of moon sighting.

In a press release, the organisation said they submitted a written statement signed by 17 people who had seen the Shaban moon on Apr 6, but the Foundation did not take cognisance of the statement as part of its “evil strategy to retain its previous decision”.

The Islamic Foundation “took the path of falsehood because it did not want to hear from the witnesses in the presence of lawyers and the media as demanded by the witnesses”, the organisation said.