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Saudis, Most Gulf Arabs to Start Eid Festival Friday

   VOA News 09 September 2010
   An elderly Palestinian Muslim man prays during 'fajr' or early morning
   prayers,  during  the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan in a mosque
   in the West Bank city of Ramallah, 23 Aug 2010

Photo: AP

   An elderly Palestinian Muslim man prays during 'fajr' or early morning
   prayers,  during  the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan in a mosque
   in the West Bank city of Ramallah, 23 Aug 2010

   Saudi  Arabia  and  most  Gulf  Arab  states  have announced they will
   celebrate  the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr on Friday to mark the end
   of the holy fasting month of Ramadan.
   Religious  councils  in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait
   and  other  Arab states said the moon's crescent was not sighted after
   nightfall  Wednesday,  meaning  there  will be one more day of fasting
   before the holy month comes to an end.
   Muslims  scan  the  sky at night in search of the new moon to proclaim
   the  start  of  the month in Islam's lunar calendar.  Like most major
   Islamic  events,  the  start  of  the  Eid festival depends on a lunar
   sighting.
   The timing of Eid can vary in different countries accordingly.
   Eid  al-Fitr  celebrates  the  purification  achieved  by  a  month of
   sunrise-to-sunset  fasting,  one  of the five pillars of Islam, and is
   marked by several days of festivities.

   Some information for this report was provided by AFP and Reuters.

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