Office of Ayatollah Fadlullah Declared Eid al-Fitr on July 5

The Juristic Office at the Institution of Ayatollah Sayyed Muhammad Hussein Fadlullah (ra), issued a statement in which it declared that Tuesday, July 05, 2016 is the first of the month of Shawwal, hence Eid Al-Fitr.

Following is the text of the statement:

The astronomical data reveal that the new crescent (central conjunction) for the month of Shawwal 1437 H. will be born on Monday, July 04, 2016 A.D. at 11:01 a.m. (GMT) that is, at 14:01 p.m. Beirut time. It is impossible to sight it by the naked eye in any place in the world, except for the Polynesian islands. It can be sighted by the aid of telescopes in several regions of South America, such as Argentine, Bolivia, Chile and some Brazilian cities, and according to the jurisprudential opinion of the late Sayyed Fadlullah (ra), it is established that the new month has started, for it is enough to sight the crescent, even if by the aid of telescopes in any region in the world, provided that the other regions share a part of the night with the regions of sighting to maintain that the new month is established there too. Actually, this is a not a new issue whereby the follower should emulate a living religious authority, rather it is an issue in which the follower should continue to follow the opinion of his religious authority he continued to emulate, for the new issues are urgent issues that the late religious authority had no opinion in. As such, the first of the month of Shawwal will be on Tuesday, July 05, 2016 for the regions that share a part of the night with the regions where the crescent sighting is possible and on Wednesday 06/07/2016 for the regions that do not share a part of the night with the regions where the crescent sighting is possible, such as Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia, Indonesia, China and other regions located to the East of the globe.

We invoke Allah to bring us together over the good, guidance and piety and to accept our fast. We also pray that He enables the Islamic nation to maintain its unity, dignity and honor and the believers to fulfill and maintain all the duties that satisfy and please Him; He is All-Hearing and Responsive.

source:bayynat.org