Pakistan to observe first Ramadan 2026 fast on Thursday

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan will observe the first day of Ramadan 2026 on Thursday after the crescent moon for the holy month was sighted, Central Ruet-e-Hilal Committee Chairman Maulana Abdul Khabeer Azad announced on Wednesday.

Reports of moon sighting testimonies began coming in around 6:30pm, with sources saying at least 40 testimonies were received from across the country.

Witness accounts were reported from different areas of Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The committee meeting was held in Peshawar at around 5pm, while zonal committees across Pakistan also convened to gather evidence of the crescent sighting.

Officials from the Ministry of Science and Technology, the Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD), and the Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (Suparco) were part of the process and assisted in confirming the moon sighting.

Suparco had earlier forecast that the Ramadan 1447 Hijri crescent would be visible on Wednesday.

Pakistan will begin observing Ramadan 2026 on the same day as Bangladesh and India, where the crescent moon was also sighted.

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Several Gulf countries, including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar, marked the first day of Ramadan on Wednesday after sighting the crescent a day earlier.

Meanwhile, countries reporting no sighting on Tuesday included Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, the Philippines, Japan, Türkiye, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore and Brunei.

Ramadan is welcomed across the Muslim world with deep devotion, as more than a billion Muslims fast to practice patience, self-discipline and generosity.

Islamic months last 29 or 30 days depending on the sighting of the crescent moon, meaning Ramadan shifts annually across the Gregorian calendar due to the lunar nature of the Islamic calendar.