The start of Ramadan 2022 has been heralded as the new moon sighting in Saudi Arabia has been confirmed

The first full day of Ramadan with sunrise to sunset fasting is tomorrow – Saturday 2 April

Ramadan 2022 was announced as a new moon sighting was confirmed in Saudi Arabia.

Telescopes were set up at observatories to scan the clear blue sky for the first hint of the new moon’s crescent before reports arrived that it had been seen in Sudair, Saudi Arabia.

The first full day of Ramadan, with fasting from dawn to dusk, is tomorrow, April 2nd.

Some Muslims are following the Saudi announcements, but other Muslim communities are awaiting verified moon sightings from the UK, Morocco or elsewhere, so Ramadan may vary by about a day.

This means that for some it will start on Sunday instead.

In Australia, the date of Ramadan was announced early this year, Birmingham live reports.

The Australian Fatwa Council announced on March 24 that it had decided that Ramadan 2022 would also begin on April 2 because it knew from astronomical data that it would be easy to see the moon on April 1 .

Saudi Arabia’s Umm al-Qura calendar had already predicted that Ramadan would begin on April 2, 2022.

It is said that the month ends on May 1st and the next month (Shawwal) begins on May 2nd with the three-day celebrations of Eid al-Fitr.

The Umm al-Qura calendar is used by the government of Saudi Arabia for civil purposes, with its dates being fixed at the Institute for Astronomical and Geophysical Research in Riyadh.

Islamic Relief UK has a calendar that predicts the same dates. Several neighboring countries on the Arabian Peninsula, such as Bahrain and Qatar, also follow this calculated lunar calendar.

However, the HM Nautical Almanac Office, a UK government agency that produces astronomical data for organizations such as the armed forces, police, religious groups and diary/calendar makers, predicted that Friday’s new moon would only be seen in a few locations, including parts of South America, the USA and the Caribbean.

On Saturday, April 2, the agency says light sightings of the crescent moon are likely around the world, with possible exceptions in southern and eastern Australia, New Zealand and northeastern parts of Russia.

Muslims in Britain and the rest of Europe, as well as Africa, the Middle East and most of Asia will be able to easily see Saturday’s crescent with the naked eye, it said.

Astronomers in Morocco have already said they predict Ramadan will begin on Sunday April 3rd.

They said that they could not observe the moon on Friday, so the current month (Shaban) would last one more day.

Observations of the moon are not the same everywhere because of the way it orbits the earth. It may mean that Islamic dates vary by a day or two in different countries.

Discrepancies can also arise within the same country or even the same city, with some Muslim communities conforming to the pronouncements of one overseas nation and some others.