Chand Raat: Crescent moon sighted as India prepares for Eid ul-Fitr on Saturday

What is ‘Chand Raat’? If this question is bothering you, look no further! As India prepares to celebrate Eid ul-Fitr on Saturday, many people took to Twitter to wishe their loved ones ‘Chand Mubarak’. 

For the uninitiated, the eve of Eid ul-Fitr is known as Chand Raat. It is the night that culminates the 30 Rozas or the month-long month of Ramzan. 

The sighting of crescent or moon of the Shawwal is the final sign that heralds the Eid festivities.

Chand Raat is the time when the families visit markets to buy sweets and do Eid shopping. In many places, the markets are open throughout the night for the enthusiastic shoppers.

In the UAE, the malls are open for 24 hours and there are great discounts too. In India also, famous bazaars of Delhi 6, Lucknow, Bhopal and Hyderabad are decked up selling beautiful glass bangles, mehandi designs, jewelry, clothes and lots of sevaiyan.

Shahi Imam of Jama Masjid, Ahmed Bukhari announced on Thursday that the festival of Eid ul-Fitr will be celebrated on Saturday, June 16. Except for Kerala, where the Eid was celebrated on Friday.

Muslims celebrate Eid ul-Fitr on the first day of the 10th month of Shawwal. It officially begins with the sighting of the new moon after sunset that also marks the end of the holy month of Ramadan.

The announcement from Shahi Imam in India came after there was no moonsighting on Thursday, across the country. Same is not the case with a lot of other countries that follow Saudi Arabia and Turkey's lunar calendar. Saudi Arabia announced that the Shawwal moon was sighted in the country on Thursday evening, therefore, they will celebrate Eid on Friday, June 15.

China, Egypt, Poland, Scotland, and Tunisia follow their own procedure of calculating moonsighting. These five countries will be celebrating Eid on June 15.

Countries like India, Pakistan, Indonesia, many of the Asian countries with Muslim majority follow their own lunar calendar. Their month calculations are based on correct and authentic moonsighting that also considers the scientific timings for moonset. Saudi Arabia uses a pre-calculated civil Islamic calendar that is sometimes adjusted for religious months (Ramadan, Shawwal, and Dhul-Hijjah). If per these calculations, 30 days are completed by their pre-calculated civil calendar then they start new month even if the moon is not sighted on the 30th day. Therefore there are two Eid dates.