The fasting month of Ramadan will begin Monday in Saudi Arabia, Egypt and other Muslim countries, against a backdrop of fighting in the Gaza Strip between Israel and the Hamas terrorist movement which has left more than 31,000 dead, announced Sunday the authorities of these countries.
The Saudi Supreme Court declared that
“Monday March 11, 2024”
will mark
“the beginning of the blessed month of Ramadan for this year
,” said SPA, the official news agency of Saudi Arabia, which houses the most important to Islam.
In the kingdom, the first crescent moon, which marks the start of the holy month, was not visible in several areas due to
"cloudy weather and dust particles"
.
Finally, the astronomical observatory at Al Majmaah University in Riyadh confirmed its appearance.
Ramadan will also begin on Monday in Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain and Oman, according to the authorities of these countries.
For its part, Iran had set its start for Tuesday, after its
“Estehlal”
, or moon observation office, declared that it had not been possible to observe
“the crescent of Ramadan”
.
In Jordan, the mufti of the kingdom announced that
“Tuesday will be the first day of Ramadan”
.
For Muslims around the world, Ramadan is synonymous with prayer, spirituality, and joyful meals after dark.
But this year, the suffering of the Palestinians in Gaza and the hope of a truce between Israel and Hamas are on everyone's minds.
Read alsoGaza: a truce for Ramadan is in sight
The war was sparked by the Hamas attack, regularly described as a pogrom, on October 7 in southern Israel, which resulted in the deaths of at least 1,160 people, most of them civilians, according to a count by the AFP produced from official Israeli data.
The Israeli military offensive, which aims to hunt down terrorists, has left more than 31,000 dead in Gaza, according to the Hamas health ministry.
Death, destruction and the threat of famine overshadow everything else, as hopes dwindle for a truce before Ramadan, an objective that the mediating countries had tried to achieve in recent days in Cairo ( Egypt, Qatar and the United States) and Hamas.