Several internet-based news portals including somaynews.com published a news-report on July 20, 2020, telling that there is a possibility of celebrating the Eid al-Adha across the world on the same day this year.
Later, these reports with headlines that claim the Eid al-Adha will be celebrated on the same day across the globe this year started becoming viral on Facebook in Bangladesh.
A website moonsight.com was mentioned as the source of this information in these news-reports. The FactKhuji team examined the information available on the moonsight.com and the team did not find any information on this website regarding the possibility of celebrating Eid al-Adha on the same day across the world this year.
Our Opinion
The FactKhuji’s investigation finds that there is no possibility of celebration of Eid al-Adha across the globe on same day this year. There is no decision taken internationally in this regard.
The information claimed in the news-reports is entirely false.
Fact-Check
While commenting on the issue, Mr. Anwar Hossain, a senior information officer at the ministry of religious affairs, Bangladesh, said the National Moon Sighting Committee would meet today in order to decide the date to celebrate the upcoming Eid al-Adha in Bangladesh. If the moon is sighted today [21st July] on the sky of Bangladesh, the Eid will be celebrated on 31st of July. And, if the moon is not sighted today, the Eid will be celebrated on 1st of August 2020. The date to celebrate the upcoming Eid al-Adha will be fixed based on sighting of the moon on the sky of Bangladesh, Mr. Anwar added.
In some countries, the Eid al-Adha is celebrated following the Islamic calendar that depends on sighting of the moon not sun. Again, in some countries the process of sighting moon and the decision of sacrificing animals (Qurbani) are complicated. In this year, the moon may be sighted from Middle East, India, Bangladesh and Pakistan on 21st July. However, the moon will surely be sighted from USA, Canada and African countries on 21st July. And, the moon will be sighted from all parts of the globe on 22nd July.
Infect, there is a number of factors due to what it is almost impossible to celebrate the Eid al-Adha on the same day across the world. Some countries fix the date to celebrate Eid al-Adha after sighting moon on the sky from their own lands. Some countries celebrate Eid al-Adha on the day the Saudi Arabia celebrates it.
In Bangladesh, the date to celebrate Eid al-Adha is decided based on sighting of the moon on the sky from its own territory. Some countries including Turkey use telescope to sight moon on the sky before fixing a date to celebrate Eid al-Adha. In Poland, the date to celebrate Eid al-Adha is set after calculating the position of the moon.
