No wisdom in spending millions on moon sighting: Fawad Chaudhry
May 06, 2019
ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Science and Technology Fawad Chaudhry on Monday again questioned the wisdom in spending large sums of money on moon sighting every year, saying that the Ruet-e-Hilal committee should carry out the sighting voluntarily.
In his latest criticism of the Ruet-e-Hilal committee, the minister said up to Rs4 million are spent on the moon-sighting procedure every year.
“Where is the wisdom in spending Rs4 million on moon-sighting for Ramzan and Eid? At least the [Ruet-e-Hilal] committee should do it voluntarily. All around the world [the sighting] is done without remuneration,” Chaudhry said.
“I respect the ulema. I have given an opinion. Everyone does not need to agree,” he added.
The minister said the national exchequer was incurring hefty expenses on the moon sighting, and that it was time to utilise science and technology for the practice.
“Educated scholars are supporting my suggestion,” Chaudhry said, referring to his proposal to form a committee of tech experts to determine moon sighting for key dates and months in the Islamic calendar for the next 10 years.
Mufti Muneeb-ur-Rehman, the chairman of the the Ruet-e-Hilal committee, had earlier criticised Chaudhry’s suggestion and appealed to Prime Minister Imran Khan to stop his ministers from commenting on religious matters.
