EID AL-FITR 2022: Muslims across the world celebrate the end of Ramadan with Eid-al-Fitr, and as the fasting month is approaching its end people have begun the preparation for the Islamic religious festival. But what exactly is this Islamic holiday? Before we dig deep, you must understand that Muslims follow the lunar calendar, which is known as the Hijri calendar or the Islamic calendar. Now, the Hijri calendar calculates the amount of time the moon takes to go through each phase. Basically, every lunar year consists of 12 months and 354 days, which is about 11 days less than the solar year. And every Hijri month has either 29 days or 30 days.
Moreover, the Hijri calendar includes two main Islamic holidays per lunar year, and Eid al-Fitr or Eid ul-Fitr is the first of those two. Eid al-Fitr marks the end of the holy month of Ramadan or Ramazan and that is why it is also known as the Festival of Breaking Fast. Ramadan is the ninth month of the Hijri calendar and is one of the five pillars of Islam. And, the reason to celebrate at the end of the holy month is that it is believed that after putting in the hard work of patience and penitence, the past year’s sins are forgiven, good deeds are multiplied and their prayers are heard and answered. Therefore it’s a reason to celebrate.
The Hijri calendar is different from solar and lunisolar calendars, as it does not include leap years. During leap years, while solar calendars add an extra day, lunisolar calendars have a thirteenth month. And this is to keep the moon phases consistent with changing seasons. So by now, you must be wondering why the date of Eid al-Fitr does change every month? The dates of this festival remain the same each year on the Hijri calendar, but on the Gregorian solar calendar, the Eid al-Fitr is celebrated around 10 to 11 days earlier than the previous year this is because the festival is always celebrated on the first day of the Shawwal that is the tenth month of the Hijri calendar. And it is celebrated for three days until Shawwal 3rd, which is 10/1–10/3 of the Hijri calendar.
The celebration of the auspicious day begins after the sighting of the first crescent moon during the sunset and immediately after the 29th day of the holy month Ramadan. But in case the moon couldn’t be sighted on the respected date, then the festival is celebrated on the second day of the Shawwal month. This year in India, Eid al-Fitr is expected to start on the evening of Monday, i.e. May 2nd, and will culminate on Tuesday, May 3rd.
