Pakistan's northwestern areas traditionally fast with Saudi Arabia

Pakistani men clean the walls while others offer noon prayers at a mosque ahead of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan in Peshawar, Sunday, May 5, 2019. Muslims across the world will be observing the Ramadan, when they refrain from eating, drinking and smoking from dawn to dusk. (AP)

A view of a makeshift Ramadan market, where people can buy food items at a much cheaper rate, on the outskirts of Peshawar on May 5, 2019. The Muslim fasting month begins tomorrow in parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province and the newly merged tribal districts following Saudi Arabia’s announcement that the holy month will begin in the Kingdom from Monday. (Photo AN)

• Many people believe it is their religious obligation to follow Saudi Arabia while observing Ramadan and Eid
• Decades-old tradition to follow the Kingdom avoids controversy regarding moon-sighting, locals say

PESHAWAR: Following Saudi Arabia’s announcement that the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan will begin on Monday, religious clerics in Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, which also includes the newly-merged tribal districts, decided to begin Ramadan with the Kingdom in their own territories.
Mufti Muhammad Arif, chief of Jamiat-e-Ulama-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) in Mohmand district, noted that residents of his area had traditionally followed Saudi Arabia while fasting and celebrating Eid.
“Monday will be the first day of fasting for us,” he told Arab News.
In Datta Khel, a remote town in North Waziristan, several people bought food items that are mostly used during Ramadan.
“Saudi Arabia is the citadel of Islam,” said Sabil Khan, who owns a general store on the outskirts of Miran Shah in North Waziristan. “We will continue to follow the Kingdom and start our fasting month from tomorrow.”
The Islamic world follows a lunar calendar, and the traditional moon-sighting methodology can lead to different countries declaring the start of Ramadan a day or two apart.
Fawad Ahmad, a businessman from Haider Khel, another town in North Waziristan, recalled that people in his village had been following the Kingdom for decades since they considered it a religious obligation.
Shamsuddin Khan, a tribal elder of Nawi Kali in Bajaur district, said that about 90 percent of people in his region started fasting with Saudi Arabia.
Wahidullah Afghan, a refugee in Kohat district, told Arab News that Afghans who lived in Peshawar followed Pakistan’s Ruet-e-Hilal Committee. However, those who lived in refugee camps, he continued, started fasting with Saudi Arabia and were going to fast from Monday.
“We follow Saudi Arab to avoid any controversy in this holy month about moonsighting,” he added.