Kuwaiti astronomer predicts Ramadan start
A Kuwaiti astronomer has predicted Ramadan will start on August 1 and Eid, the feast that follows the month of fasting will be on August 30, local daily Gulf News reported on Wednesday.
However, most of the Muslim countries decide the lunar month upon sighting the crescent and not on calculations based on astronomy, the paper reported.
"Shaaban, the month that precedes Ramadan, will last 30 days and will end on Sunday July 31. So, Ramadan will start on Monday, August 1. It will last 29 days and will end also on Monday, August 29. We will have Eid on Tuesday August 30," a Kuwaiti newspaper quoted Adel Al Marzouq as saying, Gulf News reported.
http://en.news.maktoob.com/20090000791220/Kuwaiti_astronomer_predicts_Ra...
If they wanted to, the entire Islamic community could rely upon science and astronomy to predict when the new moon would be sighted from several vantage points or locations, several months in advance. But they prefer to follow an actual sighting for tradition's sake, I think.
he doesnt need to predict, it is already available on the net long back.
Check for moonrise and moonset settings and you can deduce when the arabic months are going to start. Even then there could be a delay of seeing the moon by a day due to cloudy weather or other issues.
I hope Eid is on 30th Aug.
Oh, sadly I won't be here this time.
Happy Ramadan Everyone :D .