Dhaka:
Although there has been discussion about the sighting of the moon of Shaban, the decision to observe Laylatul Barat or Shab-e-Barat on the night of April 21 remains in place.
The government took this decision on the recommendation of an 11-member sub-committee consisting of scholars and clerics in the wake of the controversy over moon sighting.
State Minister for Religious Affairs Sheikh Md. Abdullah told reporters at the Secretariat on Tuesday (April 16). The sub-committee was formed after a meeting of the National Moon Sighting Committee at the Islamic Foundation meeting room at Baitul Mukarram National Mosque on April 13. The committee was headed by prominent scholar and Education Secretary of Markazud Dawa Al Islamia Maulana Mufti Muhammad Abdul Malek. The sub-committee met in the morning and prepared recommendations and sent them to the Ministry of Religious Affairs.
While releasing the recommendations with the head of the committee by his side, State Minister Abdullah said that the decision to observe Shab-e-Barat on the night of April 21 (Sunday) remains in effect.
Earlier, on April 6, the National Moon Sighting Committee had held a meeting and announced that the moon of the month of Shaban was not sighted anywhere in the sky of the country on that day. As a result, the counting of the month of Shaban will begin from April 8 and the holy Laylatul Barat will be observed on the night of April 21.
However, an organization called 'Majlisu Ruiyatil Hilal' claimed that the moon was sighted in Khagrachari that day. According to their claim, Shab-e-Barat was to be celebrated on the night of April 20. To avoid controversy over this, the government called an emergency meeting and formed a sub-committee. In the end, this sub-committee recommended that the government maintain the previous decision.
The State Minister read out the written recommendation to the journalists. He said that the members of the sub-committee reviewed various aspects of the related issues in the light of Sharia at the office of the Director General of the Islamic Foundation until 11:30. The sub-committee sent two officials of the Islamic Foundation around 12:00 to bring the witnesses who claimed to have seen the moon to testify. But the witnesses did not come to testify at their request and added some irrelevant conditions. When the matter was informed to the sub-committee, the members of the meeting termed those conditions as being outside the rules of giving testimony according to Sharia and sent them to the committee's member secretary, Senior Pesh Imam of Baitul Mukarram National Mosque, Muhammad Mizanur Rahman, in accordance with Sharia rules. But even then they did not come to testify and added irrelevant conditions as before.
Presenting the written recommendation, the State Minister said that since the witnesses did not appear in the meeting to testify despite the repeated requests of the sub-committee, they have added some conditions to testify as if there is no basis for taking testimony in Sharia. Therefore, since no witness has testified to the sighting of the moon, the decision announced by the National Moon Sighting Committee on April 6 remains in force according to Islamic Sharia. That is, it has been decided that the month of Shaban will start from April 8. Accordingly, the holy Shab-e-Barat will be celebrated throughout the country on the night of April 21.
The State Minister for Religion said, "Our sub-committee, which was formed in accordance with Sharia, presented this declaration with unanimous consent."
Responding to a question from journalists, the State Minister said that the matter (decision) is completely religious and apolitical.
The State Minister said, "We have never heard of them (the moon sighting claimants) in our lives. They have even gone to the High Court. The High Court has clearly said that this is a very sacred, Islamic matter. Without going into arguments about it, the decision they have given should be final and will be final. If they (the moon sighting claimants) wanted a good decision, they would have been present and talked."
Sheikh Md. Abdullah said, "There is no politics, no factionalism, no hatred in the decision made by the scholars; there is only the provisions of Sharia in it, we unanimously accept the decision they have made in accordance with the provisions of Sharia and observe the 21st Barat."
At that time, Religious Affairs Secretary Md. Anisur Rahman, along with officials from the ministry and the Islamic Foundation, were present at the meeting.
