Iran will observe the Eid al-Fitr celebration this weekend, on Saturday.

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Mojtaba Khamenei

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Iran announced the last day of the holy month of Ramadan would be Friday in the Shia Muslim-majority country, with the Eid al-Fitr holiday beginning the following day, state television reported.

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The office of Iran’s supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei said that, after lunar observations, “tomorrow, Friday, will be the 30th day of the blessed month of Ramadan”, followed by the Eid al-Fitr holiday which marks the end of the fasting period.

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The announcement was echoed in Iraq, which also has a Shia majority, by the country’s top Shia cleric, Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani.

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Khamenei was named Iran’s supreme leader this month to replace his father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was assassinated in an air strike at the start of the US-Israeli war against the Islamic republic, which Iran has dubbed the “Ramadan war”.

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The timing of the Eid al-Fitr holiday is determined by the sighting of the crescent moon, in accordance with the Muslim lunar calendar.

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This year, the last day of Ramadan coincides with Nowruz, the new year celebrated in Iran on the spring equinox.

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Observing Ramadan, during which hundreds of millions of Muslims around the world fast from sunrise to sunset, is one of the five pillars of Islam, requiring believers to abstain from eating, drinking, smoking and sex during daylight hours.

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Observant Muslims are also encouraged to donate to the poor.

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AFP

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