Oman announced today that March 31 will mark the first day of the Eid al-Fitr 2025 holiday. This week, the Ministry of Endowments and Religious Affairs (MERA) in the Sultanate of Oman issued a call to citizens and residents to participate in the observation of the crescent moon of Shawwal 1446 AH on Saturday evening.
Earlier, Oman announced that the Eid al-Fitr 2025 holiday for both the public and private sectors will begin on March 29. According to the Royal Orders, official work will resume on Sunday, April 6, 2025.
Last week, the International Astronomical Center announced that “sighting the crescent moon on that day (March 29) is impossible from the eastern part of the world, and it is not possible from the rest of the Arab and Islamic world using all observation methods, including the naked eye, telescopes and astronomical photography technology.”
The center added that the Shawwal crescent moon would be visible by telescope from the central and northern parts of the Americas. Even with a telescope, sighting the crescent moon with the naked eye is very difficult from the eastern part of the Americas. The crescent moon can only be seen with the naked eye from the Pacific Ocean to the western United States.
Read| Eid al-Fitr 2025: Holiday dates announced in UAE, Saudi Arabia, other GCC states
“For countries that require an accurate crescent sighting, Ramadan is expected to last 30 days and Eid al-Fitr will fall on Monday, March 31. However, given that the conjunction will occur on Saturday, March 29, before sunset, and that the moon will set after sunset in the central and western parts of the Islamic world, it is customary under such circumstances for some countries to declare the beginning of the month the following day. Therefore, it is not unlikely that some countries will declare Eid al-Fitr 2025 on Sunday, March 30,” added the center.
