RIYADH — The Arafat Day, which culminates the annual pilgrimage of Hajj, is expected on Thursday, July 30, and the first day of Eid Al-Adha will be on Friday, July 31, according to Abdul Aziz Al-Hussaini, a prominent Saudi astronomer and weather and climate researcher. Al-Hussaini said in a statement on his Twitter account that astronomical calculations expect the month of Dhul Qada to have 30 days, and the start of the month of Dhul Hijjah will be on Wednesday, July 22. However, a final decision on this will be made by the Saudi Supreme Court, depending on the sighting of the crescent moon, he said. On his part, Dr. Abdullah Al-Mosnad, professor of climate at the Department of Geography, University of Qassim and founder of the committee for naming distinctive climatic cases in Saudi Arabia, also confirmed that the month of Dhul Qada will be 30 days, saying that moon will set before the sun in the evening of Monday, July 20 and the conjunction time of moon and sun will be at 8.34 pm that evening. The crescent of Dhul Hijjah will stay on in the sky of Makkah for about 51 minutes in the evening of Tuesday, July 21 and accordingly, Wednesday (July 22) will mark the first day of Dhul Hijjah and Friday (July 31) will be the first day of Eid Al-Adha, he said while noting that the Umm Al-Qura calendar also confirms this.
