Eid Festival: An Egyptian institute stronger than all the others, it already has the date…

By:Souleymane Loum 

We are already in the second half of the holy month of Ramadan, and the National Research Institute of Astronomy and Geophysics of Egypt has its telescopes set on the end of the holy month and, thus, the feast of Eid al-Fitr 2024. And we already have a date…

This quick acceleration is one of the features—some would say one of the challenges—of modern times. “Masters and possessors of nature,” theorized the French mathematician, physicist, and philosopher René Descartes in his “Discourse on the Method,” humanity has propelled itself to the point of obsessively pursuing mastery over everything, even the smallest details. It is doubtful whether this will make humanity happier, but there is little left to oppose this powerful planetary surge.

Gone are the days of watching the night of doubt to determine the date of Eid; now, we depend on specialized institutes and centres that collect astronomical data to provide us with the date of Eid several weeks before the night of doubt. Rather astonishing, isn’t it? And in this game, the National Institute for Research in Astronomy and Geophysics of Egypt has been more rapid than all the others…

It reveals the first day of Eid al-Fitr 2024 for Wednesday, April 10. The same source adds that the night of doubt is on the 9th of the same month, so Muslims will fast for 30 days this year. Egyptians are indeed extremely strong. Finally, to award them the gold medal in all categories, we will have to wait and see if these predictions come true. But since they have already instilled in our minds that Ramadan is almost over, we are already there.

Soon, we will only hear predictions on the date of the Eid festival, as the other scientific institutes that were beaten to the punch by the Egyptians will not stop there. The serenity and contemplation that are supposed to prevail during the month of Ramadan seem to be a thing of the past…