Sharaf al-Sufiani, the head of the Horizons Society for Space Sciences in Saudi Arabia’s Jeddah, has announced that the month of Ramadan will begin on March 11 in the country.

According to Sufiani, the new moon of the month will be born on Sunday, March 10 at 12.00pm according to the local time of Makkah.

The sun will set on the same day at 6.27pm while the new moon will be on the horizon for 13 minutes, he said, adding that the first day of Ramadan will fall on Monday, March 10.

However, Sufiani clarified that the calculations were only scientific and that the final decision at the beginning of Ramadan would be taken after the submission of moon sighting testimonies at the Supreme Court of Saudi Arabia.

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Earlier, Gulf News reported that the central conjunction is set to occur on March 10 at 9:00am GMT, as the moon is likely to set after sunset across nearly all regions of the Islamic world.

With the forecast, most Muslim countries will commence Ramadan on Monday, March 11.

However, Gulf News reported that there is a possibility that the crescent will not be sighted in some regions on March 10 based on various criteria for visibility outlined in scientific research.