Srinagar, May 22 -- How Pakistani announcement of the Dhul-Hijjah moon reaches Kashmir before the moon does, why the Shia community is being mocked for following its own tradition correctly, and what the absence of a local Hilal committee reveals about a political project dressed in religious clothing.

The moon of Dhul-Hijjah, the twelfth and final month of the Islamic lunar calendar, is not an ordinary moon. Its sighting determines the first day of the month, which in turn determines the Day of Arafah, the most sacred day in the Hajj calendar, and then Eid ul-Adha, the Festival of Sacrifice, observed by over a billion Muslims across the world. The stakes, spiritually and practically, could not be higher. It is, accordingly, a moon that ...