So far, the earliest sighting of the crescent was on Thursday 12 August from Nigeria, the crescent was seen also in South Africa, and Morocco.

Thursday 12 August

• Iran: ICOP member, Mr. Asadollah Khoddam Mohammadi said: "On the evening of Aug. 12th I was in Isfahan (for watching the total solar eclipse). I tried to see the new moon by naked eye but I didn't find it."

• Saudi: ICOP member, Mr. Saleh Al-Saab, said: "Sorry for not observing the crescent yesterday, because it was cloudy, but anyway it was about (10) degrees above the horizon here.

• Nigeria: ICOP member, Mr. Alabi Isiaq said: "The crescent for this month was visible by naked eyes on the evening of Thursday 12th August, 1999. The sky was clear. The day makes the beginning of Jamudal-Awwal here."

• South Africa:
  1. ICOP member, Dr. John Caldwell of the South African Astronomical Observatory (SAAO) said: "I was near Sivas Turkey for the solar eclipse. The night of first crescent I was in Istanbul. Both central Anatolia (dust from volcanic soil?) and Istanbul (11 millions?) I found EXTREMELY high haziness compared to what I am used to down near Cape Town. Even then the trip itinerary would not let me take an hour out for the effort, and the Istanbul sky was as thick as mud with haze, and on the 12th of August it should have been relatively a sure thing as far as seeing the crescent was concerned."

  2. ICOP member, Mr. Hashim Salie said: "Due to cloud cover, the crescent was seen for only a short while at both sighting points in Cape Town. However, the crescent was seen very clearly in the Johannesburg area, as the skies were clear there. The 13 August 1999 was declared 1 Jamadul Ula."

• Morocco: ICOP member, Dr. Hamid TOUMA said: "About the Crescent on 12 August 1999, we have seen it at 19h 40mn until 20h (UT). It was a large one (32 hours) and officially, in Morocco, the first day of Joummade I was the Friday 13 August 99."

• UK: ICOP member, Dr. Tariq Muneer said: "Within Scotland the skies are cloudy most of the time, so unfortunately we haven't been able to send you moonsighting reports."

Thursday 12 April:-

1. Saudi Arabia
2. Jordan
3. Palestine

1. Iran
2. Morocco
3. South Africa