© AFP/File Fayez Nureldine

DUBAI (AFP) - (AFP) - Saudi Arabia announced Monday that the Eid al-Fitr feast marking the end of the fasting month of Ramadan will be on Tuesday, in a statement aired on state television Al-Ekhbariyah.

Religious authorities in Saudi Arabia, home to Islam's holiest shrines, said the new moon had been sighted and that Ramadan ends on Monday with the feast to follow the next day.

The Islamic calendar is a lunar one, and most Muslim countries set the beginning of Eid al-Fitr by the sighting of the new moon.

Egyptian state television, quoting Islamic authorities, too declared that Eid al-Fitr will be on Tuesday.

The United Arab Emirates and Qatar also announced the end of Ramadan.