Moon sighting and
Islamic Calendar.
Why Different Months begin
from different days in different places and communities?
Why Can't We Celebrate Eidul
Fitar on the same Day?
By Shah N. Khan
Holy Prophet (sws) laid great emphasis
on unity of Ummah but what kind of unity was displayed in observing Ramzan?
Eidul Fitar was celebrated in Libya, USA and few other countries in the
West of Mecca on Monday the 24th November, 2003 and in most of the Arab
world including Saudi Arabia it was celebrated on Tuesday. In Pakistan
the serious row between majority of NWFP Ulemas with the Central Ruyiet
Hilal committee continued and they are accusing the Chairman of rejecting
the majority view in their meeting in Peshwar that was held for sighting
the crescent for Ramzan. In NWFP eid was celebrated by many on Tuesday
and by some in NWFP and by all in rest of Pakistan on Wednesday. Similarly
in Iraq, US and some other countries Eid was celebrated by different communities
on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. This is not only Eid such variations
are found in all 12 months of Islamic Hijri calendar and even the new year
under Hijri calendar due to such adjustment in different countries every
month begins from three different days of the week!
RESOLUTION NO.16/8-C(IS) ON THE UNIFIED
HIJRI CALENDAR FOR THE BEGINNING OF LUNAR MONTH AND THE UNIFICATION OF
ISLAMIC HOLIDAYS
The Eighth Session of the Islamic Summit
Conference (Session of Dignity, Dialogue, was Participation), held in Tehran,
from 9 to
11 Shaban 1418H (9-11 December 1997) or
shall we say 10 to 12
Shaban 1418 H according to Pakistani Islamic
Taqweem!
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Holy
Quran does not require us to actually see the moon but some think that
it does!
The sun and the moon are made punctual.
055.005
They ask thee concerning the
New Moons. Say: They are but signs to mark fixed periods of time in (the
affairs of) men, and for Pilgrimage. ..
002.189
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Recalling the previous resolutions
adopted by the OIC and the recommendations of the 20th Session of the Islamic
Commission for Economic, Cultural and Social Affairs, for the establishment
of a Unified Hijri Calendar for the beginning of Lunar months and the Unification
of Islamic Holidays resolved among things;
1) Called upon the Member States which
do not observe Friday as the weekly holiday and to use the Hijri date to
proceed to do so.
2) Called upon the member States, the General
Secretariat and the Islamic Fiqh Academy to seek the assistance of Islamic
jurists and astronomers wit view to reaching an agreement on the unification
of the Hijri Calendar.
It is not known what progress has been
made in this regard except touring and talking and talking. The calendar
is already there which coincides with appearance of moon at one place or
another on the earth. But do we need to adjust it every month based on
moon sighting every month? Holy Quran does not require us to do so but
there are Hadiths.
Is Moon sighting necessary?
If yes where?
Well educated people well versed with Holy
Quran and Hadith opine that Islam is a perfect religion and fault lies
in the bigotry and despotism of our Ulemas in interpreting the Hadiths
and Holy verses. They opine that Holy Quran lays down the basis for calendaring;
i.e. counting time, dates and days. See verses
002.189, 010.005 and 055.005 that are
relevant. Holy Quran does
not require us to see the moon. The only
thing that supports the orthodox view that sighting is necessary are the
Hadiths on the basis of which the rituals of moon sighting have been persisting
in many comminities of Muslim for centuries ever since the means of communications
were primitive. The following Hadith from Sahih Bukhari clearly shows for
whom the advice of seeing the moon for determinig dates was meant. See
Volume 3, Book 31, Number 137: Narrated by Ibn 'Umar:
The Prophet said, "We are an
illiterate nation; we neither write, nor know accounts. The month is like
this and this, i.e. sometimes of 29 days and sometimes of thirty
days."
Another Hadith narrated by Hazrat Abdullah
bin Umar is translated as, "Allah's Apostle (PBUH) said, "The month (can
be) 29 nights (i.e. days), and do not fast till you see the moon, and if
the sky is overcast, then complete Sha'ban as thirty days."
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He it is Who appointed the sun a splendour and the moon a light,
and measured for her stages, that ye might know the number of the years,
and the reckoning. Allah created not (all) that save in truth. He detaileth
the revelations for people who have
knowledge.
010.005
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In second Hijri the great Imam
Shafi (RA) had rules that if the moon is sighted at one place in adjoining
areas within a radius of 24 Farsakhs the ruler can announce the sighting
of moon. Apparently
that was due to the means of communication
available at that time.
As interpreted by Fatmid Caliphs and Imams
about 600 years ago
the underlying principle of all such Hadiths
is to consult
lunar calendar. They had observed that
the crescent for a new
month tended to appear in Spain and Africa
a day earlier than
Basra, Mecca and Baghdad. And due to vagaries
of weather a new
month began in Mecca and Medina on two
different days of the
week and that there are parts of the world
where the moon would
not be seen at all for many months. By
that time Muslim
astronomer like Albairooni had perfected
Islamic Hijri Calendar
scientifically and it was available for
people's use. In that calendar the onset of each new month coincides with
appearance of the new crescent somewhere on earth and there is a possibility
that in regions deep in East of Mecca the moon may appear one day late.
In order to ensure Uniformity throughout the Caliphate, the Fatmid caliphs
adopted it and in that calendar full 30 days are given for Ramzan.
Many Islamic countries including Bohra community in Pakistan and
India follow it and do not depend on moon sighting
about which disputes used to arise and
still arise.
All such Hadiths (if interpreted with a
close mind and without understanding the underlying principle) negate the
need for formation of a Central committee and may require us to leave every
town and city to determine its own dates and timing as is done for
prayers. If the Central committee sees the justification of rejecting the
moon sighting in Mecca, Emirates etc. how can it impose the moon sighting
in Islamabad at people in West Baluchstan who are nearer to Emirates and
Mecca than rest of Pakistan on the basis of Hadiths?
What is not realized is fact that the underlying
principle of Hadiths is also to consult lunar calendar. Viewed form another
angle, Hadiths are third party narrations and that advise was addressed
to the people living in Mecca or Medina who used to determine dates by
watching moon, as there were neither printed calendars and nor watches.
The concept of minutes and seconds was unknown and people used to determine
time by the shadows created by sunlight. The Hadith about moon sighting
are not as categorical and detailed as the Hadith relating to Wadu and
prayers timings and number of Rakats, Had it been intended to prescribe
moon sighting each month for all times and all places it would have been
specified in more details as prayer timings are. After all we depend on
watches to determine time for Sehar and Iftar whereas the Hadith defines
that in terms of movement of sun.
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Hadiths on moon
sighting
Narrated
Abu Huraira:
The
Prophet or Abu-l-Qasim said, "Start fasting on seeing the crescent (of
Ramadan), and give up fasting on seeing the crescent (of Shawwal),
and if the sky is overcast (and you cannot see it), complete thirty days
of Sha'ban."
Narrated
Ibn 'Umar:
The
Prophet said, "We are an illiterate nation; we neither write, nor know
accounts. The month is like this and this, i.e. sometimes of 29 days and
sometimes of thirty days."
Narrated
Abdullah bin Umar:
Allah's
Apostle said, "The month (can be) 29 nights (i.e. days), and do not fast
till you see the moon, and if the sky is overcast, then complete Sha'ban
as thirty days."
Narrated Ibn 'Umar:
The Prophet said, "The month
is like this and this," (at the same time he showed the fingers of both
his hands thrice) and left out one thumb on the third time.
Hadiths from Sahih Bukhari
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The Islamic calendar developed
in Egypt coincides with appearance of new moon in one part of the Earth
or the other and many communities depend on that. Many Ulemas opine that
sighting of moon in any part of the earth can be followed for fasting.
But some orthodox ulemas at home and abroad feel that even with the modern
means of communication the moon sighting is necessary every month and that
is the reason three to four variations occur in the dates of Islamic calendar
every moth.
It is about time Islamic Ideological Council
and Shariat court look in to this problem and recommend a practice to ensure
unity of the nation. The Government should take up with OIC the issue of
unanimity of Islamic calendar dates within the Islamic countries because
different months begin on different week days if the calendar is adjusted
every month by moon sighting at different places.
Related Article - Click the link below
OIC Launching
Satellite to Help Determine Islamic Dates
Related article
Excerpts
and Notes from Prof. Omar Afzal, PhD
about Hijri Calendar
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Other Links
“Sharing the same night”, and Ittihad
al-Matali vs. Ikhtilaf al-Matali’ (Global or local sighting) discussions
should have no place in deciding Islamic dates. The whole world is one
Matl’a. A moon is seen in 24 hours over the globe the same the sun is seen
in 24 hours. Similarly, the whole world shares the same night as the earth
is a globe, and not a flat field.
http://www.moonsighting.net/pages/4/index.htm
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From a British Islamic site
If the moon is not sighted on a clear
sky anywhere in the UK (or in any nearby countries on the same Time Zone),
then it is impossible to have been sighted in any countries, East of UK's
Time Zone, (3 hours or more earlier) on the same evening. If a sighting
claim is reported in that evening then something else has been mistaken
for the moon!
http://www.ummah.net/moonsighting/
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Juma prayers are offered every
Friday first in Karachi than in Mecca, London and Houston with a difference
of 3 to 15 hours or so. Therefore the time difference for Eid prayers
should not be allowed to go beyond that what is experienced every Friday.
But due to the
mistaken belief in regional moon sighting,
the gap of more or less 24 to 48 hours occurs in Eid prayers
timing, which is much more than earth's rotation time.
It is simply illogical that the whole of
Thursday be 29th Ramzan 1426 AH in Karachi, London, Houston etc. but the
whole of Thursday be First of Shawwal in Mecca or vice versa. If we read
the verses in Holy Quran relating to months, moon and sun we find that
they are mere aids for our calendaring.
What is more illogical is the fact that
we observe the birth and death anniversaries of Holy Prophet (sws) by Hijri
dates but on different weekdays and new months and years under Islamic
Hijri calendars begin on different weekdays in different regions.
The solution is simple and
OIC should prescribe it:
For the month of Holy Ramzan we should
follow the announcement of Saudi Arabia about moon sighting at Mecca with
naked eye according the practice of Holy Prophet because Mecca is the center
of the earth and we are commanded to face toward K'aba for prayers. There
are places on earth where crescent cannot be sighted for many months.
For the sake of uniformity OIC countries
can follow Umm al-Qura calendar as now it is based on the
scientific and reliable data for appearance of waxing crescent at Mecca
and it is adjusted every year by determining onset and the end of
Holy Month Ramazan based on actual crescent sighting in Mecca by naked
eye. There is no need to do such adjustments every month. This is the easiest
way at present to maintain uniformity in following the Hijri Islamic calendar.
The central and Regional Ruyiet Hilal committees in Pakistan and other
countries should be dissolved.
See details at The crescent sighting
suspense
http://www.netvert.biz/paklink/articles/moon-suspense.html
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