Safdar Mirza

Assalam O Alikum to all -

Today is August 30th, 2011. Some of my Muslim friends are celebrating EID today and others, like me are fasting today. Many folks have mixed feelings and are very much confused about why we as Muslims are not celebrating EID on one day. Some ask that since we have such advanced technology, why we are not using it to determine the EID day, while others say that we should follow Saudi Arabia.
My goal of this post is to share my thoughts on this sensitive subject with hope that this post may give us better view of why there are so many differences. I am not a religious scholar nor am I a religious expert. I am just an average Muslim who seeks right guidance from Allah.

Following are four pieces of logic/reasons I have heard so far for each group’s justification of  their claim of determining the start or Ramadan/Shawwal (EID). Let’s just look at the EID example.

1) Follow Saudi Arabia and if it is EID there, then it is our EID.
2) Follow Global Moon Sighting. If moon is sighed anywhere in the world, then it is EID.
3) Use calculation published by US Navy (http://aa.usno.navy.mil/data/docs/RS_OneDay.php). We can determine the first day of EID day for many years to come.
4) Follow Moon-sighting. Look out for crescent moon.

There might be some other reasons given by some groups but I am only aware of what I have listed above. Feel free to update me if I have missed anything. Let’s go through the above listedreasons one by one.

1) Follow Saudi Arabia and if it is EID there, then it is our EID.
This seems like a good reason. Saudi Arabia (Makkah) is the core place for the Muslim community and it makes sense to follow them.  However with this choice, there are few other challenges.

1. If we follow start of each month based on moon sighting in Saudi Arabia, then what about each daily prayer?  Can we follow/pray our Namaz when it is Fajar, Dhuhr, Asar,Maghrib, or Isha in Saudi Arabia?   The timings for each of these prayers follow the sun’s location. I would like to remind you that there are about 7 plus methods of calculating local prayer times including University of Islamic Science, ISNA,  Muslim World League, Umm al-Qura and many more including some custom calculations.   We don’t see much any argument on daily prayer times and we follow whatever is printed in our prayer time schedules that we get from our local mosque.  I guess if we decide to follow Saudi Arabia for start of each month that is calculated by sun/moon location, then we should do the same for daily prayers and pray Fajar when it is fajar in Saudia?
2. Now what about countries/regions that are east of Saudi Arabia? What should they do? They will not know when is EID declared by Saudi Arabia as their day starts before the day starts in Saudi Arabia.   Should they follow a day after or change their day/night time according to Saudi Arabia?
2) Follow Global Moon Sighting. If moon is sighted anywhere in the world, then it is EID.
Same logic and same challenges as listed above for moon sighting in Saudi Arabia. Should we
follow our prayer timing according to whoever claim it is Fajar in the world?  For example, if it is Fajar in Australia then we should start our Fajar Prayer?  What about those who are praying Isha on the other side of the world,  should Muslims around the world follow whatever prayer time  it is now anywhere in the world?  Who will be leading the prayer time calculation? Hmm… this does not make sense to me.  The sun set or moon set timing are not equal around the globe due to axial tilt of the globe. so we can not claim if XYZ country has seen sun set or moon, then it is visible to rest of the world as well.

3) Use calculation published by US Navy (http://aa.usno.navy.mil/data/docs/RS_OneDay.php). We can determine the first day of EID day for many years to come.
This is one of the common methods adopted by many in North America.  This helps to pre-determine any month in advance and helps us to manage our daily routine.  The challenge I see with this is that there is no guarantee that these calculations are correct.  These are calculated values based on formula.  However, Allah can change rotation of Sun, Moon or any other planet at any time.  We all may have heard of when Hazrat Bilal was asked not to say Fajar Azan and then people noticed that the Sun is not coming out. It was later determined that HazratBilal must say Fajar Azan.  Allah is capable of changing rotation of earth, sun and moon at anytime.
The other note on the calculation is “Leap Year”. We all know that there are 365.242199 days in one year but we use 365 for easy calculation and then in order to adjust the remaining .24299 day, we add a day every 4 years known as “Leap Year”.
The other thing is that the definition of “new moon” is different between US NAVY and what is used for Islamic month calculations. You may visit http://aa.usno.navy.mil/faq/docs/islamic.php for more information.  US NAVY uses the “new moon” for the moon phase that crosses the SUN.  However this moon may be 100% invisible, in other words completely dark.  No crescent at all.  On the other hand, the Islamic “new moon” is a crescent moon that should be at least 1% illuminated. It is very hard to spot 1% illumination however it is very easy to spot when it is 3% or 4%. Bottom line is that Islamic new moon should be a crescent moon and not a black disc as described by US Navy for their civil dates calculation.

Allow me to talk about talk about September 1752. You can read a lot about this on the google . I have listed the month  of September 1752 for our reference here. Can you see the problem I see?  You can reproduce this calendar on any UNIX machine if you have access.  September 1752 is the month Britain switched from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar. It is missing dates from 3 to 13th.
$ cal 9 1752

   September 1752
 S  M Tu  W Th  F  S
       1  2 14 15 16
17 18 19 20 21 22 23
24 25 26 27 28 29 30

We are all aware of Day Light Saving, they are all based on calculation. Calculations are there to make our job easy but they are not 100% true or accurate.

4) Follow Moon Sighting. Look out for crescent moon.
This is what I think should be the accurate and proper way to determine each month. ChicagoHilal.org is doing a great job on this. You can read more about their procedure at http://www.chicagohilal.org/procedures/. We can use calculation method that will help us assist the current location of crescent moon and should try to sight the moon.

There are many tools available in these days that use the GPS devices to track calculated sighting of each planet.  On the Iphone you can download “SkyView” free version that gives data of Sun and Moon by using the GPS.

To support my point , I am referring some Hadith from Bukhari on this subject. You can check them online at http://www.usc.edu/schools/college/crcc/engagement/resources/texts/muslim/hadith/bukhari/031.sbt.html.

Volume 3, Book 31, Number 124:

Narrated Ibn Umar: I heard Allah’s Apostle saying, “When you see the crescent (of the month of Ramadan), start fasting, and when you see the crescent (of the month of Shawwal), stop fasting; and if the sky is overcast (and you can’t see It) then regard the crescent (month) of Ramadan (as of 30 days)”.

 

Volume 3, Book 31, Number 130:

Narrated Abdullah bin Umar:

Allah’s Apostle mentioned Ramadan and said, “Do not fast unless you see the crescent (of Ramadan), and do not give up fasting till you see the crescent (of Shawwal), but if the sky is overcast (if you cannot see it), then act on estimation (i.e. count Sha’ban as 30 days).”

Volume 3, Book 31, Number 133:

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.”