The Moon Sighting Dilemma
Mostafa Abdullah
 My good neighbour Abdus Saboor, a friendly plump Afghan with a big smile, lives four houses down the road from my house. He has always beaten me to almost everything. As we were unloading our belongings from the back of the truck while moving into this house, he was the first one to greet us with a big Salam’Alaikum and got started on helping us with our unloading. Whenever I am struggling in the front yard with gardening, he is readily there to soil his own hands with me. I love the way he says ‘We Muslims must always stick together’. But I can never keep pace with him. He is always there before me. He brought us a big plate-full of Iftari the evening before we started our fasting for the Holy month of Ramadan. He even hugged me with a big Eid Mubarak the day before we celebrated our Eid!
How come we do not celebrate these occasions on the same day? Aren’t we the members of the same Ummah, followers of the same Prophet (s), read the same book? Shouldn’t ‘We Muslims must always stick together?’ Hasn’t Allah ordained in Surah Al-Imran: 3:103 “And hold fast, all of you together, to the Rope of Allah (i.e. Qur’an), and be not divided among yourselves…” and hasn’t He cautioned us: “And obey Allah and His Messenger, and do not dispute and [thus] lose courage, and [then] your strength would depart; and be patient. Indeed, Allah is with the patient.” (Al-Qur’an, 8:46)
But how could we do that when our supposedly religious elders are unwilling to make even an attempt to make way for such a show of unity. They are unwilling to open their minds to discussions among themselves or with their congregation about the possibility of alternative interpretations of the directives that they have memorised, which they have been repeating over and over. They think that what they have been taught, without putting any further thought into it, are the ultimate and infallible truth. In the words of Shaykh Al Maraghi, an ex-rector of Al-Azhar University: “Those ancient Islamic thinkers …. would never have dreamt that after so many centuries their thoughts, instead of being continued and developed, would only be repeated over and over again…”.
In regards to the beginning and ending of fasting, the Ahadith of our Prophet (s) according to the various narrators are very clear and unequivocal. In them the Messenger of Allah (s) orders us to fast when the sighting of the new moon of Ramadhan is confirmed, and orders us to break the fast when the sighting of the new moon of Shawwal is confirmed or 30 days are completed. These orders are binding and their violation is a sinful act just like the abandoning of any other duty or the committing of an unlawful act.
A close study of the Ahadith may raise the following issues in one’s mind:
| 1. | Is this a general command for all the Muslims all over the world? |
| 2. | Does it include any sighting anywhere in the world or it specifically applies only to the people of the region where it is sighted? |
| 3. | What was the practice of Muslims during the Prophet (s)’s lifetime? Did they begin the fast on the same day and break it on the same day despite the fact that they lived in different areas? |
| 4. | Using astronomical calculations the birth of a new moon and as well as its sighting from anywhere on the earth may now be predicted with almost 100% accuracy. |
| 5. | The new moon is born every 29/30 days in the early hours of morning and after about 13 hours, in the evening, it becomes visible for the first time from somewhere on the earth. And from that evening a new lunar month begins. |
| A likely pitfall of celebrating Eid with the birth of new moon (not sighting) is; some regions of earth where the day begins within the 13 hours of birth of new moon may celebrate Eid on the 29th or 30th day of Ramadhan, instead of the 1st day of Shawwal! |
| 6. | The lunar calendar date/day starts from the evening the moon is sighted and ends on the evening of the next day. Whereas the Gregorian calendar date/day starts and ends from midnight to midnight. Consequently if Eid is celebrated on sighting of the moon first somewhere on earth, it would be celebrated elsewhere during the next 24 hours on the same lunar day/date. But according to the Gregorian calendar date/day it will be spread over two days, approximately half of the globe will celebrate it one day and the other half the next day/date.
According to the Gregorian calendar the Christmas day starts on the mid night of 25th of December across the globe, but not at the same time. Gradually over 24 hours for the location where midnight starts. The beginning of Ramadan or end takes place on the same principle across the globe from the evening of moon sighting. If Xmas is seen from lunar calendar, close to half of the world will celebrate it on one lunar date and the other half on the next lunar date! |
| 7. | Using the same astronomical methods the sighting of the new moon (not birth) may also be predicted with almost to 100% accuracy. Even if one may not see the moon due to weather or for other reasons, it can be said with certainty that the moon is there above in the sky. |
| 8. | Since we can predict the presence and/or sighting of the moon, in any specific location on earth, are we not now able to announce in advance the dates for starting and ending Ramadan for that location? |
| Similar to the prayer times for different locations on earth which is dependent on the rising and setting of sun of each particular location. |
| 9. | We may now be faced with few options to choose from: |
| 9a. | To start and end Ramadan according to the lunar calendar day/date or Gregorian calendar? |
| 9b. | To start and end Ramadan with the birth of the new moon in spite of the fact that it is not visible from anywhere on the earth for about 13 hours after its birth, or |
| 9c. | to start and end the month of Ramadan from the evening when it is known (through astronomical calculations) that the moon is up there over ones’ head, whether one can see it or not? |
| 10. | And finally which one of the above options is closer to meeting our obligations to abide by our Prophet (s)’s directive in respect of starting and ending the month of Ramadan? |
It is my belief that we need an open discussion among ourselves on these issues and with others to attempt to find a common ground. We urgently need to do that without any egotism on any ones part. We may do this among our own congregation to start with. Through this process our religious elders may relieve themselves of any wrong doing by their personal interpretation of the Prophet (s)’s Hadith. As one may notice, based on how a religious elder interprets it, one group starts fasting a day earlier and ends a day earlier too. There could be three likely outcomes of such decisions.
1. Both groups are right
2. One of the group is right and the other is wrong
3. Both groups are wrong.
In the event that both groups are right, I can see our religious elders walk away with ease. But in the event of the other two options occurring, wouldn’t they be responsible for the sin committed by their own congregation for breaking fast a day earlier and/or fasting on the day of Eid? For “The Messenger of Allah (pbuh) prohibited fasting on five days: Fasting on the day of Eid-ul-Adha, plus the next three days, and on the day of Eid-ul-Fitr.”
Wouldn’t it be wiser to have an open and collective discussion and decision? Thereby our religious elders can absolve themselves of any wrong doing.
There is indeed no shame in attempting to find out if a known truth could even have a better meaning. Isn’t it what our Prophet (s) suggested when he declared in his last sermon: “All those who listen to me shall pass on my words to others and those to others again; and may the last ones understand my words better than those who listen to me directly”? Doesn’t it indicate that with the passage of time and increase in human knowledge, things would be understood better and better? Why is it then we are so reluctant to open our minds for an informative dialogue?
However, until the time we are able to come to our senses and take a unified stand on this and on other matters, let us not create further division among ourselves by saying that the other side is wrong and I am right. I think that is a prerogative of Allah to decide who is right or wrong, if there is a right or wrong in this matter. We need not have any more divisions among ourselves than what is there already, lest we are annihilated into oblivion in history.
Mostafa Abdullah, Sydney
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Home Page Published on: 6-Jul-2015 
