The Sighting of the Moon?

Finally for once the whole Muslim world agreed that Ramadan starts September 1st (edit, Silent Reader pointed out Libya and Iran started differently).

Now I get an email stating that Eid will be “dependant on the sighting of the moon”.

My question is: WHY?!

Science has come a long way now and we can predict weather (which fall under Chaos Theory) so definitely we can predict something as systematic as the lunar cycle.

It pisses me off when for instance, Saudi Arabia says they saw the moon, so Ramadan starts, and Syria says they didn’t see anything and they delay Ramadan by one day. I thought the moon is a universal phenomena and won’t really change much if you go vertically up just a little in lattitude. If it appears in one place, it should appear pretty much everywhere in the region (poles excluded but will come to that later).

Which brings me to the point of Qadr. I am fine with not having the exact date revealed and that it is most likely 27. Now, aside from the fact that some people say “the night changes every year” *rolls eyes… I mean if the Quran was revealed on 27 then it is 27 on all Ramadans not 27 in one and 23 in another*… when we have different countries starting with different dates then which country is actually “correct” about the night (let us assume it is 27)?

A sheikh in one khutba said “but this is one of the great miracles!”. I am not going to that mosque again.

Now let’s assume I’m following the traditional way and I am living in Antarctica. I get 6 months plus worth of total darkness and a couple of months of total sunshie. Strictly speaking, then, a lunar month is 29-30 years there.

What if the moon flew off orbit or it exploded? Will Islam be doomed? Will we then resort to the scientific, calculated dates? We’re doing it for PRAYERS… I mean God forbid they said Iftar is at 6:23 and it is actually 6:24!

I can understand when 1400 years ago the sighting of the moon was the best if not only indication for the new lunar month. But now in 2008 things are different. Islam told us to embrace science, to seek it and make use of it. Why aren’t we? They’re predicting the exact timing of a prayer can’t they predict what stage the moon is in?!

Eid Mubarak :D I will be freezing in Jordan (it is 27C-31C at night here and 3C-7C at night there) starting from tomorrow LOL!

PS: You don’t need to call me a lying blaspheming infidel. Am a believer and like everyone else I just have questions and seek answers.

Eid_Mubarak_2007_by_khaloodies The Sighting of the Moon?

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21 Responses to “The Sighting of the Moon?”

Batoul mumbled on September 25th, 2008 at 11:18 am

Which ever way they decide to do it, the main problem is they just need to do it together as one ummah. I agree, there’s nothing wrong with using science. We’re talking 21st century and what we have now is what they needed to NOT look for the moon. As long as we follow the guidelines without easy-way-out fatwas, then we’re good.

I was reading a book that said that el rasool mo7amad (SWS) was about to declare lailet el adr when a man interrupted him with with a question. Going back to subject, he decided to save it in means people could be more holly for the last 10 days of Ramadan instead of devoting so much worship into one.

I hope you enjoy your trip and you stay warm lol. There’s always Qabbani to hug haha. yn3ad 3lek bl khair wil salameh. Early Eid Mubarak :)



Qwaider mumbled on September 25th, 2008 at 11:25 am

Aaaakh man .. .don’t rub it in. I’ve been screaming about this for so many years.
The problem with all of this is that even with calculating, it’s not that easy. It’s really difficult to know when it will start and when it will end, because the new crescent might start differently in different timezones. (so it’s understandable if North America fasted before Saudi Arabia) what is COMPLETELY INSANE is the fact that sometimes North America fasts one day LONGER or starts one day AFTER Saudi. Which is completely nuts!
I have a system that I would love to see implemented one day.

The saddest part is when there’s a conflict in Al Adha … ya 7abeebi! (And it happens ALL THE TIME!)



Qwaider mumbled on September 25th, 2008 at 11:34 am

Another one for you



Qwaider mumbled on September 25th, 2008 at 11:35 am

Another one for you … Man!
Wordpress el m3affen!



KJ mumbled on September 25th, 2008 at 12:29 pm

Batoul -
Wallah ya Batoul the ummah you speak of likes to be different and unique and even if the average citizens agree with what we’re saying here, the governments and our wonderful Imams are ones who set rules

Qwaider -
Ya zalameh, you forgot to add the quotations in the links :P ba3dein you can use the pretty links toolbar button I generously provided :P

I didn’t dig into the difficulty of calculating the lunar cycle (bas how hard it could be? They’re seeing space in infrared with Spitzer can’t they calculate something regarding the moon?), but no one makes an issue (here in the Mid East anyway) when Hajj is to happen even though it is as lunar as Ramadan! The focal point is always Ramadan and Eid and like you mentioned in your posts I believe it is mostly political than anything else.

Last year for instance I was in Syria during Eid and we fasted one more day than the UAE (and I arrived the previous day). It happened to be Friday and the kha6eeb said that those infidels in Saudi and UAE who have those blasphemous TV channels are celebrating with Lebanon because they’re tied together (in terms of TV and fisq). The message was pretty clear, even though Beirut is 1.5 hours away from Damascus by car.

It’s pathetic. It’s more pathetic when you have your non-Arab-non-Muslim expats here (with culture shock of course) who read this email and burst out laughing.



Silent Reader mumbled on September 25th, 2008 at 1:17 pm

“Finally for once the whole Muslim world agreed that Ramadan starts September 1st.”

Obviously you don’t consider Libya and Iran as muslem countries :)
Libya started on 31 August and Iran 2 September.



KJ mumbled on September 25th, 2008 at 1:22 pm

Silent Reader -
My apologies :)



Ali mumbled on September 25th, 2008 at 1:53 pm

What happened to telescopes? a helecopter flying in the desert? a plane in teh sky? Infrared googles? can’t we use these to see the moon?
or is it we are so stupid and setback that we can’t use our brians anymore, and this should be al a Politcial scene of who will fast with rich Saudi Arabia and who will not?



sam mumbled on September 25th, 2008 at 5:13 pm

8)



LostWithin mumbled on September 25th, 2008 at 8:13 pm

One time when such a thing happened half of the girls in my class came fasting though it wasn’t announced , I was like huh?
one of the girls was like : el helal bayyan be saudia , syria and palestine ; there is no way enu ykon na6 3an Jordan ! 
that was hilarious , can’t remember which year it was though !

Anyways, Eid Mubarak in Advance and hope you have a great time in Jordan :D 



Ms Loala mumbled on September 26th, 2008 at 5:43 pm

My god shoo madroob!
Lak el qur2an aal “9omoo lel ro2ya waf6eroo lel ro2ya”!
Moon sighting that is.

I suggest you stay away from KSA and specially Hamza (becoz he established Saudi roots) for a while minshan ma yebe7o dammak :D



Noura mumbled on September 26th, 2008 at 8:46 pm

Well last year, our masjid here in Tampa, FL saw the moon a day before the masjid in Gainesville, FL, a city less than three hours away from me.. so we ended up having different days for fasting , celebrating Fitr and ad7a.. we are in the same state and they couldn’t agree on a date to unite us all..  Inshallah we’ll reach the point of one voice, one decision in the arab world in our lifetime..

Enjoy your stay in Jordan, and don’t complain about the cold.. we are steaming here and can’t wait for a cold front for some relief.. w Eid mubarak, inshallah b yen3ad 3leik bel so7a w salameh :)



Abdullah A mumbled on September 27th, 2008 at 3:44 pm

Ms Loala, that’s not a Qur’anic verse, it’s a Hadith. You’re flagrantly misquoting.

KJ, just in case you and I have been living in the same world, you do realize that the Muslim ummah has been in multiple divides for ages, right? First you have the Sunni and Shia schism, which alienates at least two countries from getting along with the rest. And then you have the multiple schools of Fiqh in Sunni Islam which further divides Muslim countries apart. I’m not saying that this is the reason for time variations, but some schools take a more literal interpretation of texts than others, and Saudi Arabia is notoriously known for imposing its Wahhabist view onto the rest and projecting it as the standard Islam.

And then you have that which I can only liken to teenage rebellion: Libya.
Hey Libya, you’re so cool! I wish I was more like you!

There needs to be an Islamic revolution in the way schools of Fiqh interpret and give credibility to Hadith. Seriously.



Ali mumbled on September 28th, 2008 at 11:03 am

Hi Kinan, I posted a campaign about the Hate DVD distributed in the US (http://alidahmash.blogspot.com/2008/09/obsession-with-hate.html) appreciate if you can do the same



Hani Obaid mumbled on September 29th, 2008 at 7:13 am

بما اني قمر مش رح أطلع يوم الاثنين أحسن
يجي العيد بكير

:grin:



suzyQ mumbled on September 29th, 2008 at 9:45 pm

I really don’t know what’s going on here in the US but the Islamic Fiqh Councils of Europe and North America already said that the Eid was going to be on the 1st of October simply because the moon cannot revolve and rotate fast enough to be seen anywhere in the world. The first moon sighting can only appear tomorrow and Saudi Arabia and Egypt and Jordan and a bunch of others said that they “saw” the moon….which is impossible!!! The moon today would have only appeared in the Polynesian Islands of the Pacific Ocean. And….to top that all off, the Saudis claimed that the moon was seen in the middle of Saudi Arabia. It’s absolutely absurd. I think the person that saw the moon must have seen a mirage in the middle of the desert simply brought on by thirst and hunger.
Now 2 masjids in the same city will have eid on two separate days simply because the scholars of Saudi are too arrogant to admit that… yes science and religion go hand in hand. The only reason I’m pissed off is because half of my family and friends will have eid tomorrow and the other half will observe it on the day after.

Take a peek at these two links
http://www.moonsighting.com/1429shw.html
http://www.moonsighting.com/moonphotos.html

The pictures of the moon should be clear enough to show that when the moon set yesterday at 5:27 GMT it needs 27 hours and 45 minutes to reappear and by that time, it would have already been too dark for it to be seen….so yes in my opinion, eid should be on Oct. 1st



Batoul mumbled on September 29th, 2008 at 11:26 pm

AHH!!! KJ! you’re so right. I HATE hate hate this!
NJ alone there are people who are fasting and some celebrating Eid tomorrow. ugh.



dandooneh mumbled on September 30th, 2008 at 6:37 pm

Eid Mubarak w kul 3am w inta b-alf kheir …
hope u having a good time in Jordan :(
Enjoy it the MAX.



elijah mumbled on October 1st, 2008 at 2:26 pm

happy eid

go 3ayed 3ala my mommy for me :)



Nadine mumbled on October 2nd, 2008 at 6:35 pm

A friend summed it up best a few days ago saying, “We’re seeing the crescent but we sure ain’t seeing the light”!! 8)



hamza mumbled on October 4th, 2008 at 11:04 am

LOOOOOOOOL @ Hani Obaid.

I say nraye7 il denya kolha and we go blow off the moon. Anybody willing to help in building super nuclear missile? :P



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