![Photo: RAMADAN AROUND THE CORNER……Lets CELEBRATE another opportunity to show the world how stupid we Muslims are!!
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The issue of moon sighting has never been as divisive as it has become today. In the past, Muslim scholars agreed on a certain method to decide the start and end of the month of Ramadan. In the last few decades, advancements in communications and media have turned the world into a small village creating a new context where matters concerning inter-countries relations are involved. A second new context may also be related to the presence of many Muslims in countries that lack one single Muslim authority. Resultantly, readily understood issues related to a number of Islamic rituals have now become controversial and confusing.
It is also extremely ironic, not to say utterly-embarrassing, that the Muslims, who led the world for a millennium in every scientific discipline, developed the scientific method itself and taught science and rationality to the West, are still in a state of chaos over a relatively simple matter of science and Shariah, i.e. the lunar calendar. In an age when we can measure the properties of sub-atomic particles to dozens of decimal places and time itself with an accuracy of nano-seconds, the Muslim world differs by up to four days about the beginning and end of the lunar month and hence about the dates of its most important festivals: Ramadan and the two Eids.
There are many factors contributing to this confusion. Apart from religious and political disunity, perhaps the biggest reasons are the gulf between Science and Shari'ah and the simplistic, literalist approach to Shariah that characterises much of Muslim religious discourse and ignores the magnificent theory of Maqasid al-Shari'ah, or the objectives and spirit of the Sacred Law of Islam.
Muslim scientists and experts in law (Shariah) need to understand each others disciplines, and we need more individuals who are well-versed in both areas, as we had for centuries. For example, anyone reading Imam Ibn Taymiyyah's discussion of the moon-sighting issue in volume no. 25 of his Fatwas will realise that he was an expert in the astronomy of his age, effortlessly discussing difficult and technical astronomical terms such as conjunction, the "arc of light" and the "arc of vision" as well as factors affecting the visibility of the new moon such as the angles between moon and sun, moon and earth and even factors such as atmospheric humidity.
All this, of course, in addition to his renowned expertise in Qur'an, Hadith and Fiqh. Yet this great scholar, writing seven centuries ago, correctly concluded that astronomical calculations could not be used to replace naked-eye sighting of the moon at that time because, during his time, one could not calculate the visibility of the new moon accurately, although its position was known precisely. However, 700 years later, it is incorrect for the traditionalists to cling to the view of this great authority, or earlier expert astronomer-jurists such as Ajdabi or Qarafi, whilst ignoring the fact that science has progressed exponentially since their times and that we are now able to confidently predict the visibility of the new moon (hilal) with great precision.
For example, the website www.moonsighting.com reports that in almost 15 years of monthly observations of the new moon since 1994, the calculated predictions of when the new moon is and is not visible have matched empirical observations every time except on one occasion when, even then, the observation was probably flawed. This represents about 300 new moons, and an accuracy of at least 99% in predicting the visibility of the hilal.
Closer to home, the UK Moonwatch project that began in Ramadan 1426 (October 2005) has achieved qualitatively similar results over almost three years: about 35 new moons. The accuracy here is also close to 100%.
Experts in the Maqasid al-Shari'ah, the theory of the holistic intent of Islamic law, agree that calculations can obviously be used to replace and confirm naked-eye sightings of the new moon, and to reject impossible, claimed sightings. The great scholar of hadith, Ahmad Shakir, argued this in 1939, except that he advocated using conjunction (the birth of the moon) instead of hilal-visibility as the starting-point of the new lunar month: visibility calculations were not accurate enough in his time, and have only become extremely precise over the last few decades.
Shakir's method would have led to the Islamic calendar being identical to the current age-old Jewish calendar, a day out of step with the visible new moon, a situation that some Jewish groups are trying to rectify.
Contemporary experts in Maqasid, such as Professor Mohammad Hashim Kamali, agree that calculations of hilal-visibility can now be used to replace naked-eye sightings of the new moon.
Those who disagree with this are unfortunately stuck in literalist approaches to Shari'ah and the madhhabs, arguing over individual texts from the Qur'an, Hadith and mediaeval books of Islamic law whilst forgetting the bigger picture, the holistic approach to the subject embodied in Maqasid theory and developed by the great scholars such as Ghazzali, Ibn Taymiyyah and Shatibi.
The problem may be illustrated with the famous hadith where the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) said, "Begin fasting when you see the new moon, and end fasting when you see the new moon." The opponents of calculation rigidly stick to a literalist interpretation of this hadith, insisting on physical sighting even when official declarations of moon-sighting are known to be false in many Muslim countries and when calculations give us a much more precise answer.
They also forget that their mode of reasoning could equally be applied to the verse of the Qur'an (The Cow, 2:187) about fasting, "Eat and drink until the white thread of dawn becomes apparent to you from the black thread [of night]." Clearly, dawn only "becomes apparent" to us by physical sighting and therefore it could be argued that one cannot use calculations to determine prayer-times! Some authorities insist that there is a physical and legal difference between prayer-times and Ramadan, but it is easy to see upon reflection that this is not the case.
Amazingly, it is not uncommon to see people going by clocks and timetables for prayers all year round, yet becoming extremely animated in rejecting calculations for the dates of Ramadan!
Although it is true that physically seeing the dawn, sunset, new moon and other astronomical phenomena helps to keep us connected to the Signs of God in nature, insisting upon this for everyone is not realistic in the modern world and does not offer practical, pragmatic solutions for modern societies dominated by clocks and calendars.
The literal meaning of the above-mentioned hadith would still apply to people wishing to remain as connected as possible to natural cycles, whilst its interpretation from a Maqasid-viewpoint in modern society, especially for governments and religious authorities, would be, "Base your worldwide, calculated lunar calendar on the visibility of the new moon."
Seeing the new moon is a means to an end, not an end in itself. Some contemporary traditionalists promote the absurd idea that sighting the moon is a ritual act of obligatory worship: if so, the same would apply to watching the sunset or dawn breaking for daily prayers. Many ordinary actions become worship with the right intention, of course, but this is a far cry from insisting that they are obligatory.
For Muslims in the UK, it is relatively easy to determine a calculated lunar calendar that is in harmony with physical sightings of the new moon. This is because we have a natural sea barrier to our west, i.e. the Atlantic Ocean.
Now, it is a simple physical principle of moon-sighting that "when the crescent moon is visible somewhere on earth, it must be visible at all points west of it on the same latitude with a clear horizon." This principle was known to mediaeval Islamic jurists from the Shafi, Hanbali and other schools: for example, Ibn Taymiyyah said that "if the new moon is seen in the east, it must be seen in the west [on the same night], but not vice-versa." This means that if the new moon is seen anywhere to our east, i.e. anywhere in Europe, Africa, Asia or Australasia, we begin our month on the same night. However, if it is seen to our west, i.e. in South or North America, we begin our month on the following evening, a day later according to the solar calendar.
This simple principle, along with the precise predictions of hilal-visibility and instant telecommunications that allow us to learn of hilal-sightings immediately, give us an accurate lunar calendar. A strong case could be made to extend the UK calendar to Europe and Africa, and eventually we would have a worldwide, united lunar calendar with different lunar time zones, much like the solar calendar.
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NOTE: Extracts, narration, paraphrases and replication from multiple sources. Please contact LMU if you require references.
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RAMADAN AROUND THE CORNER……Lets CELEBRATE another opportunity to show the world how stupid we Muslims are!!
=================================================
The issue of moon sighting has never been as divisive as it has become today. In the past, Muslim scholars agreed on a certain method to decide the start and end of the month of Ramadan. In the last few decades, advancements in communications and media have turned the world into a small village creating a new context where matters concerning inter-countries relations are involved. A second new context may also be related to the presence of many Muslims in countries that lack one single Muslim authority. Resultantly, readily understood issues related to a number of Islamic rituals have now become controversial and confusing.
It is also extremely ironic, not to say utterly-embarrassing, that the Muslims, who led the world for a millennium in every scientific discipline, developed the scientific method itself and taught science and rationality to the West, are still in a state of chaos over a relatively simple matter of science and Shariah, i.e. the lunar calendar. In an age when we can measure the properties of sub-atomic particles to dozens of decimal places and time itself with an accuracy of nano-seconds, the Muslim world differs by up to four days about the beginning and end of the lunar month and hence about the dates of its most important festivals: Ramadan and the two Eids.
There are many factors contributing to this confusion. Apart from religious and political disunity, perhaps the biggest reasons are the gulf between Science and Shari'ah and the simplistic, literalist approach to Shariah that characterises much of Muslim religious discourse and ignores the magnificent theory of Maqasid al-Shari'ah, or the objectives and spirit of the Sacred Law of Islam.
Muslim scientists and experts in law (Shariah) need to understand each others disciplines, and we need more individuals who are well-versed in both areas, as we had for centuries. For example, anyone reading Imam Ibn Taymiyyah's discussion of the moon-sighting issue in volume no. 25 of his Fatwas will realise that he was an expert in the astronomy of his age, effortlessly discussing difficult and technical astronomical terms such as conjunction, the "arc of light" and the "arc of vision" as well as factors affecting the visibility of the new moon such as the angles between moon and sun, moon and earth and even factors such as atmospheric humidity.
All this, of course, in addition to his renowned expertise in Qur'an, Hadith and Fiqh. Yet this great scholar, writing seven centuries ago, correctly concluded that astronomical calculations could not be used to replace naked-eye sighting of the moon at that time because, during his time, one could not calculate the visibility of the new moon accurately, although its position was known precisely. However, 700 years later, it is incorrect for the traditionalists to cling to the view of this great authority, or earlier expert astronomer-jurists such as Ajdabi or Qarafi, whilst ignoring the fact that science has progressed exponentially since their times and that we are now able to confidently predict the visibility of the new moon (hilal) with great precision.
For example, the website www.moonsighting.com reports that in almost 15 years of monthly observations of the new moon since 1994, the calculated predictions of when the new moon is and is not visible have matched empirical observations every time except on one occasion when, even then, the observation was probably flawed. This represents about 300 new moons, and an accuracy of at least 99% in predicting the visibility of the hilal.
Closer to home, the UK Moonwatch project that began in Ramadan 1426 (October 2005) has achieved qualitatively similar results over almost three years: about 35 new moons. The accuracy here is also close to 100%.
Experts in the Maqasid al-Shari'ah, the theory of the holistic intent of Islamic law, agree that calculations can obviously be used to replace and confirm naked-eye sightings of the new moon, and to reject impossible, claimed sightings. The great scholar of hadith, Ahmad Shakir, argued this in 1939, except that he advocated using conjunction (the birth of the moon) instead of hilal-visibility as the starting-point of the new lunar month: visibility calculations were not accurate enough in his time, and have only become extremely precise over the last few decades.
Shakir's method would have led to the Islamic calendar being identical to the current age-old Jewish calendar, a day out of step with the visible new moon, a situation that some Jewish groups are trying to rectify.
Contemporary experts in Maqasid, such as Professor Mohammad Hashim Kamali, agree that calculations of hilal-visibility can now be used to replace naked-eye sightings of the new moon.
Those who disagree with this are unfortunately stuck in literalist approaches to Shari'ah and the madhhabs, arguing over individual texts from the Qur'an, Hadith and mediaeval books of Islamic law whilst forgetting the bigger picture, the holistic approach to the subject embodied in Maqasid theory and developed by the great scholars such as Ghazzali, Ibn Taymiyyah and Shatibi.
The problem may be illustrated with the famous hadith where the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) said, "Begin fasting when you see the new moon, and end fasting when you see the new moon." The opponents of calculation rigidly stick to a literalist interpretation of this hadith, insisting on physical sighting even when official declarations of moon-sighting are known to be false in many Muslim countries and when calculations give us a much more precise answer.
They also forget that their mode of reasoning could equally be applied to the verse of the Qur'an (The Cow, 2:187) about fasting, "Eat and drink until the white thread of dawn becomes apparent to you from the black thread [of night]." Clearly, dawn only "becomes apparent" to us by physical sighting and therefore it could be argued that one cannot use calculations to determine prayer-times! Some authorities insist that there is a physical and legal difference between prayer-times and Ramadan, but it is easy to see upon reflection that this is not the case.
Amazingly, it is not uncommon to see people going by clocks and timetables for prayers all year round, yet becoming extremely animated in rejecting calculations for the dates of Ramadan!
Although it is true that physically seeing the dawn, sunset, new moon and other astronomical phenomena helps to keep us connected to the Signs of God in nature, insisting upon this for everyone is not realistic in the modern world and does not offer practical, pragmatic solutions for modern societies dominated by clocks and calendars.
The literal meaning of the above-mentioned hadith would still apply to people wishing to remain as connected as possible to natural cycles, whilst its interpretation from a Maqasid-viewpoint in modern society, especially for governments and religious authorities, would be, "Base your worldwide, calculated lunar calendar on the visibility of the new moon."
Seeing the new moon is a means to an end, not an end in itself. Some contemporary traditionalists promote the absurd idea that sighting the moon is a ritual act of obligatory worship: if so, the same would apply to watching the sunset or dawn breaking for daily prayers. Many ordinary actions become worship with the right intention, of course, but this is a far cry from insisting that they are obligatory.
For Muslims in the UK, it is relatively easy to determine a calculated lunar calendar that is in harmony with physical sightings of the new moon. This is because we have a natural sea barrier to our west, i.e. the Atlantic Ocean.
Now, it is a simple physical principle of moon-sighting that "when the crescent moon is visible somewhere on earth, it must be visible at all points west of it on the same latitude with a clear horizon." This principle was known to mediaeval Islamic jurists from the Shafi, Hanbali and other schools: for example, Ibn Taymiyyah said that "if the new moon is seen in the east, it must be seen in the west [on the same night], but not vice-versa." This means that if the new moon is seen anywhere to our east, i.e. anywhere in Europe, Africa, Asia or Australasia, we begin our month on the same night. However, if it is seen to our west, i.e. in South or North America, we begin our month on the following evening, a day later according to the solar calendar.
This simple principle, along with the precise predictions of hilal-visibility and instant telecommunications that allow us to learn of hilal-sightings immediately, give us an accurate lunar calendar. A strong case could be made to extend the UK calendar to Europe and Africa, and eventually we would have a worldwide, united lunar calendar with different lunar time zones, much like the solar calendar.
=================================================
The issue of moon sighting has never been as divisive as it has become today. In the past, Muslim scholars agreed on a certain method to decide the start and end of the month of Ramadan. In the last few decades, advancements in communications and media have turned the world into a small village creating a new context where matters concerning inter-countries relations are involved. A second new context may also be related to the presence of many Muslims in countries that lack one single Muslim authority. Resultantly, readily understood issues related to a number of Islamic rituals have now become controversial and confusing.
It is also extremely ironic, not to say utterly-embarrassing, that the Muslims, who led the world for a millennium in every scientific discipline, developed the scientific method itself and taught science and rationality to the West, are still in a state of chaos over a relatively simple matter of science and Shariah, i.e. the lunar calendar. In an age when we can measure the properties of sub-atomic particles to dozens of decimal places and time itself with an accuracy of nano-seconds, the Muslim world differs by up to four days about the beginning and end of the lunar month and hence about the dates of its most important festivals: Ramadan and the two Eids.
There are many factors contributing to this confusion. Apart from religious and political disunity, perhaps the biggest reasons are the gulf between Science and Shari'ah and the simplistic, literalist approach to Shariah that characterises much of Muslim religious discourse and ignores the magnificent theory of Maqasid al-Shari'ah, or the objectives and spirit of the Sacred Law of Islam.
Muslim scientists and experts in law (Shariah) need to understand each others disciplines, and we need more individuals who are well-versed in both areas, as we had for centuries. For example, anyone reading Imam Ibn Taymiyyah's discussion of the moon-sighting issue in volume no. 25 of his Fatwas will realise that he was an expert in the astronomy of his age, effortlessly discussing difficult and technical astronomical terms such as conjunction, the "arc of light" and the "arc of vision" as well as factors affecting the visibility of the new moon such as the angles between moon and sun, moon and earth and even factors such as atmospheric humidity.
All this, of course, in addition to his renowned expertise in Qur'an, Hadith and Fiqh. Yet this great scholar, writing seven centuries ago, correctly concluded that astronomical calculations could not be used to replace naked-eye sighting of the moon at that time because, during his time, one could not calculate the visibility of the new moon accurately, although its position was known precisely. However, 700 years later, it is incorrect for the traditionalists to cling to the view of this great authority, or earlier expert astronomer-jurists such as Ajdabi or Qarafi, whilst ignoring the fact that science has progressed exponentially since their times and that we are now able to confidently predict the visibility of the new moon (hilal) with great precision.
For example, the website www.moonsighting.com reports that in almost 15 years of monthly observations of the new moon since 1994, the calculated predictions of when the new moon is and is not visible have matched empirical observations every time except on one occasion when, even then, the observation was probably flawed. This represents about 300 new moons, and an accuracy of at least 99% in predicting the visibility of the hilal.
Closer to home, the UK Moonwatch project that began in Ramadan 1426 (October 2005) has achieved qualitatively similar results over almost three years: about 35 new moons. The accuracy here is also close to 100%.
Experts in the Maqasid al-Shari'ah, the theory of the holistic intent of Islamic law, agree that calculations can obviously be used to replace and confirm naked-eye sightings of the new moon, and to reject impossible, claimed sightings. The great scholar of hadith, Ahmad Shakir, argued this in 1939, except that he advocated using conjunction (the birth of the moon) instead of hilal-visibility as the starting-point of the new lunar month: visibility calculations were not accurate enough in his time, and have only become extremely precise over the last few decades.
Shakir's method would have led to the Islamic calendar being identical to the current age-old Jewish calendar, a day out of step with the visible new moon, a situation that some Jewish groups are trying to rectify.
Contemporary experts in Maqasid, such as Professor Mohammad Hashim Kamali, agree that calculations of hilal-visibility can now be used to replace naked-eye sightings of the new moon.
Those who disagree with this are unfortunately stuck in literalist approaches to Shari'ah and the madhhabs, arguing over individual texts from the Qur'an, Hadith and mediaeval books of Islamic law whilst forgetting the bigger picture, the holistic approach to the subject embodied in Maqasid theory and developed by the great scholars such as Ghazzali, Ibn Taymiyyah and Shatibi.
The problem may be illustrated with the famous hadith where the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) said, "Begin fasting when you see the new moon, and end fasting when you see the new moon." The opponents of calculation rigidly stick to a literalist interpretation of this hadith, insisting on physical sighting even when official declarations of moon-sighting are known to be false in many Muslim countries and when calculations give us a much more precise answer.
They also forget that their mode of reasoning could equally be applied to the verse of the Qur'an (The Cow, 2:187) about fasting, "Eat and drink until the white thread of dawn becomes apparent to you from the black thread [of night]." Clearly, dawn only "becomes apparent" to us by physical sighting and therefore it could be argued that one cannot use calculations to determine prayer-times! Some authorities insist that there is a physical and legal difference between prayer-times and Ramadan, but it is easy to see upon reflection that this is not the case.
Amazingly, it is not uncommon to see people going by clocks and timetables for prayers all year round, yet becoming extremely animated in rejecting calculations for the dates of Ramadan!
Although it is true that physically seeing the dawn, sunset, new moon and other astronomical phenomena helps to keep us connected to the Signs of God in nature, insisting upon this for everyone is not realistic in the modern world and does not offer practical, pragmatic solutions for modern societies dominated by clocks and calendars.
The literal meaning of the above-mentioned hadith would still apply to people wishing to remain as connected as possible to natural cycles, whilst its interpretation from a Maqasid-viewpoint in modern society, especially for governments and religious authorities, would be, "Base your worldwide, calculated lunar calendar on the visibility of the new moon."
Seeing the new moon is a means to an end, not an end in itself. Some contemporary traditionalists promote the absurd idea that sighting the moon is a ritual act of obligatory worship: if so, the same would apply to watching the sunset or dawn breaking for daily prayers. Many ordinary actions become worship with the right intention, of course, but this is a far cry from insisting that they are obligatory.
For Muslims in the UK, it is relatively easy to determine a calculated lunar calendar that is in harmony with physical sightings of the new moon. This is because we have a natural sea barrier to our west, i.e. the Atlantic Ocean.
Now, it is a simple physical principle of moon-sighting that "when the crescent moon is visible somewhere on earth, it must be visible at all points west of it on the same latitude with a clear horizon." This principle was known to mediaeval Islamic jurists from the Shafi, Hanbali and other schools: for example, Ibn Taymiyyah said that "if the new moon is seen in the east, it must be seen in the west [on the same night], but not vice-versa." This means that if the new moon is seen anywhere to our east, i.e. anywhere in Europe, Africa, Asia or Australasia, we begin our month on the same night. However, if it is seen to our west, i.e. in South or North America, we begin our month on the following evening, a day later according to the solar calendar.
This simple principle, along with the precise predictions of hilal-visibility and instant telecommunications that allow us to learn of hilal-sightings immediately, give us an accurate lunar calendar. A strong case could be made to extend the UK calendar to Europe and Africa, and eventually we would have a worldwide, united lunar calendar with different lunar time zones, much like the solar calendar.
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