Islamic Calendar
Here
in Mumbai (India), we celebrarted the Eid on Friday, the 4th
Novemer, 2005. But on 3rd night, one faction of Muslims had almost
split the Ummah by declaring that
the Eid would be on 5th, as the
moon was not sighted by anyone
here. The New Moon was not possible
to be seen as the sky was cloudy.
Telephonic messages and even TV declarations to the effect that the
moon was sighted all around Mumbai,
were of no value to the wise men controlling the affairs of that
faction. They had no faith in the electronic media. They wanted human
witnesses who had seen the moon to come and testify, in person, before
them. So two witnesses had to be physically brought
to Mumbai from
far-off Nasik. They arrived at 1.30 a.m. in the dead of night; then
only
did the wise men declare that the Eid would be
celebrated the next day (4th) and
the impending split was thus mercifully avoided.
But the world was split. In the middle-eastern countries, in the USA
and in London the Eid was celebrated
on Thursday, the 3rd November. They
followed Saudi Arabia. And Saudi Arabia does not depend on factual
sighting
of the moon. It depends on
modern technological knowledge by
which the occurrence of the New Moon can be
accurately predicted.
Muslims thus follow different Islamic calendars in different parts of
the world. Obviously such different
calendars cannot be practically
followed for international dealings and transactions in today's world
which has virtually been converted
into a global
village thanks to technological advance. Can such impracticable
calendar be
the product of a religion which Allah Himself says He has perfected
(refer verse 5.3)!?
According to a tradition (
huadeeth), the Prophet
(peace and Allah's blessings be upon him) had told the Muslims then
that if the new moon was
sighted on the 29th of the month of
Ramadhuaan, the Eid was to be celebrated the next day. If the new Moon
was not sighted on the 29th, the Eid was to be celebrated only after
completing 30 days of Ramadhuaan.
But this requirement of physically sighting the new moon, is
nowhere
mentioned in the Qur'aan. As per the divine Book, people did question
the
Prophet about the new moons. And the Prophet was directed to inform the
people that these are fixed points in time to enable
mankind
to measure it (time) [refer verse 2.189]. And indeed are these
fixed
points in time,
for the entire mankind on earth. It is
the
fixed
time when the moon just slides away from the straight line joining
the sun and the earth. The new moon that last occurred was on the 2nd
November, 2005 at 6.54 a.m. as per the Indian Standard Time. At the
same fixed time, the local clock in Los Angeles on the Western Coast of
USA showed the time as 4.24 p.m. on 1st November. And in Tokyo in the
Far East, it was 9.24 a.m on 2nd November. The new moon occurred at a
fixed time for the
entire population on the
earth, but this fixed time
had to be shown differently at different places because of the rotation
of the earth.
In Riyadh (Saudi Arabia), the new moon occurred at 4.24 a.m. on 2nd
November. In all probability, the new moon could not have been sighted
there on the evening of 2nd November. The moon has to be nearly 24
hours old to be sighted at any place with naked eyes. And yet the Saudi
government declared Thursday, the 3rd November as 1st of Shawwaal. My
information is that if the calculated occurrence of the new moon there
is before sunset, the next day is declared by that government as the
1st of the next
Islamic month. This is fine and would perfectly be in accordance with
the Qur'aanic requirement, since it is based on or determined with
reference to the fixed time of the occurrence of the new moon. And
since the Qur'aanic verse (2.189) requires the measurement of time to
be for the entire mankind and also for determining the dates for the
Hajj every year, the entire world ought to adopt the calendar as framed
by the Saudi government; for, that government is the custodian of the
places where the Hajj is performed. The mention of the Hajj in the
Qur'aanic verse is clearly a divine sign and guidance for the world
Muslims to adopt the Saudi calendar. Had this been done, the last Eid
would have been on Thursday, the 3rd of November uniformly the world
over.
In this context, I invite readers also to go through another
article which I had written sometime back on this subject matter. This
article can be
accessed online at
http://www.islam-n-interest.com/The_New_Moon.html
In
the reality of today's world, there is an urgent need of an
internationally viable Islamic lunar calendar based on the Qur'aanic
verse 2.189. So long as we fail to agree upon such a calendar, we will
continue to incur Allah's wrath for disregarding His clear guidance.
Mohammad Shafi
(
islam-n-interest.com),
Mumbai (India)
17th November, 2005
