Moosighting Issues….
as-salamu ‘alaykum,
More on moonsighting…
Rania Habib, Staff Reporter at The Gulf News reports:
Ramadan ‘was announced on wrong day’
“Abu Dhabi: Astronomers in the UAE maintain that the announcement of the beginning of Ramadan on Friday, September 22, was incorrect, and that it should have in fact been announced two days later.UAE Astronomical Society engineer Mohammad Shawkat Odeh and American University of Sharjah Associate Professor of Physics and Astronomy Dr Nidhal Guessoum explain that the crescent moon was impossible to see on Friday, September 22.”
The website Central-Mosque.com (a Deobandi website) says:
“?It is not known that the number of people sighting the moon in Saudia is of satisfactory quantity. The decision of the Saudi government is not only against the established principles of the Hanafi Fiqh, it is also against common sense therefore it is not applicable to Pakistan. The sighing of a large body is a condition within the Hanafi Fiqh when the horizon is clear however the Saudi government often decides Ramadhan on a single witness and Eid and Dhul-Hijjah on a minimum of two witnesses?(Ahsanul-Fatawa, Volume4/Page 417)”
moonsighting.com has a fatwa co-signed by a number of diverse Muslim groups on the Saudi Moonsighting Controversy.
“The Saudi Moon Controversy:
For years Saudi Moon sighting has been incredible and unreliable according to the established laws of science and experts all over the world have pointed to the discrepancies found therein. However this year was the first time when there was a revolt against this poor moon sighting within Saudi Arabia.The Saudi moon sighting committee moved the start date of Dhil-Hijja back by one day 4-5 days into the month of Dhil-Hijja. This was based on the testimony of two 80 year old witnesses (as interviewed by a delegation from the King Abdul College of Science & Technology (KACST)) reported in the Al-Watan Saudi newspaper on the 20th of January 2005 (http://www.alwatan.com.sa/daily/2005-01-20/writers/writers04.htm) since the moon was just 3 hours old and set 3 minutes BEFORE sunset, the reported sighting was impossible.”
wa’as-salam
Mas’ud
www.masud.co.uk
One thought on “Moosighting Issues….”
Assalaam alaikum. Saudi Arabia was two days off. That’s remarkable but not at all hard to believe.
The movements of the earth and the heavenly bodies are under the Will and Power of Allah alone. Allah decides when Ramadan enters and leaves, as He does with every other month. It is not the decision of any man, committee, organisation or state. It’s time for Muslims to stand up and take this deen back. Moon sigthing is not a hard thing to do.