as-salamu ‘alaykum,

This is the moonsighting report form Shaykh Muhammad Afifi al-Akiti

Shaykh Muhammad Afifi al-Akiti (MCW member) from Oxford, UK: Not Seen
Negative sighting. We attempted the obligatory sighting at the end of the 29th day of Ramadan (Sunday, 22 October 2006), despite the new moon is not expected to be visible locally today. It is raining and the horizon is overcast, and hence there was no possible sighting anyway. We received the report from Fez, Morocco of negative sightings by moonspotters despite clear skies and the authority there declared that the month of Ramadan is to complete its 30 days. Although the crescent is not expected to be sighted locally till Tuesday, this news and the expectation that there will be positive sightings east to our longitute on Monday are sufficient for us to complete this month like Morocco and establish the new month [thubut al-hilal] of Shawwwal in the UK to be on the day after tomorrow, Tuesday, the 24th of October, instead of Wednesday (a lesson in itself about the precedence [taqdim] of an easterly sighting over the local sighting-zone in Fiqh). ‘Id Mubarak!

wa’as-salam

Mas’ud
www.masud.co.uk