No Eid if you don’t see the moon!

Published : 29 Sept 2015, 12:11 PM
Updated : 29 Sept 2015, 12:11 PM

Most South Asian Muslims celebrate their most important religious festivals – Eid ul-Fitr and Eid ul-Adha – one or two days after the whole world celebrates them. The Muslims in a South Indian state in the recent past celebrated Eid ul-Fitr on three different days in a row, as there was no consensus on the sighting of the crescent moon. South Asian Muslims in general rely on a hadis (saying) attributed to Prophet Muhammad (pbuh): "… do not give up fasting till you see the crescent".

They mainly rely on Islamic scholars, including the popular demagogues-cum-pseudo-Islamic scholars and TV/YouTube evangelists like Dr Zakir Naik and Maulana Delwar Hussain Saidi. The Indian physician-turned-evangelist Naik recently asserted unambiguously: "There is no Eid for you, if you don't see the moon". No wonder, South Asian Muslims are ambivalent about relying on the science of astronomy. The average Muslims being too awestruck by the mullahs – who are proficient fear- and hate-mongers – to ask questions, and lest they commit a grave sin by defying them is always at the back of their minds.

Unfortunately, many Islamic scholars in Bangladesh and elsewhere fail to understand and explain Islam by correlating its teachings to contemporary issues, which never existed during the time of the Prophet (pbuh). Thanks to the collective misunderstanding of a hadis, millions of Muslims in Bangladesh and elsewhere believe the celebrations of Eids are contingent on sighting of the moon. One may, however, pose the following questions:

a) Why is it important if Muslims celebrate Eids on different days?

b) So what if Muslims do not rely on the science of astronomy?

My answers could be utterly unconvincing to some and simply compelling to many. I believe, it is important to conform to logical thinking and act accordingly, both individually and collectively as a nation. Nations devoid of logical behaviour become laughing stocks in the global community. Selective reliance on technology is simply bizarre and preposterous. One wonders, if taking sahr and iftar (beginning and breaking fast), and saying prayers by relying on the clock – not on the movements of the sun and the moon – are permissible in Islam, why on earth the reliance on astronomy to begin and end the month of fasting be prohibited!

Some Muslims only rely on the following hadis to start and end the month of fasting, and celebrate the two Eids. They believe Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) said: "Do not fast unless you see the crescent [of Ramadan], and do not give up fasting till you see the crescent [of Shawwal], but if the sky is overcast (if you cannot see the moon), then act on estimation i.e. count Ramadan as 30 days" [Narrated by Abdullah ibn Umar, Hadis #130, Sahih Bukhari, Vol. 3, Book 31].

Hence – paradoxically – the irrelevance of astronomy

Now, as to how we respond to the hadis is the question. There are scores of other Sahih or reliable hadises and the Hanafi Shariah code to counter the argument of those who only insist on relying on this particular hadis. The ulama or Muslim scholars also believe that the language of this particular hadis is very specific about certain issues:

a) The command of fasting and ending the month of fasting here is in the plural form – "soomu" – that includes all Muslims all over the world; and

b) All Muslims everywhere must begin and end their fasting if even a single Muslim testifies that they have seen the crescent moon.

The ulama in general also believe the issue of moon sighting is a global, not a regional or local issue. Thus, if a single Muslim in Morocco, for example, claims to have seen the crescent moon, the Muslims in Indonesia and elsewhere in the world must act accordingly, to begin or end the month of fasting.

We may cite several other hadises, and rulings by renowned Muslim scholars in support of the main premise  of this article. One hadis from the collections by al Nissai and al Tirmizi reveals that the Prophet (pbuh) asked all his followers: "Get up and announce to the people that we are fasting tomorrow", on the basis of one single testimony by a Muslim that he had seen the crescent moon of Ramzan/Ramadan. The Hanafi fiqh manual Durr al-Mukhtar states: "If people living in the West sight the moon, it becomes obligatory for the people living in the East to act on that" [Vol. 1, p. 149].

We find in one Deoband fatwa the following:  "Wherever the sighting is confirmed, however far  away  it may be, even if it were to be thousands of miles; the people of this place will have to abide by that." [Fatawa Dar ul Uloom Deoband, Vol. 6 p. 380, Urdu edition].

There is yet another hadis, which is worth quoting in this regard: "It was cloudy and we could not see the new moon of Shawwaal, so we started the day fasting, then a caravan came at the end of the day and told the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) that they had seen the new moon of Shawwaal the day before, so he told the people to stop fasting, and they went out to pray the Eid prayer the next day" [Abu Dawud, Hadis # 1153].

However, most Muslims globally only rely on the science of astronomy to observe fasting and celebrate religious festivals. The Moonsighting Committee Worldwide (MCW), the Ummul Qura Calendar Saudi Arabia; the Fiqh Council of North America (FCNA); and the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), for example, circulate the Ramzan and Eid dates in advance. Muslims elsewhere in the East and West are already aware of the dates when the month of Ramzan will begin and end, and when they are going to celebrate Eid ul-Fitr and Eid ul-Adha in 2016 and beyond.

The controversy over moon sighting is relatively a new phenomenon in Pakistan and Bangladesh. The issue first surfaced during the heydays of Ayub Khan's dictatorship. His formal withdrawal of martial law in June 1962 gave some respite to the people. The issue of not celebrating the Eid-ul-Fitr on a date specified by the government was a political decision by the major opposition parties, including the Jamaat-e-Islami. It was more an act of defiance of Ayub Khan's hegemony rather than a defiance of astronomy and common sense.

Nevertheless, some people's ignorance about the science of astronomy is also a factor in this regard. However, the problem is not always Muslims' lack of knowledge and information, but the mindset of some influential ulama, who are too arrogant to accept logical arguments and scientific evidences. Some of them would do anything to prove how important and influential they are socially and politically. Their insistence on determining as to when "the moon is sighted" is part of the power game between the secular state machinery and the religious authority of the ulama.

For the sake of ending the controversy about moon sighting once and for all, the State and civil society must curb the influence of the self-proclaimed "custodians of Islam". The State should fix a permanent lunar calendar (initially for the next 10/20 years) by solely relying on the science of astronomy. It is high time Muslims in South Asia realise they cannot partially rely on science and technology, and partially on the whims of some people. Those who rely on the clock to say their prayers and begin and break their fasting, must stop insisting on seeing the crescent moon before beginning and ending the month of Ramzan. It is ridiculous and un-Islamic that some Muslims choose not to celebrate Ramzan and Eids in synchronisation with the global Muslim community.

Taj Hashmi teaches security studies at Austin Peay State University. Sage has recently published his latest book, Global Jihad and America: The Hundred-Year War Beyond Iraq and Afghanistan.