So How Do You Work Out The Islamic Calendar

** Found this on a forum and figured it was worth a post... am I the only who thought this was amusing.
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 p laces 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 (http://www.islam-n-interest.com), Mumbai (India) 17th November, 2005

** Another brilliant cartoon from the Cox & Forkum site - link on sidebar.

Breached

** Finally a cartoon from the Dry Bones Blog on the "deal" that has been brokered on the state of Israel. Basiclly the Paleterrorists can now drive guns and bombs across the state of Israel at will, and theirs not a lot they can do to stop this from happening.

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