ISNA'S BID TO INTRODUCE UNIVERSAL ISLAMIC CALENDAR FAILS ISNA's bid to introduce universal Islamic calendar fails By Abdus Sattar Ghazali Al-Jazeerah October 23, 2006 http://www.aljazeerah.info/Opinion%20editorials/2006%20Opinion%20Editorials/October/23%20o/ISNA's%20bid%20to%20introduce%20universal%20Islamic%20calendar%20fails%20By%20Abdus%20Sattar%20Ghazali.htm
An attempt by the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) to introduce a universal Islamic or Hijra calendar failed as most of the Muslim Islamic centers and mosques in America and Canada ignored its dates for the beginning and end of the month of Ramadhan. In August last, ISNA announced a five year Hijra calendar to unite the global Muslim ummah and to get a designated Eid holiday from the government. The five year pre-determined Islamic calendar is based solely on astronomical calculations. ISNA has ruled that the actual sighting of the moon which has been practiced by the majority of Muslims in the 1427 year history of Islam since Hijra has to be disregarded. The ISNA calendar was also rejected by a number of prominent North American Muslim groups including: The Hilal Sighting Committee of North America, the Islamic Shariah Council, Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA), a member of the Islamic Shura Council of North America and Imam Warith Deen Mohammad, leader of the African American Muslims. About 30 percent of Muslims in America belong to the African American community. In Canada , the Hilal Committee of Metropolitan Toronto and Vicinity, which represents 75 Masjids and Islamic organizations, announced the sighting of new moon after receiving witnesses. Besides giving traditional arguments for moon sighting, the critiques pointed out that for the ISNA calendar, the new Islamic Lunar month begins at sunset of the day when the conjunction occurs before 12:00 Noon GMT. If this calculation is used than for the 12 month period from this Rajab 1427 to Jumada al-Thani 1428, the new moon (crescent) cannot be seen for at least five months (Rajab, Ramadan, Shawwal, Dhul Qa'adah, and Rabi al-Thani) in North America. In other words, the followers of the ISNA calendar will be obliged to begin the Islamic month one day earlier, including Ramadan 1427. Some scholars say that the ISNA calendar is nothing but an imitation of the the Jewish community which abandoned the traditional moon sighting to calculate their lunar calendar and adopted the calculated calendar since the 4th century AD. The Fiqah Council of North America , which originally suggested the calendar that was endorsed by the ISNA, argues that the new moon is just a sign of timings. "Criterions of visibility are not agreed upon even by the Muslim astronomers and scholars." A research paper issued by ISNA to support its Hijra calendar argues that GMT is an arbitrary convention accepted by the international community to facilitate the timings and dates and that it has no Islamic implications what so ever. On the other hand, Mecca, being the sanctuary of all the Muslims, enjoys a lot more significance than the GMT, therefore, Muslims should take Mecca as the Islamic convention to determine Muslim months, it said adding that the new month will start when the new Moon is born before Sunset in Mecca and stays in the horizon after the Sunset even if for a small amount of time. The whole Muslim world would have the beginning of the new Month within 24 hours from the birth of the new Moon in Mecca" said the paper written by Dr. Zulfiqar Ali Shah, a renowned American Muslim scholar. Syed Khalid Shaukat, national coordinator, and moon sighting consultant to ISNA, expressing his disappointment over the issue, says: "In the present era of scientific and technological advancement, three decades after man landed on the moon, some Muslims are still avoiding the use of scientific knowledge for making an Islamic calendar and get over with the feuds and having to wait till midnight for a confirmation of moon sighting." Shaukat stressed that "Today, Muslims have expertise and access to technology to understand the calculations of when and where the sighting occurs. Recorded data shows how the science of moon sighting is compared with the actual observations. The results show that calculations of sighting and observations have matched every month since 1993. Calculations of moon sighting and actual sighting are not two different things for an Islamic Calendar when it was found that they both match." However, with the introduction of ISNA hijra calendar, the moon sighting debate has become more complex in North America and as usual the month of Ramadhan did not begin on the same day and Eid-ul-Fitr was also celebrated on two days i.e. Oct. 23rd and Oct. 24th. It is not clear what will be the impact of ISNA calendar in the long term but at the present moment its attempt to unite the global Muslim Ummah or at least the Muslim community in North America fired back. It may be recalled out that a similar Hijra calendar was instituted in Egypt for a short period under the Fatimid dynasty of General Jawhar in 359 AH/969 AD. http://www.aljazeerah.info/Opinion%20editorials/2006%20Opinion%20Editorials/October/23%20o/ISNA's%20bid%20to%20introduce%20universal%20Islamic%20calendar%20fails%20By%20Abdus%20Sattar%20Ghazali.htm *************************************************************************** {Invite (mankind, O Muhammad ) to the Way of your Lord (i.e. Islam) with wisdom (i.e. with the Divine Inspiration and the Qur'an) and fair preaching, and argue with them in a way that is better. Truly, your Lord knows best who has gone astray from His Path, and He is the Best Aware of those who are guided.} (Holy Quran-16:125) {And who is better in speech than he who [says: "My Lord is Allah (believes in His Oneness)," and then stands straight (acts upon His Order), and] invites (men) to Allah's (Islamic Monotheism), and does righteous deeds, and says: "I am one of the Muslims."} (Holy Quran-41:33) The prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: "By Allah, if Allah guides one person by you, it is better for you than the best types of camels." [al-Bukhaaree, Muslim] The prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) also said, "Whoever calls to guidance will have a reward similar to the reward of the one who follows him, without the reward of either of them being lessened at all." [Muslim, Ahmad, Aboo Daawood, an-Nasaa'ee, at-Tirmidhee, Ibn Maajah] -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Recommended: http://www.ikhwanweb.com http://www.islamonline.net http://www.islam-guide.com http://www.prophetmuhammadforall.org -------------------------------------------------------------------------- All views expressed herein belong to the individuals concerned and do not in any way reflect the official views of IslamCity unless sanctioned or approved otherwise. If your mailbox clogged with mails from IslamCity, you may wish to get a daily digest of emails by logging-on to http://www.yahoogroups.com to change your mail delivery settings or email the moderators at [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the title "change to daily digest". Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/islamcity/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/islamcity/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
