[IslamCity] Islamic Calendar - a Discussion

[Mohammad Shafi]

                                  
  
Bi ismillahir rahmanir
raheem
    
          
  Sometime back, I had circulated, on the web, an
 article captioned 'Islamic Calendar'.
 I received critical comments on the same from a Brother. In the interest
of our quest for the truth I am giving below the Brother's comments in black
 font. The passages in grey are from my original article, and my replies
to  the critical comments are in blue.
    
  Mohammad Shafi
          
  
     
    
     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.
      
      The ahadith are translated to say the "new moon"
 must be sighted, this is an obvious mistranslation since the "new moon"
is  imposible to see and what the translation should say is the cresent of
the  new moon. The article it self points this out when it says the new moon
is  not visible for 24 hours, the moon goes through fases and at each fase
a new name is given to it according to western conventions.
      
      
              
      
  
      
        
          
          
    New Moon       
          
          
    Waxing Crescent       
          
          
    First Quarter       
          
          
    Waxing Gibbous       
          
          
    Full Moon       
          
          
    Waning Gibbous       
          
          
    Last Quarter       
          
          
    Waning Crescent       
        
                   
            
  
    
    we are looking for the waxing cresent of the moon not the new moon. the
 translations of the hadith are literal and do not convey the intent of what
 is being said.
    
          
  The Pocket Oxford Dictionary gives the meaning 
 of 'new moon' as 'moon when first seen as a crescent after conjunction with 
 the sun'.
      
    
    
     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.
      
      this is not relavent to the Islamic calender since
the islamic calender is to establish the month of the year for the purpose
of worship such as the days of ramadhan, eid and days of fasting. not for
the arab version of wall street to keep track of there business dealings, 
 they use western calanders anyway and are forced to if they want to deal 
on an international level we do not bend our religion for money.
            
  
             
  Islam  is a practical religion, Brother!
It doesn't prescribe double standards, one for religion and another for worldly
 affairs. It's persons of your school of faulty thought that make Islam look
 impracticable in today's world. By admitting that one has to use 'western
 calendars' for business dealings at international level, you're already
making  your faulty version of religion bend for money. Pure Islam, as depicted
in  the divine Qur'aan, doesn't have to bend, for anything. The lunar calendar
 based on this pure, Allah-perfected  religion would be internationally viable
 for all purposes. And if the non-Islamic world insists on a solar calendar,
 the dates on the former calendar can easily be converted into dates on the
 latter. The solar calendar that the world follows is not at all perfect.
It remains imperfect even after inserting an addtional day once in 4 years.
The clock has even then to be adjusted by a second or so after every few
years. It's after all a man-made calendar. The perfect divine calendar based
on the pure Qur'aanic guidance, on the other hand, shall inshaAllah have
no corrections to make.
    
    
    
      Saudi arabia already seperates its civil calendar
 from its religious one which is why moon sighting still occurs in the country,
 last years contravercy was over two witnesses suposedly sighting the moon
 on the day the new moon was calculated to have been. Al hamdulillah they
still place value on sighting the moon and recognise that it is a requirment.
      
            
  That is what you say, Brother! My information 
 is that the Saudi government follows the calculated new moon timings. 
      
      
     But this requirement of physically 
 sighting the new  moon, is nowhere mentioned in the Qur'aan.
      
      Which means nothing unless you are implying the
 sunnah is of a much lesser authority 
 than the Quran.
      
            
  That's the root of all our troubles, Brother! 
 We're unable to understand that the Huadheeth  
   regarding our Prophet (peace and Allah's blessings be upon him)
 telling people to start and end Ramadhaan fastings on sighting the new moon,
 was time-specific for the people of the age in which he lived. This huadheeth has to be read with another 
 wherein he said that theirs was a community of illiterate people, who knew 
 not how to keep accounts [H.137; Vol.3, Sahih Bukhari]. The Qur'aan, on the
 other hand, is valid for all times till the Last Day. The people during the
 Prophet's time had no alternative, but to end any month on the 29th day
only  if they sighted the moon on that day. They had no means to calculate 
the fixed/appointed points of time for the new moons to come out for the earth.
      
    
       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]. 
   
      
      not true in the context of this article, they
 did not question rasul allah in relation to whether they should site the
moon or not which makes the very next line have no basis what so ever. 
      
      And indeed are these fixed points in time, for the entire mankind on earth.
      
      the moon has an orbit just like the sun it is
 not a fixed time starting in one location on earth this is twisting of the
 ayat and what rasul allah said.
      
            
  Your denial of new moon timings being fixed 
 points in time, is a denial of the Qur'aan. Verse 2.189 clearly tells us 
that the new moons are mawaaqueetu linnasi 
 (fixed/appointed points in time for mankind). And it's a scientifically verified
 fact that the different phases of the moon occur at fixed points of time
in relation to the entire earth. But because of the rotation of the earth,
these fixed points in time have to be represented by different local times
at different places on the earth. If this is too complicated for you to understand,
let me give you the example of the full moon. It occurs at the same moment
of time for the entire earth, although this same moment of time is represented
 by different local times at different places. And mind you, the full moon
 is a momentary occurrence. In the very next moment, a this line of darkness
 starts spreading at one side of the moon, which generally goes unnoticed
by the naked human eye.
    
    And about 15 days later, an exactly opposite phenomenon happens. The
entire   illuminated half of the moon gets away from the earth, and for all
of us  on earth, it's entirely a dark moon, which the stronomers call, as
you have  mentioned, a new moon. They call it a new moon, because at that
very moment,  a thin bright line at one side of the moon's circumference
starts getting  illuminated by the sun's rays. This bright line cannot be
seen by naked eyes  on earth. But that is the meequaat  (singular of mawaaqueet) for mankind  mentioned in
verse 2.189. What different people in different countries see  as the new
moon, is not actually the new moon, as you have yourself pointed   out. What
they see is the waxing crescent at different stages of its development. 
The waxing crescent doesn't have a fixed time. But since Allah T'a'ala speaks 
 of fixed times (mawaaqueet), it 
has got to be of the astronomical 'new moon'.
    
    Brother! Your denial of the Qur'aanic mention of new moons being fixed
 points in time, also betrays lack of knowledge of the dynamics of the relative
 movements of the sun, the moon and the earth in space. Therefore, frankly,
 the other remarks in your comments above make no sense.
    
    
      here is the clear falacy of this articles entire
 argument,
      
      The new moon that last occurred was on
the 2nd November, 2005 at 6.54 a.m. as per the Indian Standard Time.
      
      the new moon occured on the 2nd of november all
 around the world making the cresent posible to see on the 3rd of november 
 and friday being the first day of the month. Saudi arabia celebrated eid 
on the 3rd of november meaning one day early so how can you advocate that 
 people follow saudi arabia if you know they are wrong.
            
  
             
  But  the Saudi government was not wrong,
Brother! The meequaat, in terms
of verse 2.189 had already occurred on the 2nd November. Qur'aanically, they
were correct in observing the Eid on the 3rd.
      
    
    
       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. 
      
      The information relied upon in the article is
 not accurate since it is an established scientific fact that you can not 
calculate the visibility of the new cresent the thing Allah and his prophet 
commanded us to establish the days of the month with not the new moon( which 
is not visible ever). Saudi arabia calculates the new moon not the cresent 
there is a diference and mix up in terminology in this artile.
      
            
  The mix up is in your understanding, Brother! 
 Since the Qur'aan speaks of new moons being fixed points in time, the 'new 
 moons' it is referring to cannot but be the astronomical new moon. The 'new 
 moons' that you and I first see cannot have fixed points in time.
      
    
      The Quran it self says you have to witness
the first cresent not calculate it (2;185) fa man shahidah minkum ash sharah,
 those from you who have witnesed the month, some translate it as "So every one of you who is present (at his home) 
 during that month" the meaning is still pointed towards presence and witnessing 
   the month.
          
  
             
  Witnessing  the month cannot be the same
as 'witnessing the new moon', Brother! You're clearly trying to twist the
clear meaning of the divine Writ. If we go by your interpretation, the translation
 of that particular part of the verse, 2.185, would be: ---'whoever of you
 witnesses the new moon, should fast'---. Do you mean to say that those who
 do not witness the new moon, need not fast? Don't you think you are incurring
 Allah's wrath by such open twisting of the clear meaning of His words?
      
    
    
    "the root meaning of the term shahidah refers to a witnessing which takes 
 part in a physical form, as a form of proof, scholars of arabic grammer agree
 on this by unanimous concensous, ibn abbas is one example". Therefor you
can not merely calculate the cresent (something imposible to do with accuracy)
 it must be sighted with human eye.
          
  
    I reiterate, you are misinterpreting 
 Allah's unambigously clear words with ambiguous and error-prone human opinions. 
 And I reiterate, there cannot be fixed points in time (mawaaqueet) for the new moons (crescents) 
 first sighted by human eyes. Mawaaqueet 
 could be valid only for the astronomical new moons. Allah has enabled these 
 fixed points to be accurately calculated by modern man.
        
    
    Ibn Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) narrated, “I heard Allah's Messenger 
 (The blessing and peace of Allah be upon him) saying, “When you see the crescent (of Ramadhan), start 
 fasting, and when you see the crescent (of the month of Shawwal), stop fasting; 
 and if the sky is overcast (and you can't see it) then regard the month of
 Ramadan as of 30 day.
          
  
             
  People  of the Prophet's time didn't have
 the knowledge to calculate the meequaat.
 There was no alternative for them but to sight the new moon to be aware
that  the meequaat had occurred.
      
    
    
    the entire world ought to adopt
 the calendar as framed by the Saudi government; for, that government is
the  custodian of the places where the Hajj is performed. 
      
      There is no authority in the Quran or sunnah to
follow Saudi Arabia a country named after its rulers not becouse of its religion.
Many times in our history the seat of the Khalifah has changed, from Makah
to Damascus to Baghdad to Istanbul it never stayed with who ever was in control
of the two cities.
            
  
             
  The  mention of the Hajj in verse 2.189 is
 the authority. The astronomical new moons are mawaaqueet for mankind as well as for
 the Hajj. It is the Saudi government that determines the dates of the Hajj
 every year. Mankind from all over the world come there for the Hajj. They
 have willy-nilly to follow those dates. And as long as that government 
follows  the guidance given in the Qur'aan, mankind should not have any objection 
to follow the same calendar all over the world.
      
    
    
      This artilce is an argument for
 the Quran only Group, no mention or value is placed upon the Sunnah of the
 prophet, Allah himself in the Quran asks us to look towards the sunnah of
 rasul allah to clarify the Quran.
          
  
             
  There  are no groups in Islam, Brother! Those
 who follow the Qur'aan, belong to Islam. And those who do not follow the
Qur'aan, do not belong to Islam. The Prophet was the very embodiment of the
Qur'aan. The Qur'aan contains the most authenticated and accurate sayings
of the Prophet. He was the Messenger of Allah. His sunnah could not be different
from sunnatullah. Those who follow
the Qur'aan, follow the Prophet.
    
    Mohammad Shafi
   islam-n-interest.com
    
    
  
  
                                                                   
     






***************************************************************************
{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] 
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