shaban

# Not Seen: ICOP member Mr. Muhammad Afifi al-Akiti from Oxford said: "Sighting not attempted. I am travelling this evening, Saturday the 29th day of Rajab for the UK, and am unable to perform the moonsighting for Sha'ban. Nevertheless, there are reports of positive sightings in numerous places East to the UK, including Morocco. This news, despite not being able to sight locally in the UK, makes it sufficient for those in the UK to begin the month of Sha'ban tomorrow, on Sunday the 3rd of August (beginning from today's Maghrib, and not on Monday the 4th of August).

# Not Seen: ICOP member Mr. Qamar Uddin from London said: "On Saturday 2 August 2008, corresponding to 29 Rajab 1429 AH, I (Qamar Uddin) and Shaykh Sulayman Gani was invited to present a seminar on the science of moon sighting at Ebrahim Community College in East London after the Asar (late afternoon) prayer at 7.30 PM (BST). I traveled from York to attend that seminar which was over a 500 miles round trip. Since the above seminar was arranged at short notice, there were not as many people as we had expected (compared to previous seminars held in other areas of London). However, we were very pleased to have attendees from some eminent scholars (see list below), who wanted to understand the problem so that they can help solve the problem of multiple start dates of Ramadan/Eids as well, Insha-Allah. The seminar was concluded before the Magrib (sunset) prayer and after the prayer eight of was climbed to the rooftop of the college to attempt sighting the Hilal (crescent moon), to practice upon the Sunnah of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). The seminar attendees who took part in the above observation were following persons (from left to right: (1) Muhibur Rahman, (2) Shaykh Sulayman Gani (who was explaining that in London the moon sets on the left side of the sun), (3) Dr Mohammad Iqbal, (4) Dr Abul Kalam Azad, (5) myself (Qamar Uddin), (6) Shaykh Abdur Rahman Madani, (7) Abdus-Salam and (8) Dr Muhammad Ohidul Alam (who was taking the photograph!). In the bottom photo I was explaining that one of the reasons why we were unable to sight the 33 hours old Hilal in that evening (even though it was on the horizon) was probably due to it being hidden by the strong glare as it was too close to the horizon and the sun (4 degrees altitude). In the mean time Shaykh Sulayman Gani received a few phone calls and advised us that the moon had been sighted in many countries in the East of UK and therefore the Ulamah have decided the month of Rajab 1429 AH will have 29 days and the month of Shaban 1429 AH in UK will start from Sunday 3 August 2008, Insha-Allah."

shaban

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