Islamic Dates and the Moon

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#1 [Permalink] Posted on 20th August 2011 15:52

Important Notice for Ramadhan 2011

The Saudi government has created a calendar (Umm ul Qura) for establishing the start of every new Islamic month, be it Ramadhan, Hajj or Eid. The basis of this calendar is upon the ‘birth of the new moon’ and not viewing the crescent moon with the naked eye (Ruyat Hilal) as is required by the Shariah and Sunnah. Due to this, the Saudi announcement for the new Islamic month occurs 1 day before the actual sighting of the new crescent moon. This has been witnessed for many years now.

This year (2011), the Umm ul Qura calendar has been published and they have already written that Monday, 29^th August 2011 will be the last fast of Ramadhan. Tuesday, 30^th August 2011 will be Eid ul Fitr. Even if there is no sighting of the moon according to the requirements of Shariah (Ruyat Hilal) in the Entire World.

Many masajids in the UK will ignore this fact and follow the Saudi announcement on the ‘birth of the new moon’.

They will perform Eid in Ramadhan and jeoprodise a fast of Ramadhan due to blindly following the Saudi announcement.

Sayidina Abu Hurairah رضي الله عنه relates: The Prophet (saw)

stated: ‘The person who leaves a fast of Ramadhan without a valid Shariah excuse (being ill or on a journey), if he was to fast for his entire life, he cannot fulfil the loss of that single day of Ramadhan he missed.’ (Jami Tirmidhi/ Masnad Ahmad/ Sahih Bukhari)

The fast of Ramadhan is considered so great in Islam that if a person purposefully breaks a fast, he has to perform 60 fasts continuously as a retribution for this act. There is no other act of worship in which the retribution is so severe. For example, if one Salah is made Kadha, only that single Salah is to be performed.

We should be mindful of our Hereafter, of standing before Allah and answering for our actions, of the loss in reward and Mercy that we are gathering by following Saudi Arabias announcements blindly. Of course we should be concerned about uniting the Ummah, but it should be for the Quran and Sunnah and not be for political gains. This is a matter of worship and safeguarding a basic and fundamental principle of Islam.

May Allah سبحانه وتعالى grant us the ability to unite upon the Truth and the straight path and keep us firm on it, Ameen!!

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#2 [Permalink] Posted on 20th August 2011 15:57

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#3 [Permalink] Posted on 20th August 2011 15:58

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Society and Culture
Title
Every year during Ramadhan and Eid, the differences on the moon issue surfaces which brings about enormous problems. Our Ramadhan and Eid get spoiled with the in-fighting. What is your advice?

Question

Every year during Ramadhan and Eid, the differences on the moon issue surfaces which brings about enormous problems. Our Ramadhan and Eid get spoiled with the in-fighting. Ramadhan ought to be a month of spiritual upliftment and Eid, a day of enjoyment. We lose both; no spirituality and no enjoyment. What is your advise so that we do not loose the roohaniyyat of Ramadhan and the enjoyment of Eid through in-fighting?

Answer

Assalāmu `alaikum Warahmatullāhi Wabrakatuh,

The academic opinions of the various Ulama on the moon issue in the U.K are well known. It was expected that such academic contributions would ultimately bear the fruits of making the correct decision.

Non co-operation and acrimony have been the stumbling block in making progress.

In academic issues, the mind must prevail over emotions. Disagreement should be in an agreeable manner.

When academic differences lead to acrimony, that is very un-academic. It becomes very difficult for people of dignity and honour to contribute any further to such a course.

To get caught in the web of acrimony and humiliating ones counterpart is counterproductive and detrimental to ones Imaan.

What was once supposed to be a pure academic issue is now an issue of ones Nafs and ego.

The only seeable solution for the time being is:

� Academic issues should be confined to the Ulama and Muftis who are expected to address these issues within their ranks with decorum and honour.

� The layman is not tasked by Shariah to engage on academic issues. They are ordered to follow their Ulama.

� When the Ulama differ, don't interfere. Never ever condemn any Alim or humiliate him.

� Simply place your trust in your Alim of trust and abide by his decision.

� There is no point in questioning his decision as you cannot be his judge.

� If anyone, be it your friend or family, places his trust in one Alima nd abides by his decision, then respect his decision. If you care for your roohaniyat of Ramadhan or enjoyment of Eid, you will not confront him on his decision.

This approach will not eradicate the differences but will surely control the differences so that one does not loose the roohaniyat of Ramadhan and enjoyment of Eid in in-fighting.

And Allah Ta'ala Knows Best,

Muftī Ebrahim Desai

Daruliftaa
35 Candella Rd, Durban, South Africa

askimam . org

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#4 [Permalink] Posted on 20th August 2011 15:58

For details on moon sighting also see:

www.muftisays.com/forums/people-s-say/5054/is-eidul-adhab...

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#5 [Permalink] Posted on 20th August 2011 16:21

to the guest.

JazakAllah, very true, I can assure that bro Abu Muhammad agrees with your fatwa.

But what do you do when the Ulama dont do anything or when they its wrong, the mosques dont allow the ulama to do anything because of custom, tradition, honour and name.

So many mosques dont listen to their Imams, we are just laymen. The mosques runners are mostly laymen anyway.

The mosques do not listen to the true message on many issues. Its a business. Its a sad situation.

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#6 [Permalink] Posted on 20th August 2011 16:29

a quote from shaykh zakariyya ramatullahi alaihes aap beti

Quote:

I spoke about this in 'Al-Etidaal'. During the time when I was teaching Mishkat I once enumerated the number of differences of opinion concerning salaah consisting of four raka'ahs. I found more than two hundred differences of opinion. From that time onwards, I had no problem with the differences among the Ulama. It became a very easy thing for me to grasp. Therefore whenever I became aware of the differences of opinion among the Ulama, and saw people giving it a lot of importance, it caused me no distress. I always said: "Bhai, there will always be differences of opinion. Follow the view of whomsoever you find yourself having faith in his person. There is no need for debates, fights and arguments."

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#7 [Permalink] Posted on 20th August 2011 18:34

AsalaamsWW. dont really want to post on this thread...but Hazrat Shaykh's quote above is in general wrt genuine fiqhi difference between ulama . Wrt this specific issue he writes:

Hadhrat Shaykh رضي الله عنه writes: 'On the 1st Dhul Hijjah 1396H, 23 November 1976 in the Umm ul Qura
(Saudi governments Birth of the New Moon) Calendar, it is written that Monday will be the 1st Day of Dhul Hijjah and Hajj (day of Arafat) will be on the Tuesday. In Saudi, the Umm ul Qura calendar is followed.

However, upon reaching Madinah (a few days later) it was announced that Hajj will be on Wednesday. Then on Friday, it was announced again that Hajj (day of Arafat) would be on Tuesday. (Aap Beeti, vol 7, p211)

Hadhrat Shaykh Moulana Zakaria Kandhalwi ﻣﺮﻗﺪﻩ راﷲّﻧﻮ writes: (In India) 'The witnessing of the crescent moon occurred on Tuesday night and Ramadhan commenced on Wednesday, however, In Saudi Ramadhan commenced on Monday' (a two day difference). (Aap Beeti)

Also Hadhrat Shaykh رضي الله عنه writes in another
place: 'on the 27th Ramadhan 1398H (1978), Qadhi Sahib (Abdul Qadir) left Madinah to celebrate Eid in
Chawariya Pakistan. After performing Eid in Makkah, he got on a plane the same day to Karachi Pakistan. Upon reaching Pakistan, it was the 28th Ramadhan there. (Aap Beeti, vol 7, p249)

www.croydonmosque.com/pdf/The_History_of_the_UK_following...

You'd struggle to find a single scholar or imam (at last count some years back we had 50ish) here in Hackney who agree's with Hizbul 'ulama even though their actions are the opposite....i assume all most or less begrudgingly follow it. Allah knows best

Here's an article by Molana Ibrahim fariq from Bury (but now resides in US)
www.islamic-center.com/ICH/moonsighting/moonsighting.pdf

An here's Mufti Zubair's (fariq from Dewsbury) email about his own expereince
www.aqnsites.com/moonsighting/8TH_Mufti_Zubair.pdf

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#8 [Permalink] Posted on 20th August 2011 19:28

"Anonymous" wrote:

to the guest. JazakAllah, very true, I can assure that bro Abu Muhammad agrees with your fatwa. But what do you do when the Ulama dont do anything or when they its wrong, the mosques dont allow the ulama to do anything because of custom, tradition, honour and name. So many mosques dont listen to their Imams, we are just laymen. The mosques runners are mostly laymen anyway. The mosques do not listen to the true message on many issues. Its a business. Its a sad situation.

Asslamo Allaikum,

There are 8+ Full-time Darul-ulooms in UK, all setup, run and managed by Ulama & mashaykh (Masha'Allah) with laymen having nothing to do with anything.

If laymen in the Mosque commitees are the problem, whats preventing these institutes from following the right course of action on moonsighting?

Jazakullah Khairun

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#9 [Permalink] Posted on 20th August 2011 20:06

wassalam

@Muadh_Khan

what if they do discuss it amongst themselves and decide it is okay to follow saudi...i mean these are big ulama we are talking about.. surely they would know

i think mufti desai has given a good solution for the time being

Anonymous wrote:

� Academic issues should be confined to the Ulama and Muftis who are expected to address these issues within their ranks with decorum and honour.

� The layman is not tasked by Shariah to engage on academic issues. They are ordered to follow their Ulama.

� When the Ulama differ, don't interfere. Never ever condemn any Alim or humiliate him.

� Simply place your trust in your Alim of trust and abide by his decision.

� There is no point in questioning his decision as you cannot be his judge.

� If anyone, be it your friend or family, places his trust in one Alima nd abides by his decision, then respect his decision. If you care for your roohaniyat of Ramadhan or enjoyment of Eid, you will not confront him on his decision.

askimam . org

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#10 [Permalink] Posted on 20th August 2011 20:12

What if when the committee laymen don't listen the the.Ulama?

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#11 [Permalink] Posted on 20th August 2011 20:15

@daywalk3r

Is this not a genuine fiqh masala? if there are genuine ulama following saudi?

another quote from aap beti

Quote:

In my opinion also it is permissible, while our Mufti (Mufti Saeed Ahmed Saheb) and the previous Nazim Maulana Abdul Lateef Saheb in accordance with Hazrat's opinion considered it as being not permissible. We knew about each other's views and have discussed the matter but the end result was that I did not accept their view and they did not accept mine. But never was there any pamphleteering against each other, nor any arguments. Regarding the burial of Hazrat Raipuri in Pakistan (instead of Raipur), I have always told people that there is no need for fighting over the issue, no need for taking out pamphlets against the other side, nor for debates/b], as always happens in cases of differences of opinion.[ No matter what the nature of the dispute, what need is there for fighting and arguments? There is no harm in explaining one's view with sanity, reason and calmness. If after that, the other party does not see his way clear towards accepting your view, then it is most inappropiate to resort to swearing and degrading them. I was so open-minded in this regard that I never even debated with Congress, League, Jami'at or Ahraar supporters.

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#12 [Permalink] Posted on 20th August 2011 21:40

" genuine fiqhi difference" - please read and quote me correctly. the 'differences' here are based on egos as mentioned by muftii saeed palunpuri is his talk. Noone is saying or has ever said that this isnt a fiqhi issue..

the above quoted text is in relation to the partition of India nowt to do with the issue at hand.

im not for one answering irrelevant questions and irrelevant points so this is me outta this thread...

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#13 [Permalink] Posted on 21st August 2011 00:09

"Anonymous" wrote:

wassalam @Muadh_Khan what if they do discuss it amongst themselves and decide it is okay to follow saudi...i mean these are big ulama we are talking about.. surely they would know i think mufti desai has given a good solution for the time being

"Anonymous" wrote:

· Academic issues should be confined to the Ulama and Muftis who are expected to address these issues within their ranks with decorum and honour. · The layman is not tasked by Shariah to engage on academic issues. They are ordered to follow their Ulama. · When the Ulama differ, don’t interfere. Never ever condemn any Alim or humiliate him. · Simply place your trust in your Alim of trust and abide by his decision. · There is no point in questioning his decision as you cannot be his judge. · If anyone, be it your friend or family, places his trust in one Alima nd abides by his decision, then respect his decision. If you care for your roohaniyat of Ramadhan or enjoyment of Eid, you will not confront him on his decision. askimam . org

Asslamo Allaikum,

For the past 1200 years NO LOCATION in Islam has followed Makkah or Madina for moon sighting, people have followed their own sighting, please give historic examples otherwise

Because it is impossible e.g. by the day sunsets in Saudia its midnight in some parts of the world

As far the deobandi Ulama are concerned since 1866 saudia has NOT been following in India/Pakistan

There are NO FATWAAS of any Deobandi Ulama telling people to follow Saudia

if not every major Darul-uloom , Mufti, Shaykh and Scholar then over 99% have given Fatwa that Saudi should NOT be followed in UK

No Deobandi in the world outside of UK follows Saudia
So if our major Ulama have discussed the matter behind closed door and decided to go against all of the above and follow Saudia then it should be publicised and the reasons explained as to why they have decided to go against historical precedence and fatawa of "even bigger Ulama" then themselves.
There is no clergy in Islam. Difference of opinion doesn't pop out of thin air it has to have reasonable grounds and prior practise and those are differences of opinion that Shaykhul-Hadeeth (Maulana) Zakariyya (RA) is talking about and then these differences are well publicised e.g. there is difference in the Hanafi Madhab itself over many matters but nobody can stand up and create something odd (against the practise and Fatawa of Ulama) and call it difference.
If we are meant to follow Darul-uloom Deoband, SaharunPur, Dhabail, Karachi, Multan etc then all of THEM HAVE UNANIMOUSLY said that Saudia shouldn't be followed then we can't simply cast it aside and toss their Fatwa in the bin!
If you mean that to say that we are supposed to "read and then discard" the fatwa of Darul-uloom Deoband, SaharunPur, Dhabail, Karachi, Multan etc and assume that our Ulama have had a closed door meeting and then decided to DISCARD the fatwaas then fair enough, no argument with you.
Like I said previously if people think that this is a problem caused by laymen (in the committees) then the darul-ulooms are not run by laymen so what's preventing them from implementing the Fatwaas of Darul-uloom Deoband, SaharunPur, Dhabail, Karachi, Multan et?
Jazakullah Khairun

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#14 [Permalink] Posted on 21st August 2011 00:14

Lastly and a question for anybody.

You either don't know that Darul-uloom Deoband, SaharunPur, Dhabail, Karachi, Multan etc have all GIVEN UNANIMOUS FATWAAS of not following Saudia in UK

OR you think that someone has forged all these Fatwaas
There is no way anybody can think that there is a UNANIMOUS "REAL & UNFORGED" FATAWAA and then bin it! I don't know of any other subject where such a thing can happen...
If there is a single saying of Shaykhul-Hadeeth (Maulana) Zakariyya (RA) that overwhelming Fataawa of major Ulama of the world can be binned and discarded, please bring it our attention.
Please stick to the subject.

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#15 [Permalink] Posted on 21st August 2011 00:43

Salam

Please can someone translate this fatwa by Mufti Taqi Usmani or write a summary of it and post it as i am no expert on urdu.

w[ww.hizbululama.[org.uk/highlights/follow_saudi_arabia_moonsighting.pdf

(take 2 [ out)

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Islamic Dates and the Moon

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