[GUEST OF DR. ALIYU TILDE]
Muslims
in Nigeria start the Ramadan fast or celebrate the Eids on different dates in
spite of the official announcement of the sighting of the crescent. Details of
the problem include the following:
·
Most Nigerians do not go by the official announcements.
·
An organised system of monitoring the moon is wanting.
·
Sha'ban and Ramadan have had 29 days each in the past 40 years while
Shawwal and Dhul-Qi'dah have had 30 days each but only in Nigeria.
·
Nigeria leads the world in moon sighting.
This
has led to a dichotomy, that is, there are those that follow the announcements
with absolute loyalty; and those that totally reject such announcements. Whereas
the former maintain that they are following their leaders, as dictated by the
Shari'a, the latter believe that the leaders are wrong and, therefore, should
not be followed.
According
to them the announcements made often contradict common knowledge, that is
·
The old moon should disappear before reappearing as a crescent moon.
·
Full moon should be on the 14th day of the month.
·
The crescent is not popularly sighted, one or two days after the
announcement.
The
Way Out
The
Qur’an has commanded us to refer to God and his messenger in matters of
dispute (4:59; 26:10) and to ask “those who possess knowledge” where we do
not know (16:43)
Allah,
the Almighty said: "They ask you concerning the crescent moons. Say: They
are but signs to mark fixed periods of time in (the affairs of) men and for
Pilgrimage." (2:189)
“It
is He who made the sun to be a shining glory and the moon to be a light (of
beauty), and measured out stages for it, that you might know the number of years
and the count (of time)."(10:5)
"And
the Moon We have measured for it stations (to traverse) till it returns like the
old (and withered) lower part of a date-stalk. It is not permitted to the Sun to
catch up the Moon, nor can the Night outstrip the Day: Each (just) swims along
in (its own) orbit." (36:39-40)
"The
sun and the moon follow courses (exactly computed."(55:5)
The Messenger of Allah (SAWS) has said:
Abu Hurayrah (RA) reported that the Prophet (SAWS) said: "Start
fasting upon sighting it (the crescent) and terminate the fast upon sighting it
(the crescent) and if it is hidden to you (by clouds), then count the month of
Sha'ban to thirty days." (Bukhari and Muslim)
Narrator
Abdullah ibn Umar in Al-Muwatta: The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and
grant him peace, once mentioned Ramadan and said, "Do not begin the fast
until you see the new moon, and do not break the fast (at the end of Ramadan)
until you see it. If the new moon is obscured from you, then work out (when it
should be)."
Abdullah
Ibn Umar (RA) reported that the Prophet (SAWS) said: "We are an uneducated
community: We neither write nor calculate. A month is so and so days; meaning
sometimes twenty nine and sometimes thirty." (Bukhari)
Disappearance
Commentators
on the Holy Qur'an, jurists and astronomers agree that the stations are
twenty-eight and that the moon passes through one station daily as it revolves
around the earth in its orbit. This means that the moon spends twenty-eight days
to complete one revolution. In fact this period, known as the orbital period, is
twenty-seven days, seven hours and forty three minutes.
Remember
that as the moon revolves around the earth the latter revolves around the sun
and at a certain time the three objects align, with the moon in the middle. This
moment, termed conjugation, marks the end of a lunar month and the beginning of
another. The length of a lunar month, also called synodic period, is the
period between two successive conjugations and is twenty-nine days, twelve hours
and forty-four minutes (i.e., 29.53 days)
Abdullah
Ibn Fodiyo, commenting on the verse (10:5), in his book Kifayatu dua'fa
us-Sudan said: "It (the moon) has twenty-eight stations in twenty-eight
days in every month. Thereafter it disappears for two days in the case of a
thirty-day month or one day in the case of a twenty-nine-day month."
Ibn
Rushd said, in his book Bidayatul mujtahid: “The jurists agree that the
Arabic (lunar) month has twenty nine or thirty days and that the only valid way
to determine the month of Ramadan is through sighting of the crescent due to his
(the Prophet (SAWS)) saying: 'Fast upon sighting it and terminate the fast upon
sighting it.' What is meant by sighting is the first appearance of the crescent
after its disappearance."
John
Caldwell and David Laney, of the South African Astronomical Observatory, said:
"…At this moment (conjugation) the moon is always invisible from the
earth. When the moon first becomes visible again (always more than half a day
after astronomical New Moon), observers see a Young Crescent Moon."
Mohammed
Odeh, of the Jordanian Astronomical Society, said: "…So during the moon's
orbit if the moon, earth and the sun lie exactly in the same line and the moon
in the middle, the sun will illuminate half of the moon that faces it and the
other half which faces us will be dark because it does not reflect rays of the
sun. However… according to my information no observer yet reported seeing such
crescent."
Abdurrazak Ebrahim Snr said: "For approximately fifteen hours on either side of the instant of conjugation, the moon is completely hidden from view. Consequent to the first appearance of the lunar crescent on the western horizon after sunset the moon waxes (increased illumination) until the fourteenth night when it appears as the full moon. After this the moon wanes (diminishing illumination) until it disappears over the eastern horizon before sunrise on the twenty-eighth day of the month."
New
and Old Moon
It
is not possible to see a new moon in the evening of the same day the old one was
seen in the morning. No! What is meant by the disappearance of the moon is its
invisibility at any time, in the east or in the west, even under the best of
weather conditions, due to the reasons given above. Also remember that for the
moon to be sighted in the morning it ought to have risen well before sunrise
and, therefore, would set before sunset: Then how can it be seen? Please refer
to the commentary of Suratush Shams verse 2,viz, 'By the moon when it follows it
(the sun)', by Ibn Kathir where he said: "Qatada has said: 'The time when
it (the moon) follows it (the sun) in the night preceding the beginning of a
lunar month; when the sun sets, the crescent is then sighted."
A
solar eclipse occurs only at the time of conjugation when the earth moon and the
sun lie in a straight line (with the moon in the middle) whence the moon
obstructs the sun. A lunar eclipse, on the other hand, occurs at full moon,
i.e., when the three bodies again lie in a straight line, but with the earth in
the middle. The shadow of the earth falls on the moon which then appears dark to
us, since it does not produce its own light (It reflects sunlight). Since full
moon occurs midway between two successive conjugations, a lunar eclipse can
occur only between the thirteenth and fifteenth day of a lunar month.
The
size and altitude of the crescent is not an accurate measure of its age because
it depends on the following factors:
1)
The age of the moon. That is the period between conjugation and local
sunset when the crescent is sighted. The minimum time required is about
seventeen hours for sighting with naked eyes, fifteen with binoculars and twelve
with a telescope. Since conjugation can take place at any time of the day, the
age of the moon at sunset varies from month to month and the older it is the
bigger. Here is an example, assuming naked-eye sighting. Suppose conjugation
takes place at 1:00am in a lunar month A and the sun sets at 6:00pm: The moon is
17 hours old at sunset and can, therefore, be sighted. Now in another lunar
month B conjugation takes place at 6:00am: The moon is 12 hours at sunset and,
therefore, cannot be sighted until the following evening when it is 36 hours
old. Other factors being constant, crescent B will certainly be bigger than
crescent A.
2)
Distance. As the moon revolves in its orbit its distance from the earth
varies, due to the shape of the orbit. The moon is said to be at perigee
when it is closest (356,410 km) to the earth and at apigee when it is
furthest (406,740 km). Other factors being constant a perigee crescent is
larger.
3)
Season. Summer crescents are larger than winter crescents because the
moon (being in the same hemisphere as the observer) is nearer to the observer.
Thus, here in Nigeria, the crescent observed during the hot season (late
spring to early autumn) is larger than the one observed during the cool season
(late autumn to early spring).
From
the foregoing, it is clear that size and altitude alone are not sufficient in
determining the age of the crescent. Now let us conclude our explanation with
the following hadith, reported by Muslim and Ahmad: Abul Bakhtari reported:
"We went out to perform Umrah and when we encamped in the valley of Nakhlah,
we tried to see the new moon. Some of the people said: It was three nights old,
and others (said) that it was two nights old. We then met Ibn Abbas and told him
we had seen the new moon, but that some of the people said it was three nights
old and others that it was two nights old. He asked on which night we had seen
it; and when we told him we had seen it on such and such night, he said the
Prophet of Allah (peace be upon him) had said Verily Allah deferred it till the
time it is seen, so it is to be reckoned
from the night you saw it."
Though
these calculations can predict exactly when a new moon will be born, they cannot
predict precisely (the accuracy is 85%) when it can be seen. In other words,
these calculations can tell you when it is impossible to sight the moon and when
it is most likely to sight it.
The
popular view among Muslim jurists regarding the meaning of the hadith "Fast
upon sighting it (the crescent)…" is actual sighting of the crescent
Therefore
astronomy should compliment actual sighting rather than replace it. In
other words astronomy should be used to check sighting errors.
Sighting
of other countries
There
are two views regarding using the sighting of other countries: 1) The single
horizon view: favours global sighting and is based on the hadith "Fast when
you sight it…" and 2) The multiple horizon view: favours local sighting
and is based on this Hadith:
Kurayb
said: Umm Fadl, daughter of Harith, sent him to Mu'awiyah in Syria. I arrived in
Syria, and did the needful for her. It was there in Syria that the month of
Ramadan commenced. I saw the new moon (of Ramadan) on Friday. I then came back
to Medina at the end of the month. Abdullah ibn Abbas asked me (about the new
moon of Ramadan) and said: When did you see it? I said: We saw it on Friday. He
said: (Did) you see it yourself? I said: Yes, and the people also saw it so they
observed fast and Mu'awiyah also observed fast. Thereupon he said: But we saw it
on Saturday . So we shall continue to observe the fast until we complete thirty
(fasts) or we see it (the new moon of Shawwal). I said: Is the sighting of the
moon by Mu'awiyah not valid for you? He said: No; this is how the Messenger of
Allah (peace_be_upon_him) has commanded us. Yahya ibn Yahya was in doubt
(whether the word used in the narration by Kurayb) was Naktafi or Taktafi.
(Muslim, Attirmidhiy, Abu Dawud, An-Nasa'iy and Ahmad)
Change?
No,
in fact this is one of the worst, but interesting, years we are witnessing.
Worst because the month was started wrongly; and interesting because Allah has
provided us with a rare opportunity to check ourselves.
Only
Nigeria claimed sighting the crescent on this planet on Monday 4 November 2002.
The
moon set before the sun on the said day: Not only in Nigeria but even in
countries west of it such as Senegal. In fact, the moon set nine minutes before
the sun in Kaduna and Port Harcourt while it set eight minutes before the sun in
Sokoto, the three places where claims of sighting were made.
Conjugation
took place on the day in question at 9:34 pm local time (Yes, more than three
hours after sunset). How then could someone have sighted the moon before
conjugation, that is, when it was still before the sun? Please refer to the
commentary of Suratush Shams verse 2 ('By the moon when it follows it (the
sun)') by Ibn Kathir where he said: "Qatada said: 'The time when it (the
moon) follows it (the sun) in the night preceding the beginning of a lunar
month; when the sun sets the crescent is then sighted."
Based
on actual sighting of the crescent, and not speculation or pre-prepared
calendars, Monday 4 November 2002 was equivalent to 28 Sha’ban 1423 throughout
the world, Nigeria (the common people, most of whom live in rural areas, and
others that care to monitor the moon) inclusive. Then did Sha'ban have 28 days
or did we start fasting on 29 Sha'ban?
Before I conclude the
answer to this question, I wish to draw your attention to this fact: The
majority of Muslims, locally and globally, started fasting on Wednesday 6
November. Only two countries declared Tuesday 5 November the beginning of
Ramadan, and these are Nigeria and Libya. However, the latter did not claim
sighting the crescent they rather declared Ramadan based on their official
criterion for determining the beginning of lunar months, that is conjugation
before dawn. Since it is not the Libyan issue we are discussing, I will conclude
with the following Hadith, reported by Attirmidhy:
Abu
Huraira reported that the Prophet (SAWS) said: "Fasting is when you fast
and Fitr (termination of fasting) is when you celebrate Fitr and Adha is when
you celebrate Adha." Abu Isa (ie Attirmidhy) said: "This hadith is
sound and rare and that some authorities have explained it to mean that fasting
and Fitr should be with the majority."
Two
eclipses will occur this month (Ramadan): A lunar eclipse on Wednesday 20
November (around 3:00am) and a solar eclipse on Wednesday 4 December (at
sunrise). Since these events take place at specific times they are very useful
in checking the authenticity of a lunar date: Whereas a solar eclipse takes
place at the time of conjugation (i.e., at the expiry of an old lunar month and
the beginning of a new one when the earth, moon and sun lie in a straight line,
with the moon in the middle) a lunar eclipse occurs at full moon (i.e., about
midway between successive conjugations when again the three objects lie in a
straight line, but with the earth in the middle) that is between 13th and 15th
day of the month.
Now
let us use these two events to check our beginning of Ramadan. The lunar eclipse
will take place on the 16th day! This is a divine proof that we started Ramadan
at least a day earlier. Now the solar eclipse: Going by the Nigerian standard
the moon will be sighted on Tuesday 3 December, after 29 days of fasting, and
Wednesday 4 December (the day of the eclipse) will be declared Eid al-Fitr
day. However, as we get ready to go to the prayer ground, the sun will rise with
the moon. What we are witnessing is a solar eclipse and the dark portion of the
solar disc is nothing but the moon approaching conjugation. Then how could
anybody have sighted it the previous evening? In fact on 3 December the moon
will set before the sun throughout the country. For example, it will set thirty
and forty minutes before the sun in Sokoto and Lagos, respectively. Even in the
evening of 4 December the moon cannot be sighted since it will be only a little
over 9 hours old (the minimum requirement for naked-eye sighting being 17
hours). However, on Thursday 5 December the moon can be sighted and it is going
to be big and high above the horizon: Enough to mislead a layman to believe that
the crescent is more than a day old. It is big because it is about 34 hours old
and near perigee (closest to the earth).
We
should make it an obligation upon ourselves to be going out en masse to
search for the crescent at the end of each month, and throughout the year. In
particular, the Supreme Council For Islamic Affairs should, as a matter of
urgency, evolve a system of monitoring the moon throughout the year and
throughout the country. The beginning of every month should be announced for
public consumption. This is the path of the Prophet (SAWS), his companions and
those that followed them, as shown by the following hadith:
Abdullah
Ibn Abi Qais (RA) said: "I heard A'isha (RA) saying: 'The Messenger of
Allah (SAWS) used to keep track of Sha'ban more than any other month. Then he
would fast the month of Ramadan when the crescent was sighted; and if it was
hidden he would count thirty days and then fast." (al-Bayhaqiy)
__________________________
Kindly
send your comments to the author at Biological
Sciences Programme. Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, Bauchi.
E-mail: udukku@yahoo.com