Spirit Of Islam: Revisiting Moon sighting versus calculation Issue

Revisiting the Moon-sighting versus Calculation Issue
Dr. Shahid A. Shaheen, Visiting Foreign Faculty, Comsats Institute of Information Technology, Islamabad.

Abstract

In this article the religious and scientific arguments presented by the proponents of calculations have been analyzed and fallacies of those arguments have been highlighted. The limitations of the astronomical calculations and difficulties associated with using those calculations for ascertaining the beginning of a new lunar month have been shown. Allah created a natural celestial order between Sun, Earth and Moon when he created the Heavens and Earth. He associated certain religious practices of the mankind with the rotation of the moon around earth but mankind has been tempering with that order. Prophet Mohammad (peace be upon him) had restored that order more than 1400 years ago when he introduced the system of local Hilal sighting and Muslims throughout the World have preserved it by following his directions and practices. Astronomical knowledge reveals that every month is 29 days in some parts of the Earth and 30 days on the remaining parts of the Earth, according to the natural celestial order of Allah, and is a consequence of the fractional form of the Moon time period (29 days + fraction) relative to Earth and circular nature of Earth surface. The criteria of local Hilal sighting given to us by Allah and his prophet Mohammad (peace be upon him) is the best to preserve the natural order created by Allah for the planet Earth. It is easy in its use and is universally applicable irrespective of the literacy or scientific ability of the mankind. Astronomical knowledge reveals that, according to celestial order of Allah, conjugation occurs any time during the day or night and the region of Earth that faces the Moon at the time of conjugation keeps on changing. These realities pose difficulties regarding using conjugation data for ascertaining the beginning of the month, as it is not possible to fix a space or time on Earth with the conjugation of Moon from where a month may begin. The myth of the definitiveness (Qati) of conjugation calculations for ascertaining the lunar month has been exposed. It has been shown that any use of conjugation data has far more uncertainty (Zann) than use of eye sighting for ascertaining the beginning of the month. Any form of current calculation methods using conjugation data and an arbitrary criteria for Hilal visibility (such as um ul Qura criteria) at the best point to the possibility (Imkan) of seeing the Hilal on a particular evening and none can warrant the Hilal sighting with certainty, required according to the Islamic Sharia’h. The current attempts to force the global sighting in lieu of local sighting and associating it with Mecca or using calculations to make any global declarations in absolute terms for the whole World are modern innovations (bidah) and amount to tempering with Allah’s celestial order and consequently with the Abadah of Muslims at least in some regions of Earth.

Prelude

The Muslim Ummah is divided on the issue of replacing the Islamic criteria of authenticating the end of a month and beginning of new month by sighting the Hilal on the eve of 30th night or with a method of calculations based on the conjugation calculations. The actual reason for the divide is the lack of understanding of the issue by the masses and lack of well qualified and/or sincere scholars and scientists to interpret the issue in objective manner. On one side of the divide is the Islamic scholarship and tradition of practicing the local Hilal sighting from the time of Prophet Mohammad (peace be upon him) to see the Hilal with naked eye. The prophet (peace be upon him) and his companions practiced it and following generations of Muslims have been practicing this method for more than 14 centuries. The practice of ascertaining the month by sighting the Hilal was introduced by Rasool Allah (peace be upon him) to restore the celestial order that Allah had created for the habitants of Earth and to depart from the intercalations that Jews and Arabs of that era had made to the lunar calendar. He talked against intercalations and remarked in his Last Sermon as follows, “Today, certainly the time has returned to its original form as Allah had created it to be at the time of creation of the Heavens and the Earth.” Imam Fakhar ud Din Razi states that by doing so the Prophet (PBUH) brought the sacred months back to their original timings [1]. The Muslims of the later generations have preserved this sacred order by sighting the Hilal locally every month and ascertaining each month based on this sighting. On the other hand, some modernist who use reasoning and logical deductions to abandon the eye sighting criteria with a calculation method which according to them is categorical (Qati) and eye sighting is speculative (Zanni) and anything that is zanni cannot be equated or preferred over what is Qati according to the Islamic principle of the Jurisprudence (usul ul Fiqah). They claim that Quran has mentioned only “witnessing the month” and witnessing does not necessarily mean sighting with eyes (Roha’it bil Ain). They further claim that Prophet Mohammad (peace be upon him) ordered sighting because the Muslim nation was unlettered and he could not place burden of knowing astronomical calculations on them to ascertain the month. Zulfiqar Ali Shah who is leading the modernist approach has argued that the calculation method adopted by them are more precise and thus, preserve Allah’s celestial order better than eye sighting[1]. We shall examine these claims in this article.

Being a physicist and academician by profession, I am for the use of technology in all spheres of life. According to my knowledge, there is nothing in the religion that prohibits the use of technology. However, use of technology has its limitations. Technology may be utilized where it is appropriate and necessary but it cannot replace the religious necessities and criteria’s. Here I give three examples to elaborate this aspect: (1) Loud speaker is used to announce for the prayers (Azan) and Imam may use it for leading the prayers and people who are praying on different floors of a mosque may hear the Imam better through loudspeaker. However, can those who may hear the Imam from their houses pray behind the Imam for their obligatory prayers? Can playing a recorded tape relieve humans from calling Azan for 5 obligatory prayers? Technological advances today allow us displaying the 5 daily obligatory prayers as they are taking place in Masjid-e-Nabvi or in Haram Sharif on live television, so, if Muslims throughout the World want to join those prayers five times a day from their homes or from the mosques in their respective countries, would their obligatory prayers be considered performed by doing so? (2) We may use water for the Wadoo, and in the absence of water we may use mud or sand for Tayammum, but can we use Alcohol or acetone for the Wadoo? The latter are better cleansers and kill bacteria better than water and are routinely used for cleaning purposes in the laboratory settings. Since Shari’ah instructs us to use water for the Wadoo, we may not replace it with what we think is better, according to our own understanding. (3) Religious injunctions always do not fit to our logical criteria either. For example, when we discharge air from our back hole, the Wadoo is nullified and we have to do Wadoo again. We are not required to perform “Istanga” (cleaning the private parts with water) even though it would be more logical for us to perform Istanga and not the Wadoo, because while doing Istanga, we would clean those parts from where air was discharged, not while performing the Wadoo. Thus, where a religious injunction (Nass) is available from Quran and Sunnah, logic or reasoning cannot be applied. Religious scholars agree on this aspect, as Quran and Sunnah take the precedence in usul ul Fiqah.

Proponents of the calculations often use the argument that calculated time for prayers are being used by Muslims throughout the world rather than watching the movements of the Sun, even though in the past Sun movement was used. However, they forget or ignore the fact that calculations are made according to the movements of the Sun at a particular place using the criteria provided by Sharia’h. The calculations are not universally valid. If they were universally valid, then calculations made for one place on Earth would have been valid for all places on Earth. Can calculations made for the 5 prayer times for the Haram Sharif, be used by the rest of the World for their obligatory prayers? Of course not, because the prayer times change with Sun movement and calculations made for Haram Sharif are valid in its nearby surroundings, not everywhere. Prayer times are even different in the same time zone and from city to city. For example, New York and Tallahassee are in the same time Zone, however, there is up to 40 or 50 minutes difference in prayer times between them. Calculated prayer times are only available for the big cities and Muslims living in small towns and villages have to make their own adjustments according to the movement of the Sun. For example, if a villager gets calculated timings for prayers for the month of Ramdan for a nearby city and finds that Sun is still visible to him and the calculated Sun set time has passed, then what should he do? If he relies on the calculations and breaks his fast while he can still see the Sun, would his fast be valid? Of course not, because the criteria for breaking the fast is still the same, which was given by Allah and was told to us by Prophet Mohammad (peace be upon him) and no calculations can change it and no human can alter it. One may understand the limitations of human knowledge that, even with all the advancements, it is not possible making precise calculations for prayer times for all places on Earth and making them available to all individuals, especially to those, who are uneducated and/or live in remote places in deserts, or in forests or on the remote mountains like Himalyas, or on the Seas (which cover two third of the Earth). On the other hand, criteria’s given by the law giver are such universal that they are equally accessible to learned, semi-learned, or illiterate, whether living in the cities, deserts, mountains, or Seas, and would remain valid till the day of judgment.

Another difference between the prayer times and authentication of the month is that the prophet Mohammad (peace be upon him) taught us to estimate the prayer times, whereas he taught us to authenticate the month by eye witnessing it, so a greater precision in the latter determination is envisioned. In other words, the methods proposed for the prayer time calculations by Prophet Mohammad (peace be upon him) were the means for estimating the five prayer times, and were flexible in time (there is a range of time of validity for each prayer), whereas, there was a well-known uncertainty that the month may be 29 days or 30 days and he (peace be upon him) ordered and practiced to authenticate the month by seeing the Hilal by eyes on the completion of 29th day of the month, which is the best form of authentication (Ain-ul-Yaqeen).

My personal belief is that the criteria’s given to the mankind by the lawgiver in the Noble Quranand explained by Prophet Mohammad (peace be upon him) through his Sunna’h are the best and most universal and no human intelligence can rival them. The use of technology to assist in implementing the religious criteria’s is an accepted practice in Islam, however, use of technology is complimentary or supplementary in its scope and technology may not be used to change or replace an Islamic criteria. Those who have kept themselves within the above bounds in the past have not gone astray and if we restrict ourselves to the above principle, we may not go wrong regarding the use of modern technology. I would like to examine the issue at hand in the light of the above principle.

Historical Aspect

Allah created a celestial order among Sun, Earth, and Moon, when he created Heavens and Earth. He guided the mankind to benefit from the celestial order and he associated various functions with this celestial order, for examples, the cycle of weather associated with relative motion of Sun and Earth and religious functions like Haj, Ramadan, and Eids associated with relative motion of Moon and Earth. Allah taught the mankind to use his celestial order for the advantage of the mankind and mankind utilized the astronomical knowledge to its benefit. He also guided mankind to live their lives according to his prescribed path in all aspects of life. The mankind has tendency to get away from Allah’s prescribed path. To keep the mankind on the straight path, Allah kept sending his messengers to various communities. In the time of his last messenger Prophet Mohammad (peace be upon him) Jews were using a calculated lunar calendar and were making intercalations to match it with the Solar calendar and Arabs were using other intercalations to change the Haj dates according to their own desires. Prophet Mohammad (peace be upon him) did not use the calculated lunar calendar. The Jews of medina used to taunt him for not knowing and using calculations for ascertaining the month. If calculations were the preferred method, Allah would have taught Prophet Mohammad (peace be upon him) and his companions the method of calculations, as it is easy for him. If Allah wanted, he could have fixed the days of the month to 29 or 30 or any combination of them, just as he had fixed the 12 months in a year and such calculations would have been easy for everyone. Allah and his messenger (peace be upon him) did not do so. They guided us to use the method of sighting the Hilal with our own eyes. Allah’s messenger (peace be upon him) taught us that the month is 29 days and 30 days and we need to confirm it by witnessing the Hilal through the sighting it with eye on 30th night (on the completion of 29th day) whether the month will end on 29th day or will it be of 30 days. It is a more universal approach and is easy for everyone, illiterate, or learned, whether living in the city, in a forest, in a desert, or on a mountain, and is according to Allah’s natural plan. Allah’s last prophet Mohammad (peace be upon him) restored it to the current and natural form. Since then the Muslim have preserved the lunar months according to the natural (celestial) order of Allah and no altercations have been made. Authentication of the new Moon on the completion of 29th day (30th evening) of the month is a religious necessity. All scholars agree on this aspect. A positive confirmation of the Moon sighting on the 30th evening of a month determines the end of the month and beginning of the new month and a negative confirmation of the Moon sighting on 30th evening extends the month for a 30th day and sets the start of the new month from the following evening. For confirmation purposes one, two, or more, eye witnesses are required depending on the weather conditions and the following of a particular Fiqhi school. Islamic states form official committees comprising of scholars and astronomers to witness the Hilal, and examine any individual Hilal sighting reports, and confirm or negate the Hilal sighting on the eve of 30th of a lunar month.

The modernist approach is to use the conjugation calculations instead of naked eye sighting to authenticate the end of a month and beginning of the new month. The proponents of the calculations claim that there is no altercation from Allah’s order in this process [1] and eye sighting requirement was for the unlettered nation, as Prophet Mohammad (peace be upon him) did not want to put undue hardship of calculating on the unlettered nation. The Moon sighting and calculations issue have two aspects, religious and scientific. The religious scholars may have grasp of all religious aspects but are not familiar with all scientific details. Those who advocate the use of calculations to replace the well-established criteria of actual Hilal sighting by naked eye pretend to know about scientific aspects, but, either they do not understand them well, or they are twisting them to suit their desires and purposes. Therefore, it seems appropriate that scientific and religious facts may be stated in a straight forward manner that an interested reader may decide for himself or herself, what are the facts and what is the fiction?

Religious Aspect

As far as religious aspects are concerned, there are a number of well written articles which authenticate and justify the use of naked eye sighting on the 30th night of the month (on completion of for 29th day) for the confirmation or negation of Hilal (new Moon), based on the practices used by the Prophet Mohammad (peace be upon him) and his companions and the following generations of the 14 centuries. These articles also highlight the fallacies and inaccuracies of the calculation methods [2-3]. The main proponent of the calculations, Dr. Zulfiqar Ali Shah has summarized the main arguments of the articles opposing use of calculations in his article “An Analysis of the Moon Sighting Arguments” available at www. Moonsighting.com [1] and I have taken them as verbatim from his article.

“1: The Noble Qur’an (in view of the eye sighting group) categorically requires physical Moon sighting (with the naked eye) to confirm the beginning and ending of the Islamic months such as Ramadan and Zil-Hajjah. The act of “witnessing the month of Ramadan”, as stated in the Qur’an, means sighting the new Moon of Ramadan with the naked human eye. The Qur’anic term for the Crescent Moon is al-Hilal which, they argue, means “the sighted Moon.”

2: The Prophetic traditions, which reach to the level of infallibility, also require unconditional commitment to the physical sighting of the new Moon by the naked eyes. There are only two definitive methods of confirming or negating the Islamic months which are approved by the Prophetic injunctions, i.e., the Moon sighting by the naked eye or the completion of 30 days.

3: Muslim scholarship over the centuries has accepted these two categorical methods as normative in nature. The classical jurists have roundly rejected all efforts aimed at utilizing these mathematically computed astronomical calculations regarding Ramadan. They have vehemently opposed those Muslim scholars who employed calculations, including some known jurists, in part or in total. Some of these scholars such as Mutarrif bin Abdillah (a successor, Taba’ee), Abu al-Abbas Ahamd bin Umar Ibn Suryj (D 306 AH), and Taqi al-Din Ali al-Subki (683-756 AH) were otherwise given tremendous respect for their knowledge and piety. Rejection of the astronomical calculations has been an established norm in all the known schools of Islamic jurisprudence including the Ja’afari school of thought.

4: Deployment of the astronomical calculations has not been accepted but by a small minority of jurists based upon their weak interpretations of Ahadith. Even this minority opinion does not permit bypassing the physical sighting altogether. They only allow the use of calculations in cases of obscurities such as clouds.

5: Physical eye sighting of the crescent Moon has been the universal Prophetic practice. The Jewish people were also required to follow the same method in determining their lunar months, and they were known to have followed this practice in history. Over time, they changed this divinely required Prophetic practice in an effort to synchronize their religious festivals with the solar civil calendars of secular authorities. Now, following a calculated calendar for Islamic months is nothing short of imitating the Jews in their utter misguidance.

6: That the pre-Islamic Arabs as well as Muslims of the first generation were quite capable of employing astronomical calculations in determining their lunar months. The Muslims emphatically rejected the calculation method due to crystal clear Prophetic prohibitions against it. The science of astronomy in the past had reached its climax among the Muslim scholars due to their special interest in monitoring the motions of celestial bodies such as the Sun, Moon and other stars. Some of the known Muslim jurists such as Imam al-Qarrafi, Imam Ibn al-Arabi and many others were also astronomers of the high caliber who could establish precise calendars for lunation, recognize conjunctions, and predict possible sight ability of the new Moon. In spite of that, these jurists did not resort to deployment of astronomical calculations in regards to Ramadan and other Islamic months. The science of observational astronomy had not developed much over the past centuries. Consequently, current dependence of the Fiqh Council upon the scientifically proven astronomical calculations to fix an Islamic calendar is not progression, but rather it is sheer backwardness.”

An interested reader may look through the response of the Dr. Zulfiqar Ali Shah in his paper [1] and determine whether he has been able to counter the above six points in his response. In Islamic Sharia’h there are four methods of making the law: (1) Quraan, (2) authentic Sunna’h of the Rasul Allah (peace be upon him), (3) Consensus of Islamic Jurists (preferably those of the first generation), and (4) Analogy and reasoning (Qiyas). It is an accepted position in Islamic Sharia’h that Quran and Sunna’h take the precedence. In the presence of clear injunctions from these two sources, the other two methods may not be used. The proponents of the calculations are conscious of the above mentioned religious constraints and their argumentations are largely aimed at creating ambiguity in the evidence of Quran and Sunna’h and to emphasize that eye sighting is not a necessity for the authentication of the month. The alternative to the eye sighting that the proponents of calculations are proposing to implement or are implementing in their circle of influence has no sound basis (nass) in sharia’h. It is against the Islamic scholarship of more than 14th centuries and may be classified as modern innovation (Biddah). None of the classical Islamic scholars in past 14 centuries have argued to bypass the eye sighting criteria established by Prophet Mohammad (peace be upon him) for ascertaining the end of a month and beginning of the next month on the eve of 30th night--(Islamic day begins with Sunset). I may agree with Dr. Zulfiqar Ali Shah [1] on the point that eye sighting of the new Moon is for the authentication or confirmation purposes and not an essential act of Abadah; however, it is not the point of contention here. Muslims practice eye sighting as a religious need for ascertaining the month and consider it as a Sunna’h of the Prophet Mohammad (peace be upon him).

In the Quran, Allah has mentioned the terms Ilm ul Yaqeen (certainty through knowledge) and Ain ul Yaqeen (certainty by seeing with eyes). Both terms point to certainty but the latter is a higher form of certainty. For example, we know the existence of our Allah by Ilm ul Yaqeen, but we know the existence of Sun and Moon by Ain ul Yaqeen, i.e., seeing with our own eyes. The desire of Prophet Moses (peace be upon him) to see Allah with his eyes points to the fact that seeing with the eyes or Ain ul Yaqeen is the higher or the highest degree of certainty. It was a common knowledge (Ilm ul Yaqeen) at the time of the prophet Mohammad (peace be upon him) that the lunar month at any place is 29 days or 30 days, not less, not more. The prophet Mohammad (peace be upon him) also informed us about this Ilm ul Yaqeen when he told his companions that the month is 29 days and 30 days [4]. Therefore, there is no need to confirm it, on the completion of 28th day or 30th day; however, one needs to confirm it on the completion of 29th day, to make certain whether the month ends or it will extend for another day. Prophet Mohammad (peace be upon him) taught us to confirm the end of month by sighting of the Hilal (new Moon) on the eve of 30th night with our own eyes (ain ul Yaqeen), and he practiced it himself and his companions practiced it. He also taught us that confirmed eye sighting (ain ul Yaqeen) of a few Muslims may be sufficient for the Ilm ul Yaqeen of the rest of the Muslims.

In his article, Dr. Zulfiqar Ali Shah [1] articulates his argument with the following statement, “It is an agreed upon fact among all the jurists that actual Moon sighting is not required to confirm Ramadan on the 30th day of Sha’abaan.” However, the whole truth in this matter includes the other agreed upon fact among all the jurists that naked eye sighting is a necessity on the completion of the 29th day of Sha’abaan (on the eve of 30th night of Sha’abaan) for the confirmation of the month. According to my knowledge, there is not a single jurist among the classic scholars (including those who argued for the limited use of calculations) who has argued that naked eye sighting criteria can be by-passed under any circumstances for the 30th evening (on completion of 29th day) of any month. Among the past generations of the 14 centuries, only five classical scholars of repute have argued for the limited use of calculations (hasaaban) in case of obscurity on the 30th evening of the month. All other scholars have categorically rejected any use of calculations for authentication of the month. For details see reference [1]. The quoted statement from Dr. Zulfiqar Ali Shah and underlined statement above when combined together constitute the whole truth in this matter. From this combined statement, it becomes obvious that when the whole truth is presented any argument proponents of calculations wanted to make in their favor is nullified. Regarding why all jurists agree that Moon sighting is not required on the completion of the 30th day of Sha’abaan, is simply due to the certainty of the knowledge (Ilm ul Yaqeen) of a lunar month being at the most of 30 days.

Relevant Astronomical Facts

In the following, I state the relevant astronomical facts and comment on them where necessary.
(1) Earth, Moon and Sun move in their respective orbits and when all three are in a straight line with Moon in the middle, the state is called “conjugation” or Moon birth. At this stage, the Moon cannot be seen with naked eye from any place on Earth, as all light from Sun falling on the Moon is reflected backward. At conjugation (Moon birth) the Moon appears to be a black disc as viewed from the Earth.

(2) The time period from one conjugation to the next conjugation is fixed and can be calculated exactly. However, there are 5 different ways to calculate the time period. All of them reveal that the conjugation occurs after fixed intervals and conjugation period can be calculated precisely, however, these 5 methods reveal 5 different values of the period varying from about 27 days + fraction to 29 days + fraction. None of them is of a complete number of days, 27, 28, 29, or 30. For details see [4].

(3) There is no fixed time of the day or night or a fixed place on Earth which could be associated with the occurrence of the conjugation. In other words, when conjugation occurs, it may be any time of the day or night and the section of Earth facing the Moon at the conjugation time is also different for each conjugation occurrence. Consequently, the region of Earth on which the Hilal (new Moon) becomes visible at first, keeps on changing every month, and, each month is 29 days on some portion of Earth and 30 days on the remaining portion of the Earth.

(4) There are various criteria for Hilal (new Moon) visibility, as it must have a certain age, a degree of separation from the Sun, height on the horizon, time lag between Sunset and Moonset, etc. Visibility curves can be calculated with accuracy better than 80% in most cases, and serve as a guide for the Hilal visibility, however, the element of uncertainty in such visibility calculations makes them unusable for Islamic calendar causes.

(5) Due to the global nature (spherical or elliptical) of Earth and its rotation about its own axis, Southern hemisphere and Equator regions of Earth are in the higher visibility areas than Northern hemisphere.
(Comments: the regions where visibility is very low (northern region) represent a special case. Scholars in those areas have resorted to various discourses. Any meaningful discussion in that context is beyond the scope of this article.)

(6) Once the Hilal becomes visible, it remains visible for adjacent areas towards the West and its visibility increases with the age, unless it is obscured for other reasons such as clouds. For example, if a Hilal is sighted in Pakistan, it should be sighted in Saudi Arabia and rest of the Middle Eastern countries, as it keeps on growing in size with age and it must be seen in the USA, 9 -13 hours later.

Commentary on Astronomical Facts

The above stated astronomical facts have several implications for the moon sighting issue.
(1) At conjugation the Moon is an invisible disc and ahila (hilal) of the Quran is the visible light reflected from the Moon, not the moon itself. So conjugation is not what is referred in Quran.
(2) Since conjugation occurs any time during day or night, conjugation occurrence cannot be used as a start of month; as Islamic month start at a fixed time (at the sunset).
(3) Since a different part of the Earth is facing the moon when each conjugation occurs, therefore, there is no fixed point on the Earth from where the lunar month may start using conjugation occurrence.
(4) There are five different ways to calculate time from one conjugation occurrence to the next conjugation occurrence and all are categorically (Qati) correct but each reveal a different time period ranging from (27+ fraction) days – (29 + fraction) days. The proponents of the calculations fail to mention which method they will employee in the absence of any injunction (nass) from from Quran and Sunna’h? Do they know of which of the five methods is the best according to Allah’s plan to ascertain the month? Would it not introduce element of speculation (Zann) in whatever method they use?

From the above, it is clear that even though conjugation occurrence may be calculated with precision, it can never be used for starting the month due to the above complications, nor is it the Ahila of the Quran. There is element of Zann in choosing one of the 5 conjugation calculation methods, thus any use of conjugation data combined with any other criteria, would be Zanni too. There are other implications of the astronomical facts mentioned above which we will discuss later in the discussion section.

Discussion

The proponents of calculations have emphasized that since the period of conjugation is more definite (“Qati” or absolute) and Moon sighting has element of doubt (“Zann” or speculation) due to human error, calculations of conjugation should be preferably used to declare the new month, instead of physical sighting of the Hilal. This argument is not only flawed due to astronomical facts stated above, but is deceptive, as well. They have used the name of a classical scholar Imam Taqi al-Din al-Subki (d.1355 GC) for declaring calculations as definite (Qati) and eye sighting as speculative (Zanni) to give the impression that he was among those who preferred calculations over the eye sighting. We shall look into these claims in some depth. Here is what Dr. Zulfiqar Ali Shah said” “My argument is that precise authentic astronomical calculations about the birth of new Moon are sufficient of a ground to affirm Islamic lunar months.” … “calculations about the birth of Moon are universally accepted. They are not Zanni but Qati' (categorical) in Usul al-Fiqah's terminology” [4]. In the light of above astronomical facts, it suffices to say that the claims made by Dr. Zulfiqar Ali Shah seem to be not based on any sound astronomical information.

Now we come to what is attributed to Imam Subki regarding definitiveness (Qati) of Moon birth calculations. Here is Imam Subki’s actual position:
“The Muslims are in consensus, as far as I know, that there is no legal consideration for the opinion of the astronomer that [the month begins] with the separation of the Moon from the Sun at conjunction if visibility is not possible due to the nearness of the crescent to the Sun’s [alignment], irrespective of whether this is before, after, or at the time of Sunset. What scholars have disagreed upon is the situation when the angle of elongation is such that visibility is possible and can be ascertained by calculation but there were clouds that came between us and the crescent; then, in that case, is it permissible to use calculation.” [1]

Here is another quote from his rulings:

“Calculation provides certain and confirmed information, while testimony based on sighting provides only probable information. What is probable cannot counterbalance what is certain, let alone be preferred to it. Evidence is accepted only if what is testified for is possible physically, logically and legally. If we assume that calculation indicates with certainty the impossibility of sighting, then a testimony of sighting must be rejected because it testifies to what is impossible. Islamic law does not make impossible requirements.” (Source: Arab News, 05 November 2002).

Now it is clear from the two statements that Imam Subki was in complete agreement with other scholars in not using the astronomical calculations for ascertaining the end and beginning of the month on completion of the 29th day. However, he was on the side of caution to use such information for the 30th day in case of obscurities to see the Hilal. He was also on the side of caution to reject any eye witness of positive sighting when the calculations predicted with certainty that it was impossible to see the Hilal. One may see how deceptive is it to conclude from the above that according to Imam Subki calculations are Qati and sighting is Zanni (in absolute sense)?

The above evidence was the only evidence from classical sources for the claims that calculations are Qati and eye sighting is Zanni. It is apparent now, how baseless was the base on which Dr. Zulfiqar Ali Shah based his religious and scientific arguments and made bold claims? As mentioned earlier, no Islamic injunction (nass) is available from Quran and Sunna’h favoring the conjugation calculations, while there are clear injunctions (nass) available for the physical sighting of the Hilal (the new Moon). It is an accepted principle of Sharia’h that when a clear injunction is available from Quran and Sunna’h, analogy and reasoning cannot be applied against it.

Now let us examine the case of fixing an arbitrary criterion for the visibility of Hilal, as is done for the Umul Qura calendar used by Saudi Arabia and Islamic Society of North America (ISNA). The visibility criteria used in this case is that after conjugation occurrence, if Moon set is after or at the time of Sun set in Mecca, then the Moon is considered visible or observed. I have already pointed to one element of Zann in selecting one of the five conjugation calculation methods. Now there are multiple elements of Zann, as well as, violations of Allah’s celestial order in using this criterion. According to Allah’s celestial order, Hilal is not always observed first in Mecca rather it is observed at a different place every month and it may take decades for the Hilal to appear at the same place again where it appeared first. Saudi Arabia practices local moon sighting for religious purposes. If this method is also used for global purposes, as ISNA is currently doing, then the lunar month will be of the same number of days for the whole planet Earth, whereas, according to Allah’s celestial order each lunar month is 29 days on some regions of the earth and 30 days on some region of the earth and these regions keep on changing every month. The exact knowledge of where the month will be 29 days and where the month will be 30 days is with Allah alone and cannot be predicted by astronomers, though they may confirm it once it happens.

Does the Um ul Qura criterion provide any certainty for the observance of Hilal, a condition necessary from the perspective of Sharia’h? No, it may at the best point to the possibility (Imkan) for the early observance of the Hilal. However, the experience shows that there is more chance of being wrong than right using this criterion. Based on past experience, there is about 45-55% probability of a month being 29 days or 30 days at any given place. So, one may better flip a coin than using such a criterion. A method of calculation will fall in the category of Ilm ul Yaqeen, if there is no element of doubt (Zann) in it. When Um ul Qura criterion does not satisfy the underlined condition, what is the wisdom in selecting this criterion by proponents of the calculation? Why such a faulty criterion is being imposed on Muslims of North America? I would appreciate, if proponents of calculations may respond to these questions.

A question arises that whether probability (Imkan) of seeing the Hilal on a particular evening at Mecca or any other place would be a sufficient ground for declaring confirmed sighting (Roha’it) either through calculations or otherwise. Everyone is aware that the Hilal may be seen on the completion of 29th day or it may not be seen on the completion of 29th day. Were this probability (Imkan) of seeing the Hilal on the completion of 29th day a sufficient ground then Prophet Mohammad (peace be upon him) would have declared a month to be of 29 days. However, due to this lack of Ilm ul yaqeen (due to the uncertainty) Prophet Mohammad (peace be upon him) ordered us to look for the Hilal with our own eyes on 30th night for Ain ul Yaqeen and allowed us to accept the evidence of Ain ul Yaqeen from other Muslims. This acceptance of evidence from other Muslims who have seen the Hilal with their own eyes is a form of Ilm ul Yaqeen for the rest of Muslims. I hope this clears all those doubts that Dr. Zulfiqar Ali Shah has, or he has created in other minds regarding the interpretation of the Hadith which says “complete thirty days, if it (Hilal) is obscured.” His claim that, counting 30 days is only for the case of obscurity, not for the case of clear sky, is basically absurd. If the sky is clear on the 30th night and Hilal is not visible, then the month automatically extends to 30th day and there is no confusion about it. The prophetic command was to clear the confusion regarding the case of obscurity on the 30th night. The possibility (Imkan) of seeing the Hilal by current calculation methods does not fulfill the condition of certainty (Ilm ul Yaqeen and/ or Ain ul Yaqeen) required by Islamic principles. In the light of above, we should ask ourselves, Should we discard the well-established practice of seeing the Hilal for authentication of a lunar month or replace it, with a method of calculations which has essentially more element of uncertainty “Zann” than certainty “Yaqeen”?

Hypothetically, any calculation method that may firmly established that the Hilal is essentially visible to a naked eye at a particular place and time, and majority of Muslims in that area may confirm it by seeing it with their naked eyes on routine basis, may have the validity for pre-declaration of Islamic events such as Haj, Eid, or Ramdan. However, naked eye confirmation would still be needed, and any naked eye evidence contrary to the calculations will take the precedence, as is the case for the calculations for the prayer times. The current state of astronomical calculations does not warrant such authentication. A universal criteria that can warrant the global visibility of Hilal is neither presently available nor it can possibly be available in future for the reasons to be discussed in the following.
The regions of Earth where the month is 29 days and 30 days keep on changing. Consequently, it is not possible to have a lunar month which has the same number of days for a particular month in all parts of the World. A single global lunar calendar for the whole World is physically not appropriate. The astronomers are aware of this difficulty and they have proposed two and three regional calendars. The attempts to force a single lunar calendar for the whole World and to synchronize it with Haram Sharif or Macca may be a noble thinking according to the proponents of calculations but it is against the way Allah planned and created the celestial order of Earth and Moon. Any attempt from us to synchronize it for the whole World with Mecca is not any different than forcing it against the natural order of Allah. Since the knowledge of regions of Earth which will have a month of 29 days and which regions will have the same month of 30 days is with Allah only, only local sighting can preserve Allah’s order on universal basis. Any attempts to use global sighting or any arbitrary fixation of place and time with Mecca or Um ul Qura Criteria or any other fixation of time and space violate Allah’s order in this context. Allah has fixed certain days and nights for his special blessings, for example, Muslims associate certain Abadah with specific days, such as 15th of Sha’abaan, night of power, Ramadan, Eids, Haj, etc.). These dates according to Allah’s plan fall on different days in different region of the Earth, and only Allah has the knowledge of specific timings for each region. Current efforts of forcing the same date by adopting the conjugation calculations and Um ul Qura criteria for the whole World is a way of tinkering with Allah’s plan and Abadah of the Muslim Ummah. For example, the night of power and 15th of Sha’abann will essentially be incorrect for some regions of the Earth, if not for all regions of the Earth and so will be Ramadan and Eids.

A Hilal (new Moon) generally takes more than 16 hours after conjugation occurrence for its first visibility on the Earth. A Hilal which is 14 or 15 hours old when Sun sets in Pakistan, may not be seen in Pakistan but may be visible in the Middle Eastern countries two hours later. Considering the age factor, it has up to 45-55% higher probability of being seen in the USA, if it is not seen in the Middle East or Pakistan. Thus, if a Hilal (new Moon) is not seen in the USA under clear weather conditions, it is impossible that it would have been seen in Saudi Arabia 11 hour earlier or in Pakistan 12 or 13 hours earlier. Therefore, any such sighting, as reported in previous years from Peshawar, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia were erroneous and current sighting (2012) for Ramadan Moon from Saudi Arabia and Nigeria are erroneous. Any similar future reports, may be taken with due caution.
The main arguments given in the favor of calculation method are summed up by Zulfqar Ali Shah in his articles [1], available at moonsighting.com. His arguments revolve around the negating the use of naked eye confirmation to authenticate the new Moon visibility rather than discussing the soundness of calculation methods. I have tried to expose the deceptiveness of some of his argumentation and I have pointed out to the element of uncertainty in calculation methods in previous paragraphs. It is ironical that those who use the calculations from a particular astronomical source for conjugation occurrence ignore the same source when its visibility curves project impossibility of seeing the Moon in Mecca, and conjugation calculations and Umul Qura criteria project otherwise. Here is the latest example from www.moonsighting.com

• Saudi Arabia:
1. Not Seen: Luqmaan Williams (MCW member) from Ta'if reported: I was in Makkah tonight (Thursday), July 19th. Clear skies but did not sight the crescent.
2. Seen (Saudi Announcement): Mrs. Lubna Shawly (MCW member) from Jiddah reported: It is announced in the Saudi courts, according to the observation of the new Moon (Moon is sighted in areas of Sudair & Shagra), and that the first day of Ramadan for the year 1433 Hijrah will be on Friday the 20th of July 2012.
Moonsighting.com opinion is that this is a mistaken claim of sighting.

Dr. Zulfiqar Ali Shah claims that in the noble Quran term “witnessing the month” is used and tries to prove that witnessing does not necessarily mean an eye witness. Academically, I may agree with him on this point as everyone is not required to personally sight the Hilal. Prophetic practice is that eye sighting of a few trustworthy Muslims (Ain ul yaqeen of a few trustworthy Muslims) may be used as a basis of confirmation (Ilm ul Yaqeen) for ascertaining the month for the rest of the Muslims. Thus all those who have not seen the Hilal personally are also within the class of those who are “witnessing the month”. However, eye witnessing is the higher form of confirmation (ain ul yaqeen). In the court of law, eye witnesses are the main witnesses and take the precedence, and any other knowledge about the case under consideration is circumstantial and is secondary in deciding the case. Above all, who can be a better interpreter of the noble Quran than Prophet Mohammad (peace be upon him)? The way prophet Mohammad (peace be upon him) adopted to interpret “witnessing the month” of Quran is by sighting the Hilal. When authentic practices of the prophet Mohammad (peace be upon him) and, his companions, and the following generations have reached us, and there is consensus of Muslim scholars on the necessity of Hilal sighting for the confirmation of the end of month on 30th evening (for witnessing the new month), do we have any justification for going against the well-established practices?

Scholars in the past have differed over the issue of local Moon sighting and global Moon sighting. While discussing the issue that a Moon sighting report from how far may be accepted, some early Hanfi scholars proposed that the first sighting anywhere in the World would be valid for the whole World. It was an academic possibility and an extreme case of extending the range of validity of the local Moon sighting. Islam is not the religion of extremes, and those who proposed the concept were not aware of the fact that Earth is not a flat field as it generally appears to us but is nearly spherical and Sun sets at different regions of Earth at different times. The concept of global Moon sighting remained an extreme academic possibility and was never practiced, even by those who proposed it. The local Moon sighting has been applicable in all practical cases in the past and present. None of the classical scholars, including those who advocated for the global Moon sighting possibility, have entertained the possibility of bypassing the need for eye witnessing to ascertain the new Moon sighting on the eve of 30th of the month.

The Proponents of calculations are applying a new form of global Moon sighting by arbitrarily fixing it with the local sighting at Mecca. This is a different approach from global sighting as first sighting from anywhere else other than Mecca is not considered in this case. There is no religious injunction (nuss) from Quran and Sunna’h available for doing so. Previous Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia, Sheikh Bin Baz is reported to have ruled: “As for those who say that it is necessary to follow the sighting of Makkah, then let it be known to them, that there is no proof or basis for this in the Quran and Hadith”. (Sheikh Abdullah bin Baz AlBa’ath ul Islaaami Zil Hijjah 1399 Hijri). Therefore, one may consider it a modern innovation (Biddah). As far as Astronomy is concerned, the flaw here is that such a fixation of time and space is not in accordance with the celestial data. The new Moon is neither seen first in Macca, nor is seen at a fixed time and space after conjugation. Therefore, any such fixation with a particular space on Earth is against celestial data and would not work for intended purposes. For example, USA and Saudi Arabia has a time differential of 10-13 hours, and a Moon that may not be seen in Saudi Arabia has up to 45% probability of being seen in the USA. In Saudi Arabia local Moon sighting is practiced and they declare the Eid, Ramadan, and Haj dates according to their local sighting. If the Muslim Community from USA follows the Saudi Arabian announcements and declares the Eid and Ramdan dates according to the Saudi announcement, then what would happen when Moon becomes visible on the same evening in the USA? Any pre-announcement, based on Umul Qura criteria or Saudi Arabian announcements, may not be valid in America and rest of the World. That is why many of the previous announcements by ISNA were not compatible with the local Moon sighting. Any calculations or global criteria must conform to all local Moon sightings for its validity and acceptance. Muslims in any locality are required to fast if the Ramdan Moon has been sighted in the community, and any global declaration that does not conform to the local sighting would be erroneous.

As mentioned earlier, the past scholars have discussed the global Moon sighting as an academic possibility but none of them have argued to bypass the criteria of naked eye sighting practiced by Rasool Allah (peace be upon him), his companions, and the following generations. Any use of astronomical knowledge or astronomical calculations by classical scholars was used to authenticate the presence or absence of Hilal for the 30th day, or to discard any erroneous witnesses, for example, any claims for seeing the new Moon when astronomically it was impossible or for the authentication of the 30th day. Astronomical knowledge of Moon birth could be calculated with a precision of half an hour, even before the birth of modern computers, and ancient astronomers were well versed in making such calculations but Muslims of the past did not use the calculations and kept using the eye sighting criteria. Astronomically calculated visibility curves using modern computers can predict the regions of visibility with about 80% certainty under favorable conditions and such visibility curves have a parabolic shaped part of Earth surface as the visible region on the completion of 29th day of the month. The adjacent areas are in the region of invisibility and cover the lager part of the Earth surface. The regions of naked eye visibility are surrounded by various regions of optically aided visibility and regions of invisibility. Thus, regions of invisibility have a higher degree of certainty than regions of naked eye visibility. If there is no report of Hilal sighting from the regions of visibility and there is a report from the regions of invisibility, then such a report need to be scrutinized thoroughly and may be rejected. For example, Moonsighting.com has just recently rejected the reports from Saudi Arabia and Nigeria on the evening of July 19, 2012 for the visibility of the Ramadan Moon due to the impossibility of visibility through calculation on those sights and lack of sighting anywhere else from nearby and rest of the World. Some classical scholars have argued that astronomical knowledge may be used to authenticate or reject isolated eye witness claims. This approach was for the reason to remain on the side of caution to authenticate any witness, as it is preferable to be on the side of caution than to rush to judgment to accept any witness. When astronomical knowledge ascertains that there is no possibility of seeing the Moon for scientific reasons, isolated eye witness reports may be rejected after thorough scrutiny, as calculations are more definite than sighting in such cases. Similarly, some scholars have argued that when the sky is clear, isolated reports may not be accepted and a witness from a bulk of Muslims (Jam–e-ghafir) is required (for example 50 people from a large city, etc). This was again for remaining on the side of caution, because, if the new Moon is visible at a place many people should be able to see it.

It is our belief that Allah has made things easy for us and his knowledge is comprehensive and complete and human knowledge is very limited compared to Him. Sometimes our own understanding fools us and we start to find faults in what the law giver has given us or prophet (peace be upon him) has told us. When religious teachings do not fit our own thinking, then we start arguing on the lines that those commandments were for unlettered nation. We are civilized now. We are educated now. We know better. We can make precise calculations. Can the proponents of calculations tell me, how many among the more than a billion Muslims know those precise calculations? Those Muslims who know the modern astronomical calculations can be counted on fingers. Are the Muslims of today any better than the Muslims of the past in Islamic or other knowledge? It pains me to state the fact that Muslims of today comprise the majority of the illiterate component of the society of the current times. Therefore, over emphasizing the statement that the prophetic orders were for the unlettered nation is totally out of context. The companions of Prophet Mohammad (peace be upon him) are considered the best generation of Muslims and it is well known that many of the companions were educated and knew reading and writing well and would engage themselves with poetry and other uloom of that era. Let us examine the Hadith text.
?????????? ????? ?????????? ???????? ?????????? ??????????? ???? ?????? ?????????? ??????? ???? ??????? ??????? ?????? ????? ?????? ?????? ??????? ????????? ???? ?????????? ?????? ??????? ???????? ????????? ??????? ????? ?????? ??????? ?????????? ??? ???????? ????? ???????? ????????? ??????? ????????? ??????? ??????? ???????? ??????????? ????????? ?????????[5]

“We are an unlettered nation. We neither write nor calculate. The month is this way and this way. It means that sometimes it is twenty nine days and sometimes thirty days.”

It seems that the text of the hadith is more of a statement rather than stating the reason for not using the calculations. Otherwise, Prophet Mohammad (peace be upon him) would have been specific in his statement, as he was in other narrations in this context. Since the statement is general, he may have been mentioning it for other reasons or responding to a question or query regarding not using calendars of Jews or Arabs existing at that time (which were in violation of Allah’s celestial order). He may have been mentioning it in the context that Allah’s plan of celestial order is complex and we may not understand or comprehend it’s complexity (even today, those among who are the best equipped with astronomical knowledge are unable to fully comprehend the complexity of Allah’s celestial order), as we are an unlettered nation and we do not write or calculate. The mentioning of month is 29 days and 30 days (rather than 29 days or 30 days) is consistent with Allah’s celestial order where the month is 29 days in some regions of the Earth and 30 days in some regions of the Earth and may only be ascertained by eye sighting the new moon locally. Scholars in the past have commented on this Hadith according to their own (limited) understanding. Here is how Ibn Hajar Al-Asqalani explained this Ahadith:
“Calculate,” here, refers to astronomy and to the orbits of the planets because only a handful of them knew such things at that time. Thus the Prophet has made the legal obligation of fasting contingent upon actual sighting in order to remove any burdens from his community, i.e., of having to struggle with computations of celestial orbits. This ruling continues even should later people be able to do that. Indeed, the apparent meaning of the hadith rejects any association of calculation with the legal ruling…. Nowhere did he say, “If it is obscured then ask the people of calculation.”[1, 6]. The criteria that the lawgiver gave and Prophet Mohammad (peace be upon him) has taught us is easier and universally accessible to learned or illiterate whether living in cities or deserts or mountains or on seas. Allah has made religious practices easy for us.

What were the intentions of the Prophet Mohammad (peace be upon him) in making the above mentioned statement, is not clear to us and are subject to interpretation and guess work. If the objective of Prophet Mohammad (peace be upon him) were the same, as understood by proponents of the calculations, then he would have emphasized the unlettered nation aspect every time he spoke on this issue and those companions of the Prophet Mohammad (peace be upon him), who had better understanding of the usul ul Fiqah, would have understood and emphasized this aspect in their teachings to the following generations. It is also not appropriate to ignore the other Ahadith on this topic which have reached the level of infallibility (Tawatur) and are categorical in their text and contain no reference to the unlettered aspect of the nation. For details see reference [7]. Since majority of scholars have used the more categorical narrations regarding the sighting of Hilal, why should one discard the accepted Sharia’h position for past 14 centuries? How can one ignore the Ahadith which are categorical and have no confusion and use a Hadith which has ambiguity in its interpretation? It is obvious again that the proponent of calculations want to cast doubts in peoples mind regarding the established criteria of local moon sighting and try to weaken or set aside the categorical evidence from Quran and Sunnah in this context and want to base their foundation on the evidence which is not categorical and is subject to interpretation of individuals. Apart from the religious perspective, the claims regarding the certainty of astronomical knowledge are not on the basis of any solid ground and a number of scientific complexities are involved. Any claims of the astronomical calculations being categorical for Hilal sighting are far from truth.


Summary

I have tried to cover the relevant religious and astronomical aspects in layman terms. It is without any doubt that none of the classical scholars have argued to bypass the criteria of authenticating the Hilal (new Moon) on the completion of 29th day (eve of 30th night) with naked eye sighting. The said criteria are given to us by Allah and are taught to us by Rasool Allah (peace be upon him). He practiced them himself, his companions practiced them, and generations of Muslims followed them to date in the letter and spirit. The Prophet Mohammad (peace be upon him) applied these criteria to restore the order Allah created when he made Heavens and Earth and we need to preserve the order Allah created. Astronomical knowledge available today leads us to understand the wisdom of Allah in guiding us towards these criteria. The astronomical facts that (1) conjugation may occur anytime during the day or night and a different part of Earth faces the Moon at each conjugation, and (2) a month is 29 days on some part of Earth and 30 days on the remaining part of the Earth, and these regions keep on changing every month, represent the complexity of Allah’s order in this context. The local Hilal sighting criteria preserves that order. It is easy in its application and is equally accessible to learned or illiterate, whether living in the city, village, desert, mountains, jungle, or on the sea and is in conformity with Allah’s plan and effectively encompasses the all aspects of Allah’s complexity in this respect. Any attempt of applying the global sighting criteria, or use of any calculations, and use of a fixed space and time for calculations fall short of meeting the Allah’s order and surmount to tempering with Allah’s plan, like Jews are doing and Arabs of pre-Islamic era did. Such attempts essentially affect the Abadah of Muslims at least in some regions of the World, if not for the whole World, due to deviations from Allah’s natural plan. We need to preserve Allah’s plan by sticking to the existing local sighting criteria. It has also been demonstrated in this article that those who claim that astronomical calculations are definite or categorically certain (Qati) and eye sighting is indefinite or uncertain (Zanni) in absolute terms are wrong in their claims. Factually, there is far more element of Zann (uncertainty) in calculation methods than the element of uncertainty in the naked eye sighting method. The present calculation methods apply the conditions of probability (Imkan) of seeing the Hilal and do not warrant the certainty of seeing the Hilal required by the law giver to authenticate the end and start of the month and fall short on the criteria of Ilm ul Yaqeen or Ain ul Yaqeen required for authentication by Islamic Sharia’h. Any other arguments favoring calculations are based on similar faulty presumptions.

Acknowledgement

The author would like to acknowledge the support of Higher Education Commission (HEC) of Pakistan for the stay at CIIT. In the end, I admit my short comings and state that any goodness coming from this article is due to the grace of Allah and all faults are mine.

References

[1] An Analysis of the Moon Sighting Arguments” available at www. Moonsighting.com
[2] Mokhtar Maghraoui “An Islamic Legal Analysis Of The Astronomical Determination Of The Beginning of Ramadan.” www.zawiyah.net
[3] Hamza Yusuf, Cesarean Moon Births, Part I & II, posted on www. zaytuna. org (Zaytuna Institute’s web site), 2006-2007. Available at www.hilalsighting.org
[4] Information available at www.islamicmoon.com, and www.hilalsighting.org
[5] al-Bukhari
[6] Ibn Hajar al-Asqalni, Fata al-Bari (Beirut: Dar Ihya al-Turath al-Arabi, 1988), 4:102.p
[7] A Study of Ahadith About the Determination of Islamic Dates, by Dr. Ahmad Shafaat
www.islamicperspectives.com/AhadithForIslamicDates.htm