..(He) fixed stages for it (the moon) that you might know the number of years and the count (of time) ... (10:5)

...The moon, We have fixed for it positions (phases) till it goes back to the (thin) shape of an old dry date-stalk. (36:39)

The sun and the moon are on exactly computed courses. (55:5)

The usual interpretation of theseAyat favors the crescents (Ahillah) as determining the beginning of an Islamic lunar month.

3.2 How the Sunnah guides ?

The Messenger (S) determined the beginning of an Islamic month by observing the earliest crescent or after completing thirty days of the month in case the horizon was hazy or cloudy. The most famous of these traditions is:

“Do not fast unless you see it (the crescent), and then do not stop fasting until you see it (again)...” (Bukhari, Muslim and others)

3.3 How the Ummah decided?

The Khulafa al-Rashidun, the companions and early Muslims followed the Sunnah of determining the beginning and end of Ramadan by observing the crescent. The famous Hadith of 'Kuraib' makes it quite clear. If a crescent was not seen on a clear horizon then the news from another place, account of the witnesses, or even completing thirty days of Ramadan was not enough to begin the next month. Fuqaha are also unanimous on the point that the crescents determine the beginning of an Islamic month.

As the complicated calculations needed for accurately predicting the earliest visibility of the crescent were not available till 1980s the Fuqaha tried to resolve the questions of how and what of the 'crescent's visibility' according to whatever information was available to them. How many witnesses are sufficient, whether the news from another place should be taken into account, what if 30 days are complete and a crescent is not visible, should the predictions of the star-gazers (Munajjimeen) be given any weight, etc. were discussed at length. Conflicting rulings hardened into Fiqh positions, each group trying to support its statement with as much as it could muster.

The problems started surfacing when the distances were reduced and communications easy.

4.1 Basic Calendar Concepts

a. An Islamic day begins from after sunset and ends with the sunset next day.

b. An Islamic lunar month begins from the earliest visible waxing crescent moon and ends with the next earliest visible crescent, except that it cannot be more than 30 days.

c. A global Islamic calendar date must always begin at a set point on earth, from a set point of time.

Local Islamic calendars were easy and straightforward to make. The average lunar month was approximately 29 ½ days, thus making months alternately 29 and 30 days long. The mean length of a lunar month is shorter by 0.0306 days (44 minutes 3.8 seconds) than the actual length, the calendar month ends a little earlier than the synodic month. So the beginning of the lunar calendar month gradually begins to lag behind the New Moon. This difference accumulates to about 11 days 18 minutes 43 seconds in 30 years.

For civil needs, an easy solution was to make the last month of the year –Dhul-Hijja, 30 days instead of 29 in the 2nd, 5th, 7th, 10th, 16th, 18th, 21st, 24th, 26th, and 29th years of a 30 year cycle. This gives an average month of 29.5305555…days and average year of 354.3666…=354 and 11/30 days.

The Ottomans used this formula to fix their civil calendar. However, for religious purposes, the Muslims in general adhered to the ‘visibility’ criterion, often fasting or celebrating Eidain on two days in towns hardly a few miles apart. As the means of communications reduced the distances among the Muslim countries, the confusion about these dates intensified. Various Muslim countries adopted standards in the name of unifying these dates within their domains (3).

4.2 Causes of Confusion

The scientific advances in the lunar visibility theory made significant advances between 1977-1990 (4). The credit goes to both Dr. S. Kamal Abdali and Khalid Shaukat for their methodical rigor and meticulous efforts. Yallop, Doggett, Imad and Schaefer also contributed. With their help the Committee has maintained significant accuracy in predicting moon's earliest visibility in many part of the world. Unfortunately, the official calendar-makers in various Muslim countries closed their eyes, and continued harping on the "unity of Islamic dates", instead of searching for solutions of complicated Islamic lunar calendar problems (5).

5.1 Some Suggestions

We cannot adopt the conjunction (NM) as the criterion for obvious reasons. Most Muslims would also like to keep some sort of moon’s earliest visibility as the criterion for global Islamic dates.

We suggest:

1. The solar international dateline (IDL) should also be adopted as the lunar international dateline (LIDL). It appears most practical for obvious reasons.

2. Makka Mukarrama as the focal point for determining the crescent’s visibility.

3. If the conjunction occurs at, or before Makka then the date following the New Moon date should be the first date of the Islamic lunar month from IDL at sunset.

Example: On April 5, 2000 the conjunction occurs approximately 13.5 hours before IDL. The Islamic month will begin on April 6 from IDL.

4. If the conjunction occurs after Makka then the first date of the Islamic month should be two dates following the New Moon date.

Example: On July 1, 2000 the conjunction occurs approximately 12 ½ hours after the IDL. The Islamic month therefore will begin on July 3 at IDL.

This solution may not fulfill the strict ‘lunar visibility’ conditions for all places on the globe, and may require some minor adjustments yet it appears the most practical. Other variations like “ moon’s age=12+ hours at Makka” may be appealing to some but they create more complications, especially for areas east of Makka.

Without a fixed Lunar International Dateline at IDL the lunar month will always be 29 and 30 days long simultaneously, making a unified calendar an impossibility..

Notes

1. (‘Wahdat-i Matla’ position assumes that the earth is flat, and that once a crescent is seen anywhere it is seen instantly over the whole world. It is a fact that a place only a few miles east of the initial lunar sighting could not see it on the same date. The moon will be visible there next day after 24 hours when it will appear again on its horizon. Ikhtilaf-i Matali' position is equally invalid. It assumes that every village on the surface of the earth will see a crescent on a different date. Most of the world will see a crescent within 24 hours.)

2. Other factors, especially the glare on the lower horizon further hinders moon's visibility. Generally the Moon should be 10 degrees above the horizon at sunset to be visible in the next 12-25 minutes. Remember the moon is coming down and will be only 4-5 degrees above the ground by the time you see it after 29 days. A crescent after 30 days will be higher and brighter. Many mistake it for being two days old.

3. At present very few Muslim countries use the visible crescent for determining Ramadan and Eidain dates. Their own criteria of determining the beginning of an Islamic month violate clear guidelines of the Quran, Sunnah and Fiqh (that tell of a 'visible crescent' (Hilal). Some commonly used criteria for fixing the first date of an Islamic month are:

a. The day / date of the New Moon (Conjunction).

Saudi Taqweem Umm al-Qura is based on the New Moon (not the visible crescent) dates.

(The New Moon is not a crescent (Hilal) of the Quran and Sunnah. It is completely dark, and it occurs at all times of day or night. Saudis do not convert the New Moon dates given in almanacs into the local dates in S. Arabia. Their calculated first date of an Islamic month, based on the New Moon may be two days/dates ahead of the actual sighting in S. Arabia. Gulf states generally follow Saudi Arabia's lead.)

b. The date following the New Moon (Conjunction) date.

(Malaysia, Indonesia, Algeria, Tunis, etc. prepare their calendars on this principle.)

The crescent will not be always visible on the assumed date.)

c. The Moon is setting 1 to 5 minutes after sunset.

(Egypt follows this criterion. Hence Ramadan and Eid al-Fitr dates in Egypt sometimes differ from S. Arabia. )

(The moon’s surface is not flat. A crescent cannot be visible the instant the moon becomes New. If the purpose is to wait till the New Moon becomes a crescent then waiting 1-25 minutes do not qualify for a visible moon. In many months the moon may set 1-5 minutes before the sun in most of Egypt, but one minute after the sun in an small area. The moon may also set after the sun before the New Moon phase. What to do in these and similar cases? )

d. The moon’s altitude was 5 degrees or more.

(Turkish Islamic dates are fixed by this criterion except for Eid al-Adha when Saudi fixed Hajj date is used to determine Eid al-Adha (Bairam Kurban).

d. The Moon’s age is 15 hours or more.

(The moon is not always visible when its age is 15 hours. Often a 35 hours old moon is not seen. But many accept claims of frivolous sightings.)

e. The moonset is 30-50 minutes after sunset.

(A moon setting an hour after sunset is sometimes not visible in a country like England or South Africa. The age of the moon or the time lag between the sunset and the moonset are least important factors for its visibility.)

4) The Moon's visibility from earth is no longer important for astronomers and observatories. When a Muslim asks them about Islamic dates he is asking a wrong person a wrong question. He should ask: When would the moon be visible in his town? He will be amazed by their reply. Most of the astronomers have no idea what you are asking about. They look to any calendar and see the NEW MOON date marked on it. They guess a crescent should be visible soon after the moon is NEW (which is not true) and tell you so.

Some astronomical experts have taken a keen interest in moon's earliest visibility since 1986 after attending an IIIT seminar in Virginia. They are doing excellent work on various aspects of moon's visibility. But a mad race is also going on for spotting the youngest moon among amateurs who are trying to break the record of the earliest visibility. In recent years several claims were made which later proved to be bogus, or very marginal. Remember that a crescent will NOT ALWAYS BE VISIBLE at the record-breaking point of (age, time-lag, angle or altitude). Many other factors determine a moon's visibility.

A global lunar Islamic calendar involves lots of complicated issues which the Muslim Ulema and calendar experts have yet to cipher out. Many Muslim 'astronomical' (?) experts confuse others by taking positions like: a) the New Moon is Hilal (S. Arabia); 2) The New Moon is visible (Egypt); 3) the New Moon will become a crescent somewhere in the world on the same solar date (Turkey), or something else which they believe is a possible solution for complicated lunar calendar problems. Every effort to bring the Ulema and the Muslim calendar experts together has so far failed mostly because of the lack of communication, and the biases of the sponsors of international conferences. Often they were organized to pass resolutions of ‘unity of Islamic dates’ rather than for finding solutions to complicated problems.

Moon Observation Data 1995-2005