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Eid
al-Adha is on the 10th day of D. Hijja by the sighted moon
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The Qur’an affirms “Ahilla” (the
crescent moons) as the “Mawaqeet” for all Islamic dates and for the
Hajj. (2:189)
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The Messeneger (S) obligated the
Muslims to pray Eid al-Adha on the 10th of D. Hijja (wherever they
are on that day), and make their sacrifice. He said: the sacrifice
done before Eid al-Adha prayer does not fulfill the obligation.
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All Ahadith mention 10th of D. Hijja
as the date of prayer and sacrifice. None mentions Eid al-Adha as
Eid al-Hajj or complementary to Hajj rituals.
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Muslim Ummah followed this Qur’anic
instruction and the practice of the Messenger (S) for the last 1400+
years.
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No Fiqh school ever obligated the
Muslims all over the world to fix their Eid al-Adha by the Hajj date
in Makka. None ever claimed that it is Eid al-Hajj.
This “Bid’ah” of fixing Eid al-Adha date
by the Hajj date in Makka started in some Arab countries and Turkey not
long ago on the assumption the Hajj/Arafah in Makka in on 9th.
Therefore, the next day would be the 10th all over the world.
Sh. Baaz warned in an article that there
is no valid “Daleel” to support that all the Muslims have to follow the
Makka horizon for moon-sighting. Sh. Uthaimeen urged the Muslims in N.
America to follow the sighting in North America for fixing the Eid
al-Adha date. Just two years ago, the Shura Council, following ISNA Fiqh
Council, confirmed that all the Ulema who were consulted in this matter
said that they did not find any supporting argument in the Qur’an and
the Sunnah for fixing Eid date by Hajj date
Please try to ask these questions from
any Alim who asks you to follow Saudi dates:
Qur’an: (The Crescent moons)
are the Mawaqeet… for (determining the date of) Hajj. (2:189).
(Aayat2:185, 2:200 and 22:29 have no
relevance for determining the Hajj date.
The only correct date of Eid al-Adha
all over the world is 10th Day of D. Hijja, counted from the evening D.
Hijja Hilaal is seen. It is well-known that NONE of the 6 committees in
S. Arbia ever see the Hilal on the officially announced dates. It is
always SEEN in S. Arabia a day later.)
1. What are the 'Mawaqeet'
for fixing the Islamic dates and for Hajj? (See Ayah 2:189)
a) The crescents (Ahilla)
b) The New Moon
c) Saudi Taqweem
2. What should the Muslims
do when it is beyond any doubt that the Saudi dates are fixed against
the Qu'anic directive?
a) Follow their actual
sighting b) Follow Saudi date even if wrong
(If the Muslims follow Saudi dates {Fast
on Saudi 9th D.Hijja (local 8th ), and pray on Saudi 10th D.Hijja (local
9th ) then several complications arise.
1) What should the Muslims
do on their actual 9th and 10th D. Hijja?
b) What about their "Udhiya"? What day
should they count as the day of "Nahr" locally?
If they do it according to the Saudi
date they are doing it on actual 9th D.Hijja. A 'sacrifice' made before
the prayer on the 10th D.Hijja is not counted as fulfilling the
obligatory "Udhiya". Another one has to be done. Obviously, any of the "Udhiya"
done on the wrong Saudi date is on 9th D.Hijja according to the 'Miqaat'
specified in the Qur'an.
2) Should we pray again on
the actual 10th day of D. Hijja?
3) Is Eid al-Adha prayer
made on local actual 9th (but Saudi 10th) valid?
Hadith
Hadith: Eid al-Adha is on the 10th day
of Dhul-Hijja.
(All Ahadith mention only the 10th as
the day of Eid al-Adha. No Hadith mentions: the day after Hajj or Eid
al-Adha is a celebration of Hajj.) If Eid al-Adha was a celebration of
the completion of Hajj then why did the Messenger (S) pray it regularly
for 9 years when there was no Hajj for the Muslims?.
1. How did the Messenger (S)
fix the day of "Nahr" in Medina?
a) By the sighted crescent wherever he
was. Or b) By the day of Arafah in Makkah.
2. When did he (S) start Eid
al-Adha prayer?
a) After Hajj was made obligatory in the
10th year Or b) From the second year in Medina
(There was no Hajj for the first 8 years
of the Messenger (SAW) living in Medina, but he and all Sahaba prayed
Eid al-Adha from the second year.)
3. Did the Messenger (S)
ever try to check Arafah/Nahr date in Makka or adjusted his dates
accordingly?
4. Did any of the Khulafa
al-Rashidun ever try to announce the dates of Arafah/Nahr in Makka to
the Muslims living outside Makka so that they do not miss Hajj, Eid
prayer and Sacrifice?
(In several instances the Companions
living outside Makka missed the Hajj when they reached Makka on the 9th
day according to their sighting. The Hajj in Makka was over because of
an earlier sighting in Makka)
5. Did any of the Sahaba
ever try to send the news of Hajj date to other towns or acted on the
news?
(Umar b. Abdel Aziz used to alert the
governors of various provinces about the dates of Ramadan ahead of time
as mentioned in Ahadith).
6. Did the Sahaba ever
decide their Nahr/Prayer dates on the "news" from Makka or witnesses
from another place if a crescent was not seen in their town? (Kuraib’s
famous Hadith clarifies this point well)
Fiqh
1. Did any of the Fiqh
Schools ever issue a ruling that the Muslims living outside Makka
must/may fix their Eid al-Adha date by the Arafah day in Makka?
(To avoid chaos and dissension among the
Hujjaj the Fuqaha agreed that the valid date of Arafah is when D.Hijja
crescent moon was seen in Makka, and not when the Hujjaj saw it in their
hometowns away from Makka. It was only to avoid Hajj on two or three
days as it happens at Eid al-Fitr now all over the world. )
2. Is there any new "Dalil"
now to tie Arafah/Nahr all over the world to 9-10th D.Hijja in Makka?
(If the day of Nahr in Makka is the
determining factor then the countries east of Makka from Australia to
Pakistan may have Eid prayer and sacrifice before the day of Nahr begins
in Makka. Should they wait till next day?
The Muslims living west of Makka may
often see a crescent moon a day ahead of when it is actually visible in
Makka. Should they wait a day, in case Saudis ever start following the
sighted crescent moon?)
3. Why is it not a 'Bid'ah',
and imposing an undue hardship on the Muslims scattered all over the
globe?
Facts
1. The earth is a globe, not
a flat field.
(The Moon cannot be visible all over the
world at the same time.)
2. Once a crescent moon is
first visible at any place, every place west of it (in a parabola) will
see it. Most of the world will see it within 24 hours. (A 'lunar'
Islamic day/date).
3. The moon is first seen at
a different place every month.
4. The Muslims living west
of Makka will often see a crescent a day ahead of Makka.
5. A lunar day/date is
always two solar days/dates as they are fixed differently. The solar
date is fixed by the International Dateline in the Pacific Ocean and the
day/date begins at mid-night locally. The Lunar dateline is fixed by the
earliest visible crescent and the day/date locally begins after the
sunset.
6. The Lunar dateline moves
westwards every month.
Some
More Questions
1. Why the Saudi Hajj, Ramadan and
Eidain dates are always ahead of the rest of the world? In other words,
how can they see a crescent moon before others who are living west of
them?
2. Can a crescent moon be‘seen’
before the conjunction (as the Saudi authorities announced for Ramadan
and Eidain 1419, Dec. 18,1998, Jan.17 and March 17 1999)?
3. What if Saudi fixed date of Hajj
makes our D. Q’ada only 28 days, and D.Hijja 31 days?
4. If the Saudi authorities ever
start following the 'sighted’ crescent for D. Hijja, should the Muslims
in N. America who will often see D. Hijja crescent a day ahead of the
Saudis wait till D. Hijja 11 for their Prayer/Nahr? The Muslims living
in the east of Makka will face a reverse situation. Their 10th of D.
Hijja may often be a day later than Makka. Should they adjust their
dates according to Makka?
5. Not only prayer/Nahr will be
affected by any such adjustment but the days of “Tashriq” as well.
The
answer is very clear. The Muslims must follow the Quran, the Sunnah, and
the consensus of the Ummah for the last 1400 years. The Qur’an specifies
the crescent moons as determining the Islamic dates, and the Hajj. Saudi
authorities fix the Islamic and Hajj dates by other than 'Ahilla', and
therefore the Muslims must not follow them. We checked the books of
Fiqh, and did not find any support for the assertion that Eidul Adha
should be made on the basis of Hajj decision. The Hadith of the Prophet
- peace be upon him - that al-Hajj yauma yahujju al-nas is for those who
make Hajj. Of course those who go to Hajj must go to 'Arafah according
to the decision of the authorities there, even if that is contrary to
the astronomical data or someone's own moon sighting. But people in far
away lands do not make Hajj in their locations. They have to make Eid
prayer and make Qurbani. They cannot have Eid on 9th of Dhul Hijjah, if
the moon was not sighted in their location and sighted in Arabia one day
before. They cannot have Udhhiyaha a day earlier.
Omar Afzal Chairman Committee
for Crescent Observation Intl.
The answer to the question of Fasting
on the Day of Arafah, as the respected Mufti from S. Arabia explains
is very simple if we keep in mind a few basic facts:
1. The earth is
a globe and not a flat field.
2. There is no
reason that D.Hijja crescent moon (or any other month's moon) will
ALWAYS BE FIRST SEEN in S. Arabia. A Crescent moon is first seen from a
different place on earth every month.
3. S.
Arabia decides about Islamic dates NOT BY THE HILAAL (the crescent moon
that you first see after sunset) but by calculating:
Moon is setting
after sunset (even by a second)
(Although the claim is always made that
a "moon was seen at....(many places), by a large number of "Adil"
witnesses in the kingdom" or 30 days of the month are completed.)
Most Arab states just follow S.
Arabia.)
4. If a
moon is really seen in S. Arabia/Egypt or anywhere in Asia, Europe, or
N. Africa it will CERTAINLY BE SEEN in N. America 8-10 hours later. If
it is not seen on a clear sky (and the whole N. America is never be
cloudy just at sunset) then Saudi claims are
False.
5. It is also a fact that if 30 days of the Islamic
month are really complete then a moon will ALWAYS BE SEEN. If it is not
seen on a clear sky then 30 days are NOT COMPLETE. |
Moon
Sighting
