|
Slideshow
Get all of your town's daily sun & moon
information:
| |
Special Article:
Global Hijri Calendar Proposals
Every now and then, the Muslim astronomical experts suggest a "global
Hijri Calendar", often without clearly spelling out their “criteria.”
CFCO has responded to almost everyone who suggested a local or "global”
Hijri Calendar since 1986. But the vacuous discussion continues because
the Muslim experts do not agree on the basics:
1. Is your calendar based on Lunar Visibility or it is NOT required?
2. If your dates are calculated on the basis of visibility what is your
criterion?
3. Is your lunar visibility “LOCAL” or “global”?
4. Does it require naked-eye, land-based visibility or space-based
instrumental observation as well?
5. Where is the Lunar Dateline for your calendar dates?
6. If there is NO Dateline, then how do you divide the time into dates
and months?
7. Is the Dateline FIXED or it REVOLVES every month with the earliest
visibility?
8. Does your date EXTEND WESTWARD from the point of earliest visibility
or goes BACKWARDS also?
9. Is the length of the Lunar month same for all regions of the globe or
it differs by LOCAL visibility?
Apparently many miss the significance of each of these points. Some
(Saudi Ummal-Qura, ISNA Fiqh Council, European Council for Fatwa, etc.)
have dropped the lunar visibility Qur’anic requirement altogether. Some
have replaced it by Imkaan (Slightest possibility). Some take "later"
visibility (hours after the sunset, even on the next solar date) to
start the “local” date instantly. Some (tri-zonal or bio-zonal
calendars) move the dateline every month. As a result, each Islamic
month is 29 and 30 days long simultaneously for different visibility
regions.
The most naïve are those who "INSIST on LOCAL VISIBILITY" but see no
logical contradiction when they extend it. (“36-48 miles: East, West,
North, South”; or “to the cities located at the same latitude”, or “the
"nearest Muslim country"; or “Caribbean for Canada, South Africa for UK;
or “All Arab countries that share the night”, etc.).
It is a fact that two towns only 10 miles apart but on the two sides of
the visibility parabola do NOT SEE the Hilal in the same evening of the
solar date. The moon is NOT SEEN by country, continent, longitude, or
latitude. Its visibility starts from a different place on the globe and
extends in a parabola. The moon may become first visible as far north as
Alaska and as far south as New Zealand, depending on the season.
Hijri Calendar Complications
The “Earliest” Lunar Visibility and “day /date” division of the “time”
further complicate lunar calendars.
For Muslim and Jewish calendars, the day/date starts from the sunset.
The Muslim date/day start from the sunset after the Hilal is confirmed
SEEN "locally". The Jewish date starts from the New Moon BEFORE
Jerusalem or 2 1/2 hours past Jerusalem (plus some more adjustments).
The Muslim calendar-makers never specified where the Islamic date begins
except that it is “by the “local visibility.”
Is it valid to begin the "local" Islamic day/date/month from any
location X in the expectation that the Hilal might become visible hours
later at location Y (even on the next solar date) somewhere on the
globe?
Try to implement this rule in Makkah Mukarramah. Can they start Ramadan
from the evening of the Conjunction date in the hope that Ramadan Hilal
will become VISIBLE 12-23 hours later somewhere? Even the "solar date"
will change in Makkah by the time Makkah Muslims get the confirmation of
the actual sighting.
To by-pass this hurdle, the definition of the Islamic “Hilal” – the
earliest visible waxing crescent moon - was changed to “the moonset
after the sunset” on the conjunction date. The conjunction occurs at all
times of day and night. Therefore some went to the extreme of calling a
“CCD image” of the moon at the Conjunction a Hilal.
Initial Lunar Visibility
The earliest visibility and "initial point of visibility" further
complicate the Islamic calendar. No local or global calendar can be made
on the base of strict lunar visibility. A look at the visibility maps of
any two consecutive months on the Conjunction (solar) date, and the next
two dates will convince anyone about this fact
1. Lunar visibility (by any criterion, from Yallop to Ilyas) takes 3+
solar dates to cover the entire globe;
2. The visibility curves of any two consecutive months show a westwards
movement (almost 6-8 thousand miles). In other words, the previous month
would be 30 days for this zone and only 29 days for the rest of the
globe.
3. The visibility results in 3-4 parallel “local” Hijri calendars. (3-4
dates for the same "solar" date everywhere)
Where would the Islamic date (for example 1st of Ramadan) start by the
earliest visibility criterion?
Let us take the Saudi Ummal Qura calendar. The moonset, for example, is
one minute AFTER the sunset on the Conjunction date in Makkah. Will the
month of Ramadan start from Makkah westwards or from where the Hilal
will become visible 20+ hours later in the Pacific? Assuming that the
black lunar disk at the Conjunction is the Islamic Hilal just ONE SECOND
later then what about Taif and all regions EAST of Makka in Saudi
Arabia? Should they start Ramadan with Makkah? What about Yemen,
Pakistan India, Malaysia, Indonesia and Australia? Should they start
with Makkah or wait till the next sunset? What if the Conjunction is
with or one minute BEFORE the sunset at Makkah?
Contemporary Muslim Practices
Recent Muslim practices for fixing Ramadan, Eidain, etc. dates include:
- The “precise calculation of the lunar Conjunction “BEFORE dawn”
(Libya)
- The moonset after sunset in Makkah on the New Moon date (S. Arabia,
ISNA, ECFR, 2007)
- The Conjunction before 12:00 Noon GMT (a variation of #2: Khalid
Shaukat for ISNA Fiqh Council 2006)
- CCD imaging or any other instrument-generated diagram of the moon at
Conjunction (Martin, Odeh)
- A visible Hilal anywhere in the world.
- A “visible Hilal” at 180E (International solar Dateline), or 30W as
the Intl lunar Dateline (Details follow)
- The new moon before midnight at the International Date Line.
- etc.
Chaos in the Islamic Dates
The present chaos about the Islamic dates is a result of some LOCAL
(declared or kept secret) practices:
1. Saudi (Ummal Qura), ISNA (Khalid Shaukat) Calendars are calculated
by: “the Conjunction (NM) +moonset AFTER sunset in Makkah.” (The Hilal
CANNOT be seen in Makkah on those dates.)
2. Libya uses the “Conjunction before Dawn” to count the following
sunlight hours as the first day (for fasting).
3. Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei, Turkey, Bosnia, Tunis, etc. calculate
their first Islamic date by the lunar altitude of 2-5 degrees at sunset.
(Never SEEN there)
4. European Fatwa Council (ECFR) and some Muslim organizations all over
the world follow S. Arabia.
5. Some UK Muslim groups follow “Morocco” or “South Africa” sighting for
UK.
6. Toronto Council (Canada, 2007) goes by a sighting in the Caribbean.
(Some in New York, Buffalo also follow it).
7. The Shari’ah Boards (Chicago, New York, etc.) accept all claim of
sighting. For them, Calculations showing non-sighting or non-sighting of
the Hilal on the West Coast are “Not valid Shari’ah argument” to reject
a claim.
8. Connecticut Council of Masaajid decides the dates strictly by “local”
(Connecticut USA) sighting.
9. Locally sighted Hilal is the criterion in Bangladesh, India,
Pakistan, Oman, Morocco, S. Africa, etc.
Islamic Calendar Solutions
There is no dearth of Muslim and non-Muslim “experts” suggesting “local”
or “Global” Hijri Calendars.
1. Suggestion:
“If minimum Luni-solar Geocentric Elongation, anywhere in the world, at
the moment of Fajr Sadiq at Makkah, is 10 degrees then the coming “day”
is the first day of the new Islamic month and preceding night is the
first night”
[Explanation: The night (sunset to true dawn) in which Hilal is
observed, is counted as first night of the new Islamic month and the
coming day (sunlight hours) is the first civil (solar) day. So Islamic
solar and lunar dates fall globally on the same day, sharing common sun
light hours.]
Naked-eye observation of a Hilal, which satisfies this criterion, is
quite sure somewhere in the world, ensuring appearance of Young Crescent
(Hilal) in the sky before Fajr Sadiq on International Date Line (180o E
regarding MPM). The region of possible Hilal observation with naked-eye
can be determined by precise calculations in certain computer programmes.]
2. Suggestion:
Decide local dates by Hilal Visibility curves, in addition and applying
Hilal visibility in a city to all cities with equal or lower probability
of sighting
[Explanation: Lunar visibility in each city + 48 miles being one Matla (Shafii
Madhab) makes sense.]
3. Time & Strategy (following Khalid Shaukat):
"The new moon occurs before midnight at the International Date Line. The
moon would be visible somewhere on the earth on that day."
[Explanation:“the visibility criteria applied "locally" to the IDL that
results in a non-sighting, allows for the possibility of the application
of the same visibility criteria to points west of the IDL to result in
sighting the Hilal within a shared 24 hour time period.”]
4. Sharing the common sunlight hours
5. Sharing the same night.
These and many other “solutions” fail the validity tests or satisfy the
two basic conditions of a lunar calendar. All ideas or conceptual
assumptions about natural phenomena have to be discarded when systematic
empirical observations can no longer support them.
The Muslim calendar experts should continue looking for alternative
solutions that a) fulfill the “Observed Hilal” condition; and b)
Calculate the beginning of the month precisely.
CFCO Calendars for N. America
We at CFCO Intl. are open to any "reasonable" solution that creates a
unified Islamic Lunar calendar “locally” or globally. At present there
is NONE as you have found above.
For North America CFCO, in the absence of a better alternative, still
follows the consensus developed in 1966:
“The Islamic month begins by a verifiable Hilal (seen after the sunset)
anywhere in 48 contiguous US states”
CFCO practice of “48contiguous states” often elicit the response that
CFCO also extends the lunar visibility. Please keep in mind that:
1. "Broad-regional” or strictly “Local” visibility-based Islamic
calendars for N America result in two or three Hijri dates for each
solar date every month in different regions.
2. The Hijri dates for Canada add further chaos. Southern Canada may
have distinct dates not only from the USA but also from Northern Canada
3. The dates may be further complicated each month when adjusted for
"local" cloudy conditions.
These were the main reasons that the "48-contiguous states" rule was
adopted in 1966 for N. America. CFCO’s practice is "IMPERFECT "but it is
the only practical solution and essential as an "administrative"
necessity.
Those who insist on strictly "local" visibility are seen discarding
their own rule by extending the visibility to "not-visible" areas in the
name of "Qasr" distance, "a state or area governed by a Hakim", "Seen in
the East" (Fatwa), “Seen on the same longitude (the recent decision to
accept Caribbean sighting for Canada), "Seen in a nearby Muslim
country", “Will be Seen on the same latitude”, etc.
|
Moon
Sighting
