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Synopsis
Iqthilaf or Ithihad of Matalia has no
relevance in preparing the Islamic
calendar. A calendar is based on certain
principles and calculations and seeing
the Hilal with the naked eye has nothing
to do with it. There are twelve months
in a year according to the Qur’aan and
the Prophet (saw) has confirmed that the
months will have 29 or 30 days. Allah (swt)
has appointed phases for the moon to
determine the various stages. The moon
takes 29.53059 days to make one rotation
around the Earth. To make things simple
for the un-educated people of that time
it was ordained that they should watch
the moon to determine whether it should
be 29 or 30. If the Hilal appeared on
the 29th the next month
should begin the day following;
otherwise the month would begin one day
later.
The idea of ever shifting Lunar date
line is baseless, unscientific,
unislamic and impracticable. The sun,
not the moon counts days; so the Date
line has to be permanent. It is
necessary that we must have a
universally applicable calendar and by
observing mandatory performances on
different days in different places, and
even at the same place we are
challenging the very purpose of a
calendar.
Regarding the symposium hosted by ISNA
on November 19, 2000 we would like to
present the following facts about the
Islamic calendar for your kind
consideration and necessary action.
ISNA has not looked into all aspects of
the problem and discussed properly as
desired by the Qur’aan and Sunnah of the
Prophet (saw).
In fact Ikhthilaf or Ithihad of Matalia
has no relevance in preparing the
Islamic calendar. A calendar is based
on certain principles and calculations
and seeing the Hilal with the naked eye
has nothing to do with it. Islam must
have a calendar and the fasting must be
compulsory on the first of Ramadan of
the Islamic calendar according to the
Islamic Shariah. Without a practical
and perfect calendar Islam is
incomplete.
1. Do the Ulema argue that Islam has no
calendar?
2. Is the Hijra calendar baseless,
unpredictable and impractical in the use
of our day-to-day life in this world?
3. Is the Hijra calendar inferior to the
other calendars that exist in the world
today?
4. Can the Muslims adopt the Gregorian
calendar and use the Gregorian dates,
which have no connection with the moon?
5. Can a child be born on two or three
dates, in other words can a month begin
on two or three days? For example:
Ramadan first on Sunday, Ramadan first
on Monday and Ramadan first on Tuesday?
Our story is like that of the Mullah who
searched for his key under the
streetlight because there was no light
where he had lost the key! Even if all
the Ulema and the scientists of the
world joined together and made a hectic
search leaving no stone unturned, they
will not find a solution to the problem
because they do not search at the proper
place, the Qur’aan and the Sunnah of the
Prophet (saw). They have deviated far
away from the path of Truth, Islam.
We have seven days, which have names.
These days are common for all in the
world. Dates in any calendar stand in
place of days, when the day is common
the date, which stands for it, must also
be common. That would mean, if the
first of Ramadan is Sunday in Libya
first of Ramadan in America also must be
Sunday. There cannot be difference of
opinion in this.
All renowned Imams and scholars have
agreed that if the fasting of Ramadan is
confirmed at one place and this
information is conveyed in an authentic
way, then fasting is compulsory for all
those who get that information.
The Qur’aan says “if you disagree on a
matter, then you refer it to Allah and
His Rasool “(Q 4:59). Now we have
disagreed in this matter of fixing the
first of Ramadan for more than thousand
years! Why do we not follow the
instructions of Allah (swt) and do what
He has commanded us to do?
Allah (swt) has provided a perfect
calendar for the people to use in the
daily life in civil and religious
matters of this world. The Qur’aan says
“they ask thee about the waxing and
waning nature of the moon. Tell them:
they are dates for the people and the
pilgrimage” (Q 2:189). This verse
clearly informs us that the changing
phases of the moon show us the dates of
Nature’s calendar, which Allah (swt) has
designed for our use in this world.
This is very simple and any one can know
the date by looking at the moon. But we
are gone mad after looking for the first
Hilal, which is not visible, now-a-days
because we have polluted the
atmosphere.
The Prophet (saw) has not asked the
Muslims to begin fasting of Ramadan or
celebrate Eid only after seeing the
Hilal with the naked eye. He said that
he has not come to make things difficult
for the people, but he has come to make
things easy. Seeing the Hilal for fixing
the first of the month is very difficult
and erratic and it creates a lot of
unnecessary problems for the people.
The Prophet (saw) would never have asked
the people to do such meaningless
things. It must be a satanic suggestion
to seduce the servants of Allah (swt).
Let us be careful and think about it.
There are twelve months in a year
according to the book of Allah (swt) and
how are we to discern them? Rasoolullah
(saw) has informed us that the months
will be of twenty-nine or thirty days
alternating in different sequences of
combinations in different years.
Ramadan may have twenty-nine or thirty
days, like wise the other months also.
There will not be a fixed number of days
of twenty-four hours for every month
like the Jewish lunar calendar, which
had thirty, twenty-nine alternating
always in the same order, with leap
years to adjust with the natural
system. The Qur’aan says that Allah (swt)
has appointed phases or Manazil for the
moon, starting from crescent till it
returns to the old crescent in order to
show the dates of the months of the
Nature's calendar to people who live in
this world. (Q 2:189, 10:5, 36:39). To
create such variations in her phases the
moon must change its position every day.
So we know for certain from the Qur’aan
that the moon goes around the earth and
a cycle of the moon in reference to the
sun is a month for the people.
Now, how do we calculate the number of
rotations of the moon around the earth
in which we are? The reference mark
given to us by Allah (swt) is the sun.
So whenever the moon comes in line with
the sun in its course we count one
rotation for the moon. The moon takes
29.53059 days to make one rotation. The
people of the Prophet’s (saw) time were
not used to writing, recording or
calculations of time. It would make
things difficult for them if he had
asked them to do so. He said, “We are
an unlettered people. We do not write
or keep accounts, our month is like this
and like that, fast at its appearance
and break fast at its appearance.” We
should not interpret the Qur’an or the
Prophet’s (saw) words in a literal sense
because they have deep meanings. If we
took them literally we would be like the
obedient servant who did foolish things
by ‘obeying’ the master. We must
realize that it was the Qur’aan, which
has brought us to this advancement, from
darkness to light. Without the Qur’aan,
people would have remained where they
were, stand still for thousands of
years. It was the Prophet (saw) who
ordered them to read, write, calculate
and learn every thing. There is no
Islam without knowledge.
Neil Armstrong landed on the moon in
1969 and returned home with material
from the moon for further study. How
could we say that we do not know how to
count the number of rotations of the
moon around the earth taking the sun as
the mark of reference? We go around the
Ka'ba when we visit Makkah and we know
how we count the rounds.
The followers were not like the Prophet
(saw) who could learn every thing over
night. It would take time for them to
learn. But they had to know their dates
for their immediate programs like
fasting and feasting. So the Prophet
(saw) gave them a very easy, simple and
practical method to find their dates
accurately by naked eye observation of
the moon and they were familiar with it
because they were wanderers in the open
desert under a very clear sky.
Since the months have twenty-nine or
thirty days and the dates should tally
with the Manazil or phases of the moon,
he asked them to look for the appearing
of the Hilal on the twenty-ninth. If
the Hilal appeared by that time new
month should commence from the next
morning and if the Hilal did not appear
by that time they should complete thirty
days and begin the next month without
seeing the Hilal once again. Now if we
did exactly what the Prophet had asked
to do throughout the year for every
month, we will learn the principles of
observing the moon’s Ahillah or Hilals.
We will see that most of the months
begin before we see the Hilal with the
naked eye! There are twelve months and
only one among them is Ramadan. Then
how can we say that every Ramadan should
begin after seeing the Hilal with the
naked eye? The statement that
every month in Islam begins after seeing
the Hilal is wrong. It is a blatant lie
fabricated to mislead the Muslims. The
Qur’aan says that people who were given
the book earlier carried them like
Asses. We should not be like them. The
Hadees: “soomoo li ru’uyathihee wa
afthiroo li ru’uyathihee…” means, fast
at its appearing. The usual rendering
“fast when you see it” is not the
appropriate meaning, because the first
Hilal will not be seen everywhere on the
same day but the dates cannot differ.
The words of the Prophet (saw) cannot be
meaningless.
The right criterion for fixing the
Islamic months according to the Qur’aan
and Sunnah is the birth of Hilal, which
takes place with the conjunction. So
the correct method of computing the
Islamic calendar should be to take the
day of conjunction (conjunction can
occur at any part of the day) as the
last day of the Islamic month. Those
who have little knowledge in astronomy
reject this method saying that the Hilal
and the new moon are different. In fact
the Hilal could appear at some places on
the earth many hours before
conjunction. They have no knowledge
about this. How can there be any error
in the method taught by the Prophet
(saw)? The Hilal and the new moon mean
the same even though literally both are
diffrent. There is no gap between two
months. When a month ends on Sunday,
the next month must begin on Monday
without an interval of a day.
The wrong statement that the Hilal
should be visible to the naked eye to
begin every month had become popular
long ago and Muslim astronomers who were
ignorant of the rules of Shariah have
worked in vain to develop a method on
this basis to locate the Hilal by
scientific means. Some scientists have
drawn the diagrams of the so-called
lunar date lines to show where the first
Hilal would appear every month. Their
wonderful idea to begin the dates from
there is baseless, non-scientific,
un-Islamic and impractical. They have
not understood what a date line means.
A date line cannot shift; it is a
permanent line running from north to
south. The days begin there and the
people living on either side of the
Dateline will experience two Fridays.
This line cannot pass through a land,
for it will create problems for the
people living there. The date line has
nothing to do with the moon. The Moon
has no authority over times of day and
night. The sun indicates it. The shadow
cast by the sun lengthens and shortens
as it apparently moves from east to
west. (Q 25:45). The moon has authority
only over the dates that are indicated
by her phase changing every day. A date
stands for a day of the week and it must
begin with the day from the Date line.
There is no other alternative.
Islam teaches man to keep time and its
order in the earth by establishing
prayers at five different times a day,
1) before sunrise, 2) after meridian, 3)
after half way between meridian and
sunset, 4) after sunset and 5) after
dusk. Time follows with the sun from
east to west. No one except the
travelers should violate the time order
and the canonical prayers should not be
performed after the lapse of the
prescribed time. Travelers are allowed
to lessen and combine the prayers.
Otherwise those ahead in time will
always be ahead. The travelers and the
residents have different rules in these
matters in the Shariah.
Islam also teaches the people the
inviolability of the seven days of the
week by ordering them to establish the
Jumu'a prayer on every Friday at noon.
Islam teaches them where to put a Date
line to begin the day and date on earth
by ordering them to turn to Ka'ba
(Kiblah) during the prayer from wherever
they pray on the earth. Naturally, when
people departed from the Ka'ba to all
directions they dispersed towards east
and west and took their Friday and
Kiblah wherever they went. People
cannot live in the poles and no body
traveled through the polar region. So
they dispersed towards east and west and
established their Qibla and Jumu'a. It
is note-worthy that the Qur’aan mentions
east and west for the Qibla and north or
south are not mentioned for it.
Islam also teaches the time of the
changeover of the world-day by ordering
to perform the Jumu'a prayer at the time
of after meridian prayer. Naturally,
one revolution of the earth will be
counted when the Date line coincides
with the sun. This is the time when the
first Jumu'a prayer in the world is
performed. Here on the eastern side of
the date line the after-meridian prayer
of Thursday is performed while the
Jumu'a prayer of Friday is performed on
the western side indicating the place
and time of the world-day changeover.
This is the scientific zero hours on
earth when all calendar-dates must
change. This coincides with the dawn of
Makkah, the center of Islam. The
Islamic date is changed at that time
since the days of our Prophet (saw).
Lot of money and time has been spent in
propagating the false statement that all
Islamic month begin after seeing the
Hilal with the naked eye at sun set.
The calendars are prepared on the basis
of this visibility of the Hilal, which
happens only one day after its birth.
Thus the dates would not tally with the
phases of the moon as ordered in the
Qur’aan (2:189). The dates lag behind
and when the Moon attains full the date
is only twelfth of thirteenth, instead
of fourteenth or fifteenth and the new
moon occurs on twenty-eighth or
twenty-ninth instead of twenty-ninth or
thirtieth. As a result the calendar
remains just as it was during the time
of ignorance when the Prophet (saw) was
born.
The Prophet (saw) gave clear
instructions during the Hajjathul wida
to reform the calendar making it fully
natural and gave the instructions to
observe one day and one date for all
mankind. But today this is not in
practice. Instead, Muslims have
discarded the Hijra calendar and adopted
the Gregorian dating system, which has
no connection with the Moon, for use in
the daily affairs. This is against the
orders of Allah (swt). (Q 59:7)
Postponement of this Ramadan (1421) by
one day in Makkah proves that the
Muslims have no practical calendar even
in the twenty first century.
Transposing of a date is not allowed in
the Shariah. Even a savage tribe will
not allow it. The Qur’aan says, “The
transposing is an addition to
disbelief”. (9:37).
The Hilal of Ramadan had appeared at
23:11 hours UT on Saturday the 25th of
November 2000 AD. Sunday the 26th of
November 2000 AD is the first of Ramadan
1421AH. But the authority at Makkah
could not study and understand this even
though many requests were made to them
again and again. They ignored the facts
and announced that the Hilal was not
seen and left one day of the holy
Ramadan without fasting. Thereby they
have allowed what Allah (swt) has
forbidden (Q. 9: 39). They began the
fasting of Ramadan on the second day and
the odd dates of the month became the
even days. This ridicules the saying of
the Prophet (saw) and the verses of the
holy Qur’aan that the Lailathul Qadre is
one day. How can the Lailathul Qadre be
one day for the World if Ramadan began
on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday at
different places in the world?
Allah (swt) orders the Muslims to begin
the fasting on the first of Ramadan, but
not on the second. According to the
Qur’aan, Ramadan must begin the next
morning after the birth of Hilal, and
this took place on Saturday evening.
All human beings witness that the new
moon took place on Saturday the 25th of
November 2000. The Qur’aan says “Those
who witness the month let them fast in
it … and let them complete the period…”
(2:185). The Qur’aan admonishes the
people to tell the truth and condemns
the liars. The period of Ramadan 1421H
is thirty days from Sunday 26th November
2000 to Monday the 25th of December 2000
for all people living in this world. No
one has the right to change the dates
and periods defined by the Moon, which
Allah (swt) has prescribed as the
calendar for the people.
Tuesday the 26th of December 2000 AD is
the 1st of Shawwal 1421 AH on which we
are ordered to celebrate the
Eid-ul-fitre. Fasting on this day is
Haraam in the Shariah. We calculate and
find out the day on which an eclipse
would occur. Then why should we not
calculate and find out our dates for the
Eids? Islam does not prohibit
calculation of dates.
The statement that the Islamic day
begins after sunset is un- Islamic. How
can the day begin at sun set? The day
begins at daybreak in a true religion.
Islam is straightforward and Islam
admonishes to speak the truth. Is it
true that the day begins at sunset?
The statement that the astronomical new
moon cannot be used to start the Islamic
month is also wrong. If the new moon
can occur at any time within the
twenty-four hours of a particular day,
then the Hilal also can appear at any
time of the day.
The Qur’aan says, “We have raised many
men and Jinn for the hell. They have
minds with which they do not think.
They have eyes with which they do not
see. They have ears with which they do
not hear. They are like the beasts.
Nay, they are worse. They are the
heedless.” (Q7: 179). Let us fear of
falling into this category. We have
seen many half moons and full moons, but
we do not think about it even though
Allah (swt) has clearly informed us that
they are means of calculating the
passage of our time. “He has appointed
Manazil for it (the moon) that you may
know the ages (of the moon phase) and
the calculations (thereof).” (Q 10:5).
Today no one looks at the shadow of the
sun to know the time for the prayers
shown by the sun's angle. Then why
should we need to look at the moon to
know the date shown by the moon's
angle? We should understand our Prophet
(saw) and Islam properly. Only then we
can reach the hereafter safely.
May Allah forgive us and lead us to the
right path!
M. Alimanikfan
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