A senseless Eid scandal
To start off, now that it really is Eid and I've got the time and energy to type, Eid Mubarak everybody.
Anyway ...
All this Ramadan, I've been working on the assumption that today was going to be Eid, largely on the basis that moonsighting.com published their usual diagram of where the moon could be sighted last night. It was crystal clear - the moon could only be sighted clearly in one tiny corner of the south Pacific, and might be visible with instruments in the far south of South America, in the sparsely populated south of Chile and Argentina (where there are probably very few Muslims). It would have been fine by me if Eid was actually yesterday, because I could have done my driving job (delivering timber and heavy bags of powdered plaster and cement) on six hours of sleep rather than five, but then, fasting itself isn't meant to be easy or convenient, is it? (More: Ginny [1], [2], Muslim Apple, Svend White.)
Imagine my discomfort when I accepted an iftar invitation to an east African friend's house on Thursday night, only to find that the Islam Channel had announced, on the basis of numerous supposed sightings in the Muslim world, that Eid was yesterday. My friends automatically accepted this and were wishing each other, and me, Eid Mubarak. I refused the tea they offered me, even though I normally like tea made in the Somali fashion, because I believed I would probably be fasting yesterday and didn't want the dehydration and frequent toilet visits that tea causes. I got home and looked on the internet, and discovered that there had been sightings of what people thought was the new moon, but what was probably the old crescent. It all makes me think that someone had already made up their mind that yesterday was to be Eid, and at the first sign that it was, however spurious the sign was, they declared Eid as yesterday.
However, for those of us living under the western conditions of Friday being a work day and Saturday a day off, it would have made a lot more sense for Eid to be today. And this is where this year's Eid travesty, as that's what it is, starts to look really bizarre. It is not only inaccurate, since the moon could not have been sighted and indeed there were many negative sightings, but religiously perverse that mosque committees should, on the behalf of thousands of Muslims, exchange a Friday prayer, on the last day of Ramadan, and an authentic Eid prayer, for an Eid prayer on the wrong day, and no Jumu'ah for many people as many scholars allow the normal Friday prayer to be left if Eid is on Friday.
This has been the most scandalous false Eid for a long time. Why would any Muslim in authority with an ounce of sense tell the people to forsake religious correctness, the reward of two prayers, a day's pay or school and their personal convenience? It is ridiculous. I do hope this incident will convince the Muslims whose Eid dates are not government-dictated to take action to prevent further idiocy of this kind.
Comments
Nice read. Eid Greetings Sidi Matthew!
Praying for a year of goodness ahead :)
Posted by: Bint-eh Adam | October 13, 2007 4:07 PM
Salaam,
I take it you missed the hilarious MCB orchestrated debate about this issue a few days ago. Under the aegis of Iqbal Sacranie, a number of scholars Deobandi and Salafy debated this issue. They all agreed that it was impossible for the moon to be sighted on thursday night and that we should all agree to have Eid on Saturday. Everyone that is except Shaykh Haythem Haddad who said that 60% of Muslims in the UK follow Saudi irrespective and we should build a consensus based on this. Even the audience members thought this was a joke. Even Sacranie pulled out a fatawa from bin Baz saying no-one outside Saudi should follow Saudi's sightings and Shaykh Sulaymani pulled out a book compiled by the Ulema of Madinah proving that the majority of moon sightings in Saudi have been wrong for years. They even asked Shaykh Haythem will he celebrate on Friday knowing it was impossible to be the date just because Saudi's had said it. He just wouldn't budge.
Posted by: Ismaeel | October 13, 2007 4:16 PM
" I could have done my driving job ... on six hours of sleep rather than five" I'd be rather more worried about how safe a lorry driver with six hours' sleep is- let alone a fasting lorry driver with five hours' sleep- than about your own ease and convenience.
Posted by: Thersites | October 13, 2007 5:31 PM
I know myself better than you do, I think, Thersites. I have done driving jobs many times on that amount of sleep, although I prefer not to for obvious reasons.
Posted by: Indigo Jo
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October 13, 2007 7:18 PM
assalamu alikeum
Eid mubarak.
Typical situation. They've been getting it wrong for several years now at Saudi. Last Ramadan was started before the moon was even sighted so many fasted a day early.
Personally i follow the opinion that people should fast/have Eid, when the moon is visible in the country that they live in. I tried to explain this to my parents but they ain't having it. They believe its obligatory to start Ramadan and Eid when Saudi declares so, regardless if your on the other side of the equator and refuse to accept that theres any other way to go about it and as I'm still living at home, I've got to follow along as the whole family is celebrating the same day- which was yesterday for us.
The thing is, we have a Muslim organisation which actually goes to the Greenwich observatory each Ramadan and check moon sightings and I remember last Ramadan, they were on Islam Channel and they got the dates correct but only a minority listened. Everyone else went on with the Saudi sighting which was revealed later to be wrong anyway! The whole thing is a damn farce.
Posted by: muslim_gal
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October 13, 2007 11:15 PM
As-Salaamu 'alaikum muslim_gal:
Last night I was talking to someone in Morocco who insisted that Muslims "abroad" have to follow Saudi, because Saudi is where the Ka'ba is. I tried explaining that the Saudis have no authority over us as the Saudi king is not the caliph or ameer ul-mu'mineen and does not claim to be (and there is no way to "follow Mecca" without following Saudi as Mecca is occupied by the Saudis), and that there is no evidence for this position, but it had no effect.
Posted by: Indigo Jo
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October 14, 2007 12:09 AM
Assalmu Alaikum,
Eid Mubarak to everyone.
……Whenever you celebrated your Eid (as long as you fasted with sincerity).
That aside, we do need a consensus.
Who to follow though? MCB? Saudi funded Mosques? Asian Mosques? Your own individual logic?
If they all have different dates, then whose is false? Or are they all false, or all correct?
Until we have this fabled united Ummah, I don't really mind as long as I can stand in a congregation of Muslims within my community for my Eid Prayer.
Posted by: Judge Dredd | October 14, 2007 7:43 AM
moonsighting .com eh ? my friend told me about that , I said to her it looks all too scientific for me , sorry I do not understand it . I am sick to death of all this commotion about when is it eid , I mean really how hard is it to sight a moon ? ..now if what you are saying is correct that their could have been no way sighting the moon here in uk , except in two countrys then why is saudi claiming it is eid ? hmmm
Posted by: amal | October 14, 2007 3:40 PM
Cannot the time of the new moon be determined scientifically?
Posted by: George Carty
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October 14, 2007 4:17 PM
Eid Mubarak!
Posted by: Muslim Apple | October 15, 2007 2:27 AM
Eid Mubarak, Yusuf!
George and other interested parties should have a look at Shaykh Afifi Al-Akiti's essay on moonsighting for an explanation of the importance of local human sighting of the moon.
Posted by: bingregory | October 16, 2007 4:15 AM
As-Salaamu 'alaikum,
Yes BG, I was aware of Sh. Akiti's essay; however, he also approves of using sightings further east of one's present location, and has called Ramadan or Eid in the UK on the basis of sightings in south Africa, for example.
Posted by: Indigo Jo
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October 16, 2007 10:20 AM