No moon in Iquique, Chile

Posted on 11th August, 2010 by

Just going through the moon sighting reports on this page (it may still be giving virus warnings when you try to load it; it doesn’t affect me as I use Linux) and one negative sighting is very notable:

Not Seen: Muhammad Sohail (MCW member) from Iquique reported: I have not seen the moon for Ramadan; I started looking for the moon from 18:25 upto 19:25. The sky was quite clear. So, Ramadan will satrt on Aug 12, 2010.

Iquique is in northern Chile, and this is one of the first places on any continent that the new moon is visible each month. The actual first place is further south, in the Valparaiso area on the Chilean coast.

So, if it’s not visible, in a clear sky, on the coast of Chile, how can it possibly be visible in Saudi Arabia, where a sighting was reported (and then broadcast on satellite TV)? And why are Muslims all around the world jumping when the Saudis say so, when they have no need to let the Saudis influence them? Some of these places (e.g. Taiwan) are east of Saudi Arabia, so a sighting there has no bearing on visibility in their own countries.

In the UK, the so-called “Coordination Committee of Major Islamic Centres and Mosques of London” agreed that Ramadan began today. This outfit represents a mere handful of mosques, such as Regent’s Park, East London, Westbourne Park, al-Muntada and Leyton (and since when was Leyton a major mosque?). In reality, it represents mosques with either a substantial Arab worshipper base, a “salafi” bias, or with connections to the Gulf countries. While they happen to be some people’s local mosques, the majority of mosques in London don’t belong to it and they have no right to claim any greater importance than any other mosque.

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...

Possibly Related Posts:


FacebookTwitterIdenti.caDeliciousDiggStumbleUponWordPressShare
RamadanPermalink
  • http://www.spirit21.co.uk Shelina

    I’m with you on this one. I’m completely baffled as to how the moon is ALWAYS sighted first in Saudi Arabia. And even more baffled as to how you can provide evidence to people that it was impossible for it to be so and they simply shrug their shoulders and say “But Saudi’s announced it”.

  • http://www.getoutlines.wordpress.com Safiya Outlines

    Salaam Alaikum,

    Ramadan Mubarak whichever day you choose to begin it on. Safiya Outlines´s last [type] ..Girl you know it’s true – Updated

  • Belal

    Wouldn’t it be easier to sort these things out by cooperating with observatories or something?

  • Ali

    Salaam & Ramadhan mubarak to all. There is a whole debate regarding the fiqh of moonsighting, which I’d rather not get into - however your arguement here just does not stack up.

    I would like to point out that just because it was not sighted in Chile, it is not a valid Shariah proof to reject the word of any muslim who subsequently says they have sighted it east of that point. We should trust them as our muslim brothers. Furthermore the responsibility (and sin if they are knowingly deceiving us) is upon them. Also apparently, there were sightings in Indonesia too (even further east!).

  • http://www.therevival.co.uk/blogs/you Naheem

    @ Ali - at the time of the sahabahs AFAIK there was an occasion where the testimony of a prominent sahabi was rejected on the issue of moon sighting and it was claimed that he had seen a hair from his eye brow and not the moon.

    Testimonies can be and have been questioned historically. Naheem´s last [type] ..Spectacular sounding names of organisations

  • http://ginnysthoughts.wordpress.com Ginny

    Assalamu alaikum, whether or not astronomy can or can’t be used to refute a sighting claim might also be open to fiqhi debate. And to my knowledge, while the witness testifying to moon sighting must be a reliable witness, even so, if they said they saw the moon when the moon had already set, or said they saw the crescent when it’d not even been born yet/conjunction had not even taken place, that’s like saying someone saw the sun when it already set, thus that testimony, no matter how trustworthy and upright the witness might be, would have to be rejected, unless it was also backed up by numerous other people from other places. However, when you say this, you hear talk of how Allah can make something visible, and he could make the moon visible if He wanted to, etc. And He can, of course, but every year? And in the same place? As I’ve followed this issue year after year after year, I’m starting to think that it’s not so much about local vs global, etc., but more about Saudi versus everyone else. And they are consistently early, consistently every year. And the issues with the Saudi dating system are well known. Ginny´s last [type] ..On Crescent Watch’s Moon Sighting Policy Change

  • http://ginnysthoughts.wordpress.com Ginny

    Assalamu alaikum, have you seen the latest via http://www.hilalsighting.org? Ginny´s last [type] ..On Crescent Watch’s Moon Sighting Policy Change

  • http://born-confuzed.blogspot.com Jasmine

    happy ramadan :)

  • http://www.blogistan.co.uk/blog/ Indigo Jo

    Wa ‘alaikum as-Salaam, Ginny: no, I wasn’t aware of that site, but the matter was settled for me by the time I did my original post (I didn’t fast yesterday, am fasting today). By the way, Sh Sulaiman Gani who appears in that video is (or at least was) the imam of one of the south London mosques I follow for this purpose.