Ugh…

Well, not feeling very well this morning. Was awakened at about 2:45 AM by enormous bass from a car stereo, it was just a huge rumble, and at first it scared me out of my sleep it was so bad. It took me a few seconds to figure out what was going on. Then, I got up to use the bathroom, and I’m not sure if I jumped up too fast, or if it was being scared out of my sleep or what, but I started sweating (which was odd considering that it’s a bit chilly here this morning and the heat is not on in our house), and my stomach started feeling a bit nauseous. So I went and sat at the computer a bit to give my stomach time to calm down. Briefly looked at email, approved a blog comment, determined that my tummy had calmed down enough for me to be able to go back to bed, went and laid back down, told Chloe to go back to bed, who by this time was kinda sitting by the bed, probably wondering what the heck I was doing up at such an odd hour. Checked alarm to make sure it was set at the right time to wake hubby up for Fajr, and listened to whatever old-time radio show was on on XM Radio before drifting back to sleep.

Now I’m up again to take Chloe out, after waking my husband up. And the long and short of it is, I think I’ll stay home from the Eid Salat this morning. I’m sure my tummy’ll be fine, it’s just that I don’t like to go out in public with any kind of tummy trouble. It’s something I said I’d never do after throwing up in front of my entire fifth grade class once, which is a fear I still have, i.e., being sick in front of people. And I don’t want to be standing in the prayer line and start feeling ill, or be sitting at a table eating something, or otherwise in some area that I’m unfamiliar with, and all of a sudden feel the need to go to the bathroom, yet not knowing how to get there or having no one around to ask.

And that did kinda happen to me once. I’d gone to a sister’s house and spent the night with her and her family before Eid salat, and woke up not feeling well, and went to the Eid prayer anyway. I wasn’t feeling well, but took some food that was given to me, which I knew was a mistake anyway, but I did it so the person offering me the food wouldn’t feel bad, and all they had to drink was Mountain Dew, and maybe it was that that made me feel ill, but I asked the sister to take me to the bathroom, and although I didn’t get sick, I was so embarrassed about it. I think she and her son left early because of me, and when we got home, I slept for a couple hours, and she was nice and all, and I’m sure she wasn’t upset with me, but I still felt bad, because I felt like I was inconveniencing other people.

And although I’m sure I’ll be fine today, I didn’t sleep well, and a lot of times that makes me feel bad in and of itself. Put me in a crowd of people, most of whom I don’t know, when I already don’t feel that well to begin with, and that just makes things worse. So I think I’ll just stay home and rest.

Eid mubarak all. I’m sure I’ll be fine, I just need to sleep.

Yaum Al Arafah, Thanksgiving, and Eidul-Adha

Greetings and assalamu alaikum all.

Today is yaum-al-arafah today, rest of the house is fasting, I, however, am not able to fast today. So we’ll be delaying our traditional Thanksgiving meal until Iftar time.

Tomorrow is Eidul Adha, trying to decide if I’m going to go to the masjid for Eid prayers, yeah, I know it’s recommended, but, I’m afraid of being the only woman who can’t go into the prayer area, and who has to sit in the common area. I’m sure I won’t be, but maybe all of the other women who couldn’t pray stayed home too, and I was theonly one who dared to come out for the Eid, even though it is a Sunnah, even for, uh, women in my condition!

And why does that bother me!? When I can’t fast, I don’t hide that fact! Though something about going to the masjid, and, seemingly and figuratively, in front of everyone say, by not going into the prayer area, that “hey, I can’t pray, and I’m sure you know why!” as loudly as I can! I’m not sure why that is botheirng me, while say, not fasting at work is no problem. Probably because no one asks me at work why I’m not fasting. Whereas at the masjid I’m sure to get the “Sister, are you going to pray?” Question, and then I have to say, as softly and inconspicuously as possible, “uh, I can’t pray today, I just wanted to come to hear the talk, and/or to be with other Muslims”.

And all of this is funny, because I had this discussion with my husband, he was saying that if I cna’t pray, I couldn’t go to the masjid, and I was saying, but no, it’s a Sunnah to go for th eEid prayers, even if, well, you’re not able to pray. Alhamdulillah, that the shaykh who came during Ramadan to do the Tarawih prayers mentioned this very thing and encouraged the brothers to bring their families, even the women, and even if the women couldn’t pray, that they could sit in the common/reception area, where they serve the food for the Iftar. So yeah, I know it’s an encouraged Sunnah to attend the Eid prayer, but now that I’ve been “vindicated” lol, though I feel bad saying that because I can feel my ego kinda swelling a bit, now I’m not sure I wanna go.

How do other sisters in this situation deal with this kinda thing? Do you just not go or do you stay at home? Or are there enough Muslim sisters coming to the masjid in your same situation that it really doesn’t matter anyway? And why does it matter to me this year of all years?

A Really Good Day

Assalamu alaikum, I had a really good day! I went outside with Chloe this afternoon, after listening to the Colts game (they’re 10 and 0 by the way *yay*!) My husband grilled some chicken and made some rice and vegetables to go with it. So I played with Chloe a bit, ate dinner outside where I could enjoy the warm weather and nice breeze. Then I came back inside to pray Maghrib as it had gotten dark outside and I guess we still have mosquitoes because I think they were starting to come out.

I get to work from home this week, and it will be a short week as I have Thursday and Friday off for Thanksgiving. This works out well for the upcoming Eidul Adha holiday. Though with all of the turkey and other food for Thanksgiving, coupled with the lamb and whatever other food we have for the Eid itself, I feel quite gluttonous and that bothers me! I feel the need that if we can’t invite anyone we know over for some food, that I feel like just going out and grabbing some random person off the street and inviting them in for something to eat. Now obviously, I’d not actually do this. But I’ve told my husband that he should invite someone he knows over for some food. I’ve even thought of just calling people and saying “hey wanna come to Florida for a visit?” Although pretty much everyone I know, as far as I know, has their own plans too, and will probably have plenty of food to eat themselves, or Inshallah they will anyway.

So I’m looking forward to this week, because even though I have to work Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, it almost feels like a vacation as I don’t have to go into the office. And my step-daughter is here for the week too! So I’m sure that all kinds of fun and frivolity will insue, especially with a Golden Lab in tow. I just have a feeling that it’s going to be a really good week, Inshalah it is one.

Moon Bits for Dhul Hijja

Assalamu alaikum all,

From MoonSighting.com’s Dhul Hijja page:

The Astronomical New Moon is on November 16, 2009 (Monday) at 19:14 UT. This moon cannot be seen anywhere in the world. On November 17, it still cannot be seen in Asia, Europe and Canada. It can be seen in South Africa, Central America, and South America. In USA, there is a small chance to see it on November 17.

Fiqh Council of North America Announces EID UL-ADHA

According to astronomical calculations, the month of Zul Hijjah will begin on November 18 and thus the expected date of Eid ul Adha is Friday, November 27. The final decision will be posted after receiving the announcement of ‘Arafah date by the Hajj authorities in Saudi Arabia.

As always, they have the reports of moonsighting posted there as well. Although it doesn’t seem like any reports of sighting have come in.

From IslamicMoon.com:

CFCO prediction of D. Hijja Hilal

D. Hijja Hilal will be seen in most of the world on Nov. 18, making Thursday, Nov. 19, 2009 the first day of D. Hijja for most of the Muslims.

The New Moon (Nov. 16: 19:15 UT) will not be visible on Nov. 16 anywhere in the world. On Nov. 17, the best chances are in S. Africa (Durban), Brazil (Rio) Argentina (Buenos Aires), Chile (Punta Arenas), Panama (Santiago), etc. In the US and Canada the only place where it may be seen is Hawaii.

In northern hemisphere, the Moon’s altitude is too low for the Hilal to be seen (though the moon’s age is 20-30+ hours and its angle10-16+ degrees.

It seems that these two sites have slightly differing predictions for determining chances of sighting. However, Allah knows best. We’ll see what happens, and I’ll keep this page updated.

Update 1: Per MoonSighting.com’s Dhul Hijja page linked above:

OFFICIAL Day of Eid-al-Adha in Different Countries
Friday, 27 November 2009:

Bahrain (Following Saudi)
Egypt (Following Saudi)
Iraq (Following Saudi)
Jordan (Following Saudi)
Kenya (Following Saudi)
Kuwait (Following Saudi)
Lebanon (Following Saudi)
Palestine (Following Saudi)
Philippines (Following Saudi)
Qatar (Following Saudi)
Saudi Arabia (Official announcement)
South Africa (Actual sighting)
Sudan (Following Saudi)
Spain (Following Saudi)
Syria (Following Saudi)
Trinidad & Tobago (Following Saudi)
UAE (Following Saudi)
UK (Sighting of South Africa)
USA (ISNA – Following Saudi)
Yemen (Following Saudi)
Saturday, 28 November 2009:

There is no official first day listed for Saturday yet. For those in the US who are following ISNA/Saudi, Eidul Adha will be on Friday 11/27/2009. I am awaiting sighting reports from the US, etc., for local sightings here, I’ve only seen one negative sighting report come in so far, from Virginia. Haven’t heard anything from the Caribbean/Central America, except for Trinidad and Tobago who are following Saudi. I believe my local community will due Eid on Friday, as they usually follow Saudi it seems.

More updates coming soon Inshallah.

Update 2: The Hilal Committee of Greater Toronto at http://www.hilalcommitee.com has declared Eid to be on 11/27/2009 based on moon sightings in Trinidad and Guyana. Though I’ve not seen these reports posted anywhere else as of yet. I’m monitoring moonsighting.com as they seem to be the largest and most exhaustive repository of moon sighting reports.

Am also monitoring, as always, crescentwatch.org and hilalsighting.org, though per the astronomical forecast, the chances of seeing a hilal within the contiguous US tonight seen to be slim at best. I notice that moonsighting.com, in announcing the “official” first day in different countries, says that for the US, the “official” first day is based on ISNA/Saudi, not even mentioning sites such as crescentwatch.org, etc. I’d be interested to know how many communities/masajids go with a strictly US/Canada sighting, and who go for a “global” or “includes the Caribbean” sighting?

Because it seems like sightes such as hilalsighting.org and crescentwatch.org are in the minority, and I’m wondering if they’ve made any headway in convincing communities / leaders to adopt their position of going out to sight the moon every month and adopting a local sighting, even in Dhul Hijja. Given a discussion that I once became unfortunately very involved in (and I really shouldn’t have), and which became absolutely extremely heated, convincing communities to celebrate Eid on a different day than in Saudi Arabia is an uphill battle, to say the very least! I’ve even found that mentioning the Sunnah of moon sighting is so shrugged off, brushed off, treated as unimportant. And this bothers me, especially when we can figuratively ram other Sunnahs down peoples throats, but we can’t go out and do a confirmed Sunnah of sighting the moon? The reaction I’ve gotten is “well I’ll leave it up to the leaders”, etc. And I think this bothers me, because if you have vision you should use it, and if you are blessed to be able to behold the signs and wonders of Allah (Subhana wa ta’ala) then you should take advantage of that blessing and not squander it. I guess it would be one thing if people still went out to sight the moon, yet still followed a global sighting, I mean, there is a valid position for that, though I wonder how “one sighting for all of the Muslims” could practically be followed before the advent of instant communication, before phones, computers, radio, etc., to get the message out from halfway around the world that the moon had been seen. Though the justification for following Saudi’s announcement for Eidul Adha is to follow the Hajjis, though this doesn’t really make sense either, unless you’re in the same time zone as them, or maybe an hour or two behind or ahead, because when we have our Eid prayer here in the morning, it’s like 8 or 9 hours ahead there, it’d be in the late afternoon. But anyway, I’m digressing again. Sorry, I just can’t help it. The whole moon sighting issue has never made sense to me, except to follow a local sighting, why would you not do this? I mean, we do it for prayer, don’t we? Why not for the moon? Yes, I understand the various fiqh positions on this issue, I’m just saying, it just makes sense to me, for say, the masajid in the state of Florida, or within a certain time zone, etc., to all go out and sight the moon at the same time, and report the results. That way, you don’t have to wait until 11 or so at night! Let’s say everyone from the East Coast to where the Central time zone goes into affect sights together, or, well, perhaps it would be easier to put Eastern and Central together, and Mountain and Pacific, and that way, people won’t have to wait so late into the night. Although I know why it’s also easier to put all of America together. I’d just like to know if before the advent of modern technology, etc., if there’s precedent or if traditional Islamic fiqh supports the tying of the Eidul Adha holiday to the Hajj. If not, then how did this become such a phenomenon, to the point that you’re almost treated as strange, unorthodox or “hurting the unity of the Muslims” for celebrating the Eid based on local sighting? Before the advent of modern technology, was it common for people to sit and wait to see what other towns/cities/communities were going to do for their Eid based on “global sighting” or did they also go out and sight the moon themselves? I’m just asking, because this has never truly been resolved for me, and it just doesn’t make any sense, but maybe that’s me. But Really, I can honestly understand the desire to follow what Saudi is doing, because of the importance of the Hajj and all of that, but as I’m thinking about it, and this is why I edited this part of the post, I’m not sure that there’s anything going on on the tenth of Dhul Hijja except for the offering of the sacrifice I think, although people do like to be united on the day of Arafa, fasting on that day if not on Hajj, etc., and this is a glaring reason why I need to do more research on the Hajj and Eidul Adha, because this is one topic that I’m sorely unknowledgeable on. I do understand though, that people want to feel a since of unity, especially with Mecca and Medina. But anyway, I feel myself getting into soapbox territory again, and that’s really not the intention of this post.

Anyway, more updates coming soon, Inshallah.

Update 3: hilalsighting.org is now reporting that, per sighting within the USA and Canada, there was no confirmed, naked eye sighting of the crescent moon this evening, thus Dhul Qa’dah will go 30 days, Dhul Hijja will start Thursday November 19th, and Eid for those following this sighting will be 11/28/2009. I’m still wondering, what about Mexico? Why include Canada and not Mexico? Just wondering…

Update 4: ChicagoHilal.com is also going with the start of Dhul Hijja being 11/18/2009, making Eidul Adha 11/27/2009, based on “multiple authentic sightings”, quoting directly from their site. This will probably be my final update this evening, Inshallah.

Update 5: CrescentWatch.org has also stated that there were no confirmed naked eye sightings of the hilal in North America, thus letting Dhul Qa’dah run 30 days, and Dhul Hijja starting 11/19/2009, and Eidul Adha being on 11/28/2009. Moonsighting.com has a few more moon sighting reports, though none from the Caribbean except as noted above except for a nonsighting report from Barbados. There was one from Montreal, Canada which is following South Africa and Chile, and a nonsighting from Panama, but I’d like to see the positive sighting reports previously referred to from Guyana and Trinidad. And moonsighting.com has not put up any countries as having their Eid on 11/28/2009, but I’m thinking this is due to the sight just not beeing updated yet.

*Updated* Moon Bits for Shawwal / Eidul Fitr

Assalamu alaikum, so far from
MoonSighting.com’s Shawwal page:

Muhammad H Zulqarnain (MCW member) Riyadh, Saudi Arabia reported: Eid Announced
Eid announced in Saudi Arabia for Sunday 20 Sept. Hearty Eid Greetings to you all.

Some one from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia reported: Eid Announced
“By the Command of His Majesty the King after being consented by ALL the Rulers [9 sultans], I hereby proclaim the Eid ul-fitri to be tomorrow on Sunday 20th September, 2009.”

Hmmm, was IslamicMoon.com right after all? They mentioned that Saudi had already declared the start of Shawwal/Eidul Fitr to be on Sunday (and I’d still like verification of this, as I find this to be a very interesting development), 09/20/2009. However, at least the moon was/or could be sighted at least somewhere in the world, and we don’t have what we’ve had in years past where the moon just couldn’t be seen anywhere, yet Eid was declared. So Alhamdulillah, even if they are not using sighting anymore and are going on calculations, perhaps it is still a step in the right direction, in that the moon at least can be seen somewhere in the world, and maybe they’re following “global sighting”? Allahu Alim.

Anyway, am going to keep updating this page as the day/evening goes on, putting the updates at the bottom, so scroll down, Inshallah, as more info becomes available and I can post it. Right now, as it stands the only moon sighting reports that I’ve seen so far have come out of Australia, everything else has either been following Saudi, or have been negative reports. So Inshallah, try to check back often, as I’m not sure if my RSS feed will repost the same post if it’s updated or not. Eid Mubarak to those celebrating tomorrow. I’m sure my masjid will be doing so, but I await more positive sighting reports closer to home Inshallah.

*Update 1: As Yusuf has pointed out in the comments, there have been moon sightings in South Africa, and per MoonSighting.com, a sighting in Mauritius with binoculars only. BTW, can a moon be sighted during the daytime? (IslamicMoon per my reading seems to suggest that a crescent can’t be sighted during the day, but I’m not sure), and if so, would that sighting be taken to herald the start of the new month for the next day?

*Update 2: A useful site, for me anyway, or for anyone living in Florida and who could reasonably follow the Caribbean for any moon sightings, a useful site for determining the distance between two locations is www.timeanddate.com, click on “Distance Calculator” under the heading of “Other Planning Tools”. This is for those of you, like myself, who follow a sighting as long as it’s within around 4,000 miles or so (some sites I’ve seen have read 3 or 4,000 miles). And many locations in the Caribbean, per my location in Florida, are surprisingly close, even closer than many locations in the US, and many of them are east (well southeast actually) of Florida, so this would also be good for anyone following the “easterly sighting” rule.

*Update 3: According to MoonSighting.com’s Shawwal page (linked above), the moon was sighted in Guyana (which per www.timeanddate.com would be close enough for me to follow given the criteria that I’ve been taught is sufficient to follow regarding which moon sighting reports to follow), thus, Alhamdulillah, I will be celebrating Eid with my local masjid, and doing so without any doubt as to whether or not it’s the “wrong day”. And perhaps this is why I’ve had such a good Ramadan, because I was able to celebrate it with my community, I wasn’t the oddball, the odd one out, the only one different (even in my own house), and that really felt great! Alhamdulillah. So anyway, the Hilal Committee of Toronto and the Chicago Hilal Committee have both declared Eid to be tomorrow, although the Chicago Hilal Committee doesn’t give very many details as to how the sightings in the US have been authenticated. Crescentwatch.org has not as of yet declared anything except to say that they’ll have an announcement up at 8:30 PM PST. So that is what we know so far. Alhamdulillah and Eid Mubarak for those celebrating tomorrow and really Eid Mubarak to everyone!

*Update 4: Both CrescentWatch.org and HilalSighting.com have Ramadan going 30 days and Eid-ul-Fitr on Monday 09/21/2009. Although ChicagoHilal.com differs and has Eid-ul-Fitr as tomorrow 09/20/2009, and they stated that they were able to authenticate sightings in the Northeast of the US and the South. IslamicMoon.com has not updated since 09/16/2009.

So there you have it, it seems that most of the US is going with a 09/20/2009 Eid, Inshallah. I don’t think I’ll be updating anymore tonight. It will be interesting to see how the “moon sighting pontificators” react to the Chicago Hilal Committee declaring a Sunday Eid. Especially when a sighting in mainland North America was pretty much ruled out by the visibility charts, etc. Allahu Alim. And Eid Mubarak again. And now off to try to get to bed.

The Waning Days of Ramadan / Final Thoughts on Kids in the Masjid / More Thoughts on Moon Sighting or “When is Eid?”

Assalamu alaikum, firstly wanted to say that there is/was a discussion going on regarding this issue, and I just wanted to touch on a few things, as regards my own community.

Firstly, we just moved into our new masjid. So it’s to be expected, I think, that there are going to be a few kinks in the system until we all get settled in and comfortable. Secondly, aside from a few really minor annoyances that I’ve already alluded to in previous posts, all told, I’m sure it could have been a lot worse. And I really think that the sisters (and brothers too I think) are trying to make children and families welcome while at the same time dealing with children/people who are misbehaving. Thirdly, they’ve finally fixed the PA system in the masjid, so now, even if the little toddler keeps opening and closing the door connecting the men’s and the women’s sections (because to them it’s probably the coolest thing they’ve ever seen lol), we can still hear what is going on, and for me, this was the majority of the problem I was having. Now that I can actually hear what’s going on, kids running around or in front of me doesn’t really bother me that much, although they probably shouldn’t be doing that, but at least I can hear what’s going on. My point is that I probably made things seem a whole lot worse (and before this month I have experienced worse), but as of this Ramadan, Mashallah, it really hasn’t been that bad. In fact, I’ve probably had the best Ramadan (except for being sick lol) that I’ve had in a while! I’ve gone to the masjid more in the last month than probably in the last almost three years that I’ve been in Florida, and it’s done wonders for me! I’ve finally gotten to meet a lot of the sisters here and it’s wonderful! And getting up with your husband to go to the masjid for Qiyam prayers at 3:30 AM, well, it’s kind of been a bonding experience lol. We also were at the masjid all night Wednesday night into Thursday morning for what ostensibly was for Laylatul Qadr, although it may not have necessarily been on that night, Allahu Alim. And this was something I’d never done before, so I didn’t have the presence of mind to ask for Thursday off (though lol I sure was thinking about the Eid). And I thought I would have slept a little at the masjid but I didn’t. So I’d been up all night, had returned home after Fajr prayers, and had time to get only a couple hours’ sleep before starting work, which Alhamdulillah I was working from home, so that made things ever so much easier.

Anyway, I probably shouldn’t admit to this but I don’t have much experience praying Qiyam or Tahajjud prayers, I have just never had the self-discipline for it, however, having done it now, I can say for myself that there is a, I’m not sure how to explain it, but there is a spiritual awareness, or a heightened spiritual sensitivity or something, that I find that you have during the last few hours of the night, that is not the same as praying during the day. I’m not sure if having slept than gotten up to pray causes this, or what it is. But praying in the middle of the night, with nothing but the sound of the crickets and other night noises is, well, awe-inspiring. And this is something, getting up for tahajjud prayers, that I’d like to continue after Ramadan is over.

And now that I’ve discussed “kids in the masjid”, I’ll move on to another topic that us Muslims never seem to tire of and that is moon/hilal sighting (or is it fighting?). And I’m once again moving on to this because of the below quote I saw when visiting IslamicMoon.com. And I’m going to take it piece by piece, as if I were reading to it and reacting to it while reading.

<blockquote>

STOP, LOOK and LISTEN

Eid on Sunday?

Muslims Miss Last Day of Ramadan?
</blockquote>

Here we go on this again! “Muslims are doing it on the wrong day”, “Muslims are missing the last day of Ramadan”, which if you have read any of this site recently, they’ve all but told Muslims that if they fast on what this site has determined is the “wrong” day, then not only have they fasted on the “wrong” day, or celebrated Eid on the “wrong day” but they owe expiation of fasting 60 days, even telling readers to “ask your local imam to clarify this point for you”. Well, IMHO, there is a huge difference between deliberately not fasting, like “hey I’m not going to fast today ’cause I don’t want to”, and following one’s local masjid who has determined that Eid is on a particular day. And it’s one thing if the masjid is using a pre-determined calculation (which I’d not follow myself), or an actual sighting, even if it’s “global”. Telling people that they’re fasting on the wrong days, and telling them that if they celebrate the Eid with their local communities on what this site considers to be the wrong day that they owe a 60 day expiation fast, that is just soemthing I can’t agree to! And telling people to ask their imam about it? Asking an imam what to do if they deliberately miss a Ramadan fast, is not the same question as asking your imam if you miss a day of Ramadan fast (according to one website and one opinion), because your local masjid is celebrating Eid a day before this particular site says it should be? Methinks you’ll get two completely different answers to this question in most cases. And instead of telling people that they’re doing it on the “wrong day” and leaving all of the doubt and confusion that you’ve just caused for them to sort out by “going and asking their imam”, thereby probably leading to more doubt and confusion, especially if said imam says “it’s the Sunnah for the community to be united so you should follow the community”, or something to that affect, why not consult actual scholars on this issue? is this site actually run by scholars? Or is it the same as moonsighting.com, run by astronomers only who each have their own opinions/agenda?

<blockquote>

Shawwal moon will not be seen in USA and Canada on Sat. Sep. 19, 2009. But many Muslims might celebrate Eid on Sunday, the last day of Ramadan because ISNA has asked them to do so.
</blockquote>

The last day of Ramadan according to who? There are two (broadly) different opinions regarding actual moon sighting (and not calculations), that one sighting determines the start of the month for the whole Ummah, and/or that each locality/region should determine their own sighting.

Not only this, I think that moonsighting.com’s visibility calculations are a bit different because they have the southern US and Caribbean, I think, in the “very difficult to see” category. So I’m starting to think that all of these astronomers don’t really know for sure when the moon is going to be seen, they can forcast and pontificate all they want but at the end of the day, it may be that a moon will be seen on Saturday night, when they didn’t think it would be, and it may be that they think a moon is “certain” to be seen, and the moon watchers won’t see it.

<blockquote>

Eid by Shawwal Hilal

Only the Lunar visibility affirmed the Islamic dates and Islamic months for the last 1430 years.
The Quran (55:5) revealed to the Prophet (SAW) that the sun and the moon are always on a computed course. But he Prophet (SAW) did not adopt Jewish calendar. Instead, he asked Muslims to begin Ramadan and Shawwal when they see a Hilal, never before.

1. Quran: (2:182-189) obligates fasting of Ayyaam-an madudaat during Shahr-u Ramadaan.
2. Quran: (2:189) makes Ahilla the Mawaqeet (including for Ayyaam of Hajj).
3. The Messenger (SAW) fixed the Shahr by: Suumu waftiruu li-ruyatihi
4. All Fuqaha used the Ahilla to fix the first of Islamic dates and beginning of months.
5. The Messenger (SAW) confirmed the fact that a lunar month is 29 or 30 days long only.

The Jews in Medina began their month by calculated New Moon. But the Prophet looked for Ahilla at the sunset, and began the Islamic month after a Hilal in seen Medina. If a Hilal was not seen for any reason then 30 days of the current month were completed.

No Need to See Hilal?

ISNA Fiqh Council, on the authority of Dr. Zulfiqars arguments changed the Meeqaat of the Shahr from the Quranic Ahilla to astronomically calculated New Moon because its Hisaab is Qatai Is this enough to abandon the Quran, the Sunnah, consensus of the Fuqaha and Taamul of the Ummah? Does ISNA Fiqh Council know that Qatai astronomical month are 27 ½ to 29 ½ days long?

ISNA abandons the Quran and Sunnah of moonsighting. Should the Muslims also follow ISNA?

</blockquote>

Again, a lot of this “jargon” I don’t understand, but I find it convenient that this site would bring “the Jews” into it, as if by doing so, Muslims are going to say “oh my gosh, the evil Jews are doing it so we can’t do it either!”. It just seems to me that they are using “what the Jews did” to strengthen their argument against ISNA’s decision/criteria, and IMHO, this is completely unnecessary! Again, we all know that the Prophet (PBUH) sighted the moon and did not use a calculated calendar, the question then becomes how far away from a sighting do you have to be before you follow or don’t follow said sighting, and if there is any position within Islamic jurisprudence, that allowed for such a thing as predetermining the start/end of Islamic months?

I’d like to think that given the confusion and the myriad “moon sighting” opinions out there, not to mention what their local government/ruler might declare, regarding this issue, that no Muslim should be told that if they celebrate Eid on Sunday, or any day, that they owe an expiation for it, and that Inshallah, it won’t be on the individual Muslim to be held accountable, but the responsibility will be on those who made the decision.

There’s just too much confusion and variance of opinion regarding the issue for individual Muslims to be expected to be held accountable to the extent that you’re going to tell them that they owe an expiation if they start/end a fast on a particular day that not everyone, mind you, considers to be “wrong”.

Eid Khutbahs (Videos!) by Shaykh Hamza and Imam Zaid

Assalamu alaikum, from Haseeb.

Moonsighting for Shawwal 1429

Moonsighting for Shawwal 1429

Assalamu alaikum, interesting reports here.

Declaration : : ChicagoHilal.com

Assalamu alaikum, from ChicagoHilal.com

8:10pm:
The Chicago Hilal Committee received an authentic moon sighting report from Port Charlotte, Florida. Nearly 10 men witnessed the hilal, including several scholars and huffaz.

Dar al-Hadith: Moonsighting Conspiracy

Dar al-Hadith: Moonsighting Conspiracy

Eid cannot be Today!!!

Assalamu alaikum, from Hasseb. Now I don’t feel so bad but honestly, I think I’m just going to start following my community no matter what, because being accused of fitna/”having an agenda”, etc., is just too much.