Eid is an occasion on which Muslims like to be together. This is an opportunity Allah has provided to His faithful servants twice a year - at the end of Ramadhan, and on Dhul Hijjah 10th, in commemoration of the sacrifice of Prophet Ibrahim, upon whom be peace. Allah has made the observance of these occasions conditional upon sighting the new moon (2:189). Unfortunately, there are some in the Ummah today, especially the Saudi regime and its court ulama, who manipulate these dates for their own reasons, which they evidently regard as more important than Allah's commands.

This year, as in almost every other year, the Saudis have unilaterally announced the beginning of Dhul Hijjah (and thus the day Hajj) without any sighting of the new moon, For the record, the Dhul Hijjah moon was born at around 6am GMT (1am in Toronto) on March 6. This would be about 9:30 am in Saudi Arabia. At sunset in Saudi Arabia that evening, therefore, the age of the moon was approximately 8 hours and 30 minutes, meaning that it was impossible to sight. Even in North America, where its age at sunset ranged from 17 hours in Toronto, to 20 hours in Los Angeles, it was not visible because of its very low angle and because the moonset was too close to the sunset.

True to their past practice, however, the Saudi regime announced the start of Dhul Hijjah from Tuesday, March 7, although no crescent could possibly have been sighted the previous evening. Instead, their announcement was based on the claim that 30 days of Dhul Qa'dah had been completed, even though this flew in the face of their own calendar. According to the Saudi media, based on the announcement of Dhul Qa'dah moon, Monday, March 6 was Dhul Qa'dah 29. This is what all their media said: TV Channel One, Channel Two, Saudi radio, all their newspapers, as well as the Umm al-Qurrah calendar. There was nothing until then in Saudi Arabia to indicate that Monday March 6 was Dhul Qa'dah 30. So why have they sprung Dhul Hijjah on the Muslims yet again?

The Saudi regime also manipulated the start and end of last Ramadhan, as they had done many previous ones. While the overwhelming majority of Muslims worldwide celebrated Eid al-Fitr on Saturday, January 8, the Saudis had announced the sighting of a non-existent moon on Thursday January 6 to 'celebrate' Eid al-Fitr on Friday, January 7. One Saudi newspaper, Arab News at least had the decency to admit later (February 11) that the January 7 celebration was based on false information. The regime, however, kept mum. The Arab News story followed the discovery that there was a partial eclipse of the sun on February 5 which lasted until after sunset, thus making any sighting of the moon impossible even had the moon been there to be sighted. According to this analysis, the month of Shawwal, according to the Saudi calculation, ended up having 31 days, an impossibility from the Islamic point of view (lunar months can only be of 29 or 30 days).

This regular confusion is despite changes made to the Saudis' calendar arrangements following criticism from around the world of their arbitrary practices. The Saudi regime has now set up Hilal (crescent) sighting committees in six cities: Makkah, Riyadh, Qassim, Hail, Tabuk and Asir. The committees comprise religious scholars, quddah (pl. of qadi), astronomers, scientists and other qualified people, as well as volunteers. Yet the regime does not follow the information provided by these committees, instead apparently relying on sighting claims by laymen without applying any standard for verifying the information. Neither the Shawwal (Eid al-Fitr) moon nor the Dhul Hijjah moon was sighted by the experts in the committees on the dates on which they announced their sightings. These committees have been appointed but they are virtually powerless.

It is now also known that there is a group of about six or eight people from Tabuk, Hareeq and Huta who regularly misreport the sighting of the crescent in Saudi Arabia. Time and time again they announce the sighting when all the evidence confirms that the moon is simply not there to be seen. These people evidently violate all Islamic injunctions about moonsighting, yet their testimony is accepted without question over and above the opinions of qualified astronomers and the committees set up by the government itself to sight the moon.

Sheikh ibn Othaimeen, a Saudi alim, has clearly indicated that Muslims in other parts of the world should follow local sighting of the crescent rather than calling Saudi Arabia to verify them. This ruling is clearly supported by the Ikhtilaf al-Matala principle. Thus people who advance the Saudi sighting argument have been told by the Saudi ulama themselves that their sightings should not be followed. The Saudis themselves do not follow sightings of others. For example, Saudi Arabia did not follow Yemen when the latter started Ramadhan one day earlier and ended a day sooner.

Does it really matter when Muslims start and end their months? The issue is extremely important. First of all, Allah commands Muslims in the noble Qur'an to follow the sighting criterion to determine the date of Hajj and other Islamic festivals and seasons (2:189). Secondly, it is imperative to perform religious functions at the proper time and date. If Maghrib salah, which Muslims offer every day, is not accepted even a few minutes before sunset, how can the day of Hajj be decided arbitrarily? Is it not clearly understood from a hadith that the Day of Hajj is the Day of Arafat? Whosoever is not in Arafat on Dhul Hijjah 9 has not completed Hajj. The Saudis force the hujjaj to go to Arafat on Dhul Hijjah 8. How can Muslims expect to get reward for this most intense spiritual activity and physically demanding ibadat when they are there on the wrong day?

Those whom Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala holds responsible these for monumental 'errors' will surely pay a high price.

Muslimedia: March 16-31, 2000

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