This article must be
read in conjunction with the PowerPoint presentation 'All Muslims are obliged to start Ramadhan on the same day'
Yet again this year there has been confusion regarding the
sighting of the moon to determine the start of the holy month of Ramadhan. I
have personally experienced this in England, Florida and now in Edmonton in
Canada. It seems that there is no place on Earth where Muslims reside where
they have disputes on this issue. It is ironic that Ramadhan is supposed to be
a time where the Ummah of Muhammad (saw) worldwide shows their unity despite
their differences in race, colour, wealth and ethnic origin. Instead year after
year, the start of fasting as obliged by Allah (swt) exposes the embarrassing
and very ugly face of disunity, an actual physical disunity. If there is ever
an advertisement for the non-Muslims *not* to be attracted to the truth and
beauty of Islam, then this is it. Why is it that this all-too-clear problem is
experienced by millions of Muslims around the world, yet they do not address or
attempt to address the very real causes of it? Instead they carry on regardless
and just follow the leaders of the communities in their respective areas. I
will hope to explain in this article that this very real problem can in fact
very easily be resolved with a simple solution.
There seems to be a few opinions going round and saying that
they are all valid. These are the local, regional and global moonsighting.
A question was asked that how can we start and end fast on
the same day when the moon is sighted around the world on different days. It is
true that the moon is sighted by the naked eye on different days in different
countries. But does that mean that we fast on different days? You could ask
another question. Don't we pray our salah on different days? If I pray zuhr
here in Edmonton, then you are praying Maghrib in the UK at the same time. Does
that mean we're praying on different days? The UK is seven hours ahead of
Edmonton hence we are praying at different times. Although it is true that
Maghrib is the start of a new day in the Islamic calendar so the UK will go
ahead one day while the Muslims in Edmonton have to wait seven hours before
they can pray Maghrib. But the point at issue here is that our Calendar is the
same but it depends on the rising and setting of the Sun in your part of the
world. The dates of the Islamic calendar are the same for us all over the world
so we are unified on this. The only thing is that some countries are ahead or
behind other countries by a certain number of hours due to the position of the
Sun in their part of the world. Therefore we are praying at the same day,
indeed we perform Salaat-ul Jummah on the same day.
The issue of the start and end of Ramadhan is the same as
the issue of the start and end of all the months in the Islamic calendar so we
follow the lunar calendar and not the solar calendar. Since there is only one
Moon (how can you get more simple than this?), and since it does not overtake
the Sun nor gets overtaken by the Sun, it rises and falls just like the Sun in
a consistent and orderly manner. When the Sun sets, the moon rises, and when
the moon sets, the Sun rises. These are very clear signs for people on Earth to
comprehend the marvel of Allah (swt)'s creation. These are also a way for us to
measure our days and nights and organise our lives according to them. When
Allah (swt) orders the Muslims to start and end fasting based upon the sighting
of the Moon, it means *all* of us have to do this at the same time. So by
answering the question on the previous paragraph, it is the one and the *same*
Moon that we see in different parts of the world, just like we see the one and
same Sun. So whoever sees the Moon, then the month of Ramadhan has started for
*all* the Muslims in all over the Earth. This is because we follow the one and
the same calendar with the same dates. If a country decides to start Ramadhan
one, two or even three days later, then in effect, this country has rejected
the Islamic calendar!
To give an example of how the start of a month is worked
out, this is best explained below for the explanation of moonsighting due to
the Earth's rotation.
Once a single Muslim has sighted the Moon in any country of
the world, then this person announces it to the rest of the world which we can
do these days with technological help. In Islam the day starts at Maghrib time,
so if the Moon was spotted in North or South America on Thursday after Maghrib
at 10pm and the rest of the world hasn't seen it. Then Europe would be able to
start fasting as it will be Fajr time. The Earth spins in an anti-clockwise
direction, so then it will obviously be the turn of Iceland, then Greenland and
then North and South America who can then follow suit when Fajr comes (as they
will be sleeping during the night before Fajr). The rest of the world such as
the Middle East, Asia and Far East would have to stop eating and start fasting
(even in the middle of the day) just like the Prophet (saw) did. If the news of
the moonsighting reached them too late for them to start fasting (ie. its
Maghrib time already), then they have missed the fasting on the prescribed day
and therefore would have to make it up (Qada') after Eid. See the diagram below
(ignore the International Date Line and the coloured lines of Monday and
Tuesday):
On the other hand, if the moon was sighted in the Middle
East after Maghrib at 10pm and the rest of the world hasn't seen it. Then the
Far East will have to start fasting as it will be Fajr time there. Then it will
be the turn of Russia, Asia, Middle East and Europe as they will be sleeping
during the night or at least it will be beyond Maghrib time and so cannot start
fasting immediately yet. North and South America will have to wait until Fajr
time of the next day to start fasting. This is because they will be a day
behind the rest of the world as they will have not reached Maghrib yet.
There is no such thing as a local or regional moonsighting.
There is only a single or a multiple moonsighting which is then binding for all
the Muslims all around the globe. This concept of a local and regional
moonsighting implies accepting the concept of Nationalism, and that the
physical borders separating the Muslims from each other are valid in Islam.
The Messenger (saw) said:
"He is not one of us who calls for nationalism or who fights for
nationalism or who dies for nationalism."
As a result these opinions of a local or regional
moonsighting are invalid and must be rejected by the Muslims outright as they
contradict Islam. Islam mandates that we Muslims the world over must be united
by one Imam under one State.
“And hold fast, all of you together, to the Rope of Allah and be not
divided among yourselves; and remember with gratitude Allah's favor on you when
you were enemies. He brought your hearts together, so that through His blessing
you became brothers; and (how when) you were on a brink of a pit of fire, He
saved you from it. Thus does Allah make clear to you His verses that you may be
guided.” [TMQ al-'Imraan 3:103]
“And those who disbelieve are allies to one another, (and) if you
(Muslims of the whole world collectively) do not do so (i.e. become allies as
one united block with one Khalifa - single Muslim ruler for the whole Muslim
world to make victorious Allah’s deen), there will be Fitnah (wars, battles,
polytheism, etc.) and oppression on earth, and a great mischief and
corruption.”
[TMQ al-anfaal 8:73]
“Verily! This Ummah of yours is one Ummah and I am your Lord so worship
Me.”
[TMQ al-anbiyaa' 21:92]
[TMQ al-anbiyaa' 21:92]
It is the Imam (or Khaleefah) of the Muslims who has the
power (with plenty of experts, advisors and scholars at his disposal) to
determine correctly if the Moon has been sighted in any part of the globe. Then
it is he alone who by the permission of Allah (swt) will make the final
decision as to when the month of Ramadhan has started and ended. Then the
Muslims all around the globe whether they're living in the Khilafah or not must
hear and obey him. This is one of the beauties of Islam and a powerful
invitation (Daw'ah) to other non-Muslim nations to embrace the deen.
It is important to note that differences amongst the Muslims
cannot occur when the texts (Qur'an and Sunnah) are definite and clear and also
they are definite in their meanings. The many mentioned Ayats and Ahadiths
regarding the moonsightings are definite and clear in text and meaning,
therefore Ijtihad is not permitted and differences cannot occur. In areas where
differences may occur (when the texts are indefinite or the meaning is
indefinite), they may or may not be permitted to exist. The differences in
personal worship may exist but differences in buying and selling or the issues
relating to divorce are not permitted to exist. For example, the difference
between Abu Bakr (ra) and Umar (ra) regarding divorce while Abu Bakr was the
Khalifah was settled when Abu Bakr adopted his opinion and made it binding.
Then Umar (ra) and the people had to follow Abu Bakr's (ra) opinion and ignore
his own opinion. Once Umar (ra) became the next Khalifah then he adopted his
own opinion and the people follow it.
On the other hand, on definite matters such as the issue
regarding the moonsighting, this is where the Khalifah uses his authority and
declare just one moonsighting for the whole Ummah. Abu Bakr (ra) fought a false
prophet who claimed that Muhammad (saw) was not the final prophet and removed
this division. He (ra) also fought the Muslims who apostatized because they
refused to pay the Zakat. These are clear definite matters of the text and
meaning which required decisive action.
The Khalifah has the right to adopt an opinion which he
believes to be correct in order to create unity and harmony amongst the
Muslims. There are two Shariah principles which state the whit of the Khalifah:
·
'The
Imam's decree settles the disputes'
·
'The
Imam's decree is obeyed openly and privately'
The Khalifah is the mechanism by which to resolve all our
disputes correctly and in an Islamic manner, and only he has this sole right to
enforce his opinion for the Muslims to follow and resolve disputes.
What we are seeing today are the symptoms of the main
problem which is the absence of the Islamic Khilafah State with the Khalifah as
the Head of State who is the sole leader of the Muslim Ummah. In the Hall of
Bani Sa'ida when the Ansar were busy discussing about appointing the first
Khalifah of Islam, Abu Bakr (ra) rejected a suggestion from the Ansar when they
suggested succeeding the Prophet (saw) with two leaders, one from the Ansar and
one from the Muhajireen. Abu Bakr (ra) replied: “It is forbidden for Muslims to have two Amirs for this would cause
differences in their affairs and concepts, their unity would be divided and
disputes would break out amongst them. The Sunnah would then be abandoned, the
bida'ah (innovations) would spread and fitnah would grow, and that is in no
one's interests.” He (ra) knew that problems would arise without that one
leader to lead the people. In fact, this description by Abu Bakr (ra) exactly
matches the description of the reality of the Muslim Ummah today! Isn't this
worth thinking and contemplating deeply about? And then actually doing
something about it?
There is no point in Muslims saying that we are one Ummah
when the meaning of this phrase does not go beyond their lips. Being one Ummah
literally means just that. One Ummah united physically, geographically,
politically and spiritually under one State and being ruled over by just one
Imam. This State is called al-Khilafah (Caliphate) and it is a Fard Ayn, an
individual obligation to work to re-establish it. Then by appointing the
Khalifah can the Ummah be unified and he can then resolve our never-ending
disputes, and finally we can then become the leading nation in the world once
again.
OD
Addendum
It is interesting to note that as mentioned previously,
Earth has only one moon. The argument of some Muslims who reject the sighting
of other Muslims around the globe just because they haven’t seen it in their own
areas makes no sense. Are they’re waiting to see a different moon? If Earth has
more than one moon then there may be a case here as there will be multiple
sightings of different moons in different days. But those Muslims when they
eventually see the moon on a different day, are actually seeing the very same
moon! Its just that other Muslims living elsewhere happen to see it first.
Perhaps they want to go and live in Jupiter? Jupiter has 62
moons the most famous of those being Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto. Or
maybe Saturn which has 33 moons the most famous being Titan. There are plenty
of opportunities to decide which days to start fasting on those planets. But
back on Earth there is only one moon, hence only one calendar and only one
Ramadhan.
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