Lunar Calendar - Are we ungrateful to Allah?

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Are we Muslims ungrateful to Allah by rejecting the Lunar calendar provided by Him and promoting the Gregorian calendar in the world?

Allah created this tremendous Universe that we live in and we are invited to reflect upon it, to understand it so that we may be able to practice our religion with conviction based on reason to the best of our abilities. If there is any religion that invites man to the study and understanding of the heavens, it is Islam. No other religion uses or relies on the heavens and the motion of the moon and sun for timekeeping and calendars as Islam does. Turning to Quran we find the following verses;

"He has designed the sun as shining glow and the moon which reflects light and appointed stages for the moon so that you may reckon time and mark the number of years. Allah has not created this otherwise than in accordance with truth (to fulfill a definite purpose according to His plans).”(10:5)

"And He who made the night for rest and sun and moon for reckoning of time. This is the decree of the Exalted, the All-knowing." (6:96)

“They ask you about the phases of the moon; tell them they are dates for the people and the Hajj.” (2:189)
All the above verses point to the fact that the only a Calendar that is acceptable for Allah is a Lunar based Calendar. Sadly enough, we have abandoned the calendar given by Allah and have chosen the Christian calendar and use it for the day-to-day affairs just as others do. It is said that the Islamic months will begin only when we see the Hilal with our eyes! Even a child can know, the dates must be definite and must be calculable past and future, otherwise the dates will not be of any use in the affairs of this world be it religious or civic.

When the Qur’aan was revealed Man’s knowledge about the things around him was very poor. However, the prophet knew a Lunar month could be 29 days or 30 days.

In a hadith that was reported by Bukhari and Muslim on the authority of Abdullah bin Omar, the Prophet, Allah’s mercy and peace be with him, said:

We are illiterate community that does not write or calculate; month is this much and this much, indicating with his fingers 29 days once and 30 days once.

It is very clear from the above that the absence of the scientific knowledge for calculating the beginning of the month was the reason for the Prophet’s directive for sighting the moon to confirm that the month has indeed started. The Prophet wanted that Muslims should make sure that the month has begun before they start their Ibadah of fasting so that they be united in their observance of this act of worship together. In fact, the Hadith quoted above, points clearly to the fact that at a future point in time, when astrophysics is mastered, the reckoning of the month has to be by computation. Here please note that, the actual sighting is not the objective but a means to establish the objective. The objective of the Shari’ah is that Muslims begin and end the month of Ramadan with assurance and be united in the observance of these blessed times. This is the reason why prophet asked Muslim to sight the moon on 29th. He did not ask Muslim to site the moon on 30th because the level of certainly has been already reached.

Today, the issue of moon sighting has caused problems of discord among Muslims and is a bone of contention all over the Muslim world. It has generated a lot of controversies and divisions in the Ummah today. Different countries are claiming sighting on different dates and starting the month of Ramadan and celebrating Eid on different days. Even within a given country Eid is celebrated on different days and fasting starts on different dates. The trouble is so great that even the family members are divided on the issue and Muslims are utterly confused.


Is Moon Sighting an Ibadath?

The important question that arises in this context is; whether the moon sighting an Ibaadat. This question is a key for understanding the debate over replacing the practice of moon sighting with that of astronomical calculation.

Islam requires that we base certain religious duties, including fasting Ramadan and performing Hajj, on the lunar calendar, but does not regard the act of deciding the beginning of the Islamic month a religious act per se. What is pertinent to religion is that Muslims are able to fix the dates with certainty and be united in the observation of Ramadan, Hajj and Eid. Observing Ramadan and performing Hajj is ibadah, but observing the birth of the new crescent to determine the beginning of the lunar month is not. The latter relate to the human capacity for determining the beginning of the lunar month. Therefore, it is important to note that while the act of fasting is an ibadah, the act of determining the beginning of the lunar month is an act of knowledge of the natural order. The Prophet himself asked Muslims to rely on their own practical knowledge in matters that relate to the natural order.

Ahmed reported in his Musnad on the authority of Anas bin Malik that the Prophet, Allah’s mercy and peace be with him, heard noise and asked about the source, and was told that it [resulted from the process of] the pollination of palm trees. He said: “if they left [the palms] alone without pollination they would be fine, and so they did. The next year the palms produced infertile dates. When the Prophet, Allah’s mercy and peace be with him, inquired about the reason, they told him that they did not pollinate as he suggested. He then said: If the question relates to your worldly matters (dunyakum), you would know better about it, but if it relates to your religion (dinakum), then to me it belongs. (Musnad Ahmad, hadith no. 12086; and Sunan Ibn Maja, hadith no. 2462)

It is clear from the above hadith that we should use the latest up-to-date knowledge and expert opinion related to worldly matters.

The Quranic requires Muslims to observe fasting during the month of Ramadan.

“So whoever witnesses <shahida the month, let him fast” (2:185)

Some scholars argue that the term shahida, translated here as “witness,” means to “see it with one’s eyes.” However, on examining the Qur’anic usage of the term, for example, the Qur’an uses the term “shahida” to refer to an act of witnessing in which the witness provides a testimony based on rational argument, rather than actual eye-witnessing: Here is the verse;

He said: "It was she that sought to seduce me, from my (true) self." And one of her household bore witness, (thus) "If it be that his shirt is torn from the front, then is her tale true, and he is a liar! But if it be that his shirt is torn from the back, then is she the liar, and he is telling the truth! (12:26-7)

Here the term “Shahida” is used for the testimony that was a rational argument based on knowledge of the habitual behavior and the physical limitations of human beings. The witness testified that if Yusuf’s shirt was torn from the back, this would then be good evidence that the king’s wife was lying as she would have made an attempt to grab him from the back as he ran away from her. But if his shirt was torn from the front, this would be evidence that she was trying to defend herself against his unwanted advances, and he would be the person who lied.

The reason for the instruction of the prophet for actual sighting of the moon to observe fasting and celebrating Eid was to confirm that the month has already started. The prophet used this method because it was the better and more reliable method during his time. Here the division is between scholars who place emphasis on the apparent meaning of the text (Zahir) and those who emphasize its intended meaning and purpose (maqsid). The tendency to split over interpretations has always been part of the Muslim experience. It can be traced to the split between the companions over the interpretation of the Prophet’s command to pray the asr prayer at Banu Qurayza:

Bukhari reported on the authority of [Abdullah] Ibn Omar, may Allah be please with both, who said that the Prophet, Allah’s mercy and peace be with him, said on the day of the [battle of] Alliances: “No one should pray asr except in the [territories] of Banu Qurayzah.” Some were still on the road at the asr time and said: “we will not pray asr until we reach it [Banu Qurayzah]. Others said: “we will indeed pray; this is not what was intended.” The Prophet, Allah’s mercy and peace be with him, was informed about [the disagreement], and he did not rebuke any of them.

Evidently, some of the Prophet’s companions understood his statement literally and continued their journey until they reached the territory of Banu Qurayza, while others stopped on the way to pray asr on time. It was also reported that the Prophet approved the actions of both, signaling that differences in opinion are abound to arise, and that the ijtihad of one group does not invalidate that of another.

For centuries, moon sighting was a better and more reliable method for deciding the beginning of the Islamic lunar month, similar like Muslims observed the movement of the sun by their naked eyes every day for their five daily prayers, for instance, in order to determine the time for the Asr Salaah prayer, the Prophet used a stick and placed it vertically on the ground. If the length of the shadow of the stick equalled [or exceeded] the length of the stick, it was time for the Asr Salaah prayer. Nowadays we do not use a stick but we use schedules computed by Muslim astronomers to know the time for the Asr Salaah prayer. The fact that scholars have approved new methods for determining times for different Salaah prayers and the time for the end of fasting shows that methods different than those used by the Prophet could be used as long as these new methods satisfy the principles which are behind the methods stated in the Noble Qur'aan and those actually used by the Prophet

Our knowledge of mathematics, astronomy and computer science and engineering today has now reached a state that enables us to compute the position of the moon, the time for the new moon during any month, and the time for moonrise, moonset, sunrise and sunset on any day of the year--present or any time in the future- at any place on the earth with an accuracy better than ever. When Allaah blesses us with favors of new knowledge of science and technology, and techniques and methods to facilitate our lives, we have an obligation to choose the easiest and practical one. One wonders how the same mind that agrees with the fact that the Sun's movements can be calculated for many years in advance can deny the fact that the moon's movements can also be calculated for many years in advance. The Quran is very clear on the point that the precision and accuracy of the sun’s movement is the same as that of the moon. It says;

“The sun and the moon follow courses (exactly) computed .”(55:5); also (13:2), (31:29), (35:13), and (39:5)
“It can never happen that the sun, by speeding up, can overtake the moon; or that the night lingers on beyond the point where the day had to start (meaning that the sun rises little after the appointed time). No, this never happens. Each and every one of them keeps moving through space, in its own orbit, according to the speed and course set for it” (36:39-40)

It is blasphamy to say that lunar calander prescribed by Allah can not be practiced in the world. The so called Muslim leaders are forcing the Muslim masses to follow Taguth and their systems. The most serious challenge in this regard is the historically established consensus (ijma’) among early Muslim scholars, who by and large, rejected calculation and agreed on moon sighting as the only acceptable way for determining the beginning of the new lunar month. The consensus reached by early Muslim jurists on rejecting astronomical methods resulted from the lack of any clear line of demarcation between astronomy and astrology. Most early Muslim scholars equated astronomy with magic and fortunetelling. A quick review of the understanding of leading Muslim jurists reveals this serious confusion.

Al-Sarakhsi, a leading Hanafi jurist, argued against calculation on the basis that it was done by an astrologists and fortunetellers:

Among them those who say: we should consult with the people of calculation (hisab) when we are uncertain [about the birth of the new crescent]. This is a far cry because the Prophet, Allah’s mercy and peace be with him, said: “whoever consults with a magician or fortuneteller and believed them in what they said, he has rejected what was revealed to Muhammad.” (Al-Sarakhsi, Al-Mabsut, vol 3, p. 78)

Ibn Qudamah cites the same reason for rejecting calculation, as he evidently confuses calculation with fortunetelling:

If the determination [of birth of the crescent] was based on the sayings of the fortunetellers and those who know calculation, and if their sayings were correct, his fasting was still invalid, even if they were correct frequently, because this is not based on an evidence acceptable by shari’ah to rely on or to follow: its presence and absence are the same. (Ibn Qudamah, Al-Mugni, vol. 3, p. 9.)

Ibn Taymiyyah, who is often cited by contemporary authors opposed to calculation, indicated clearly that his objection for the use of astronomical calculation stemmed partially from the fact that the calculation lacks the accuracy and reliability needed to decide with certainty the birth of the new lunar month. He gives us a deep insight into the state of astronomy of his time in his voluminous work, Al-fatawa al-kubra:

“The person who relies on calculation (hisab) for the birth of the crescent (Hilal), in addition to being in error in matters of shari’ah and innovator in religion, is mistaken in matters of reason and calculation. For the scholars of physics know that sighting the moon cannot follow mathematical formula. The best they can do in way of calculation is, for instance, to estimate the distance between the crescent and the sun at the time of sunset. Sighting the moon cannot, however, be determined with precise angulations, because it varies with the sight sharpness, the altitude of the observatory, and weather conditions. Some people can see it at 8 degrees, while others at 12 degrees. For this reason, the people of calculations are in dispute over the arc of observation a great deal. The leading among them, such as Ptolemy, never addressed the question because it is not subject to any mathematical rendering. The latter [astronomers], such as Koshiaz al-Daylami mentioned it as they realized that shari’ah has based the ruling on moon sighting, so they thought that calculation can guide sighting. But this is not a sound and measured method, as it has many flaws. The [method] has been tried, leading to many disagreements: can it be seen or cannot? The reason for that is that they have tried to predict through calculation that which cannot be known by calculation, and hence they mistaken the true way. (Ibn Taymiyyah, Al-fatawi al-kubra, vol. 2, pp. 464-65.)

It is not difficult to understand why Ibn Taymiyyah, or any other scholar for that matter, would count out imprecise and inaccurate method for deciding on the birth of the new Moon. It is disturbing, though, to see contemporary jurists espouse the same position when modern astronomy is now capable of providing a high degree of precision. Despite the lack of confidence in the precision and accuracy of astronomical calculations, there were considerable opinions among early jurists that favored and allowed calculation as a viable alternative during adversarial weather conditions, advanced by such leading scholars as Al- Shafi’i, Ibn Sarij al-Shafi’i, Ibn Qutaybah, Mutarif bin Abdullah al-Shakhir, as reported by Ibn Zar’ah and al-Nawawi. These opinions, which received significant following during the first five centuries of Islam, were subsequently discounted by the latter-day scholars, who formulated a new consensus that completely rejected calculation and insisted on moon sighting. (Abu Zar’ah, ibid.)

Abu Zar’ah identified another reason as to why astronomical calculation was not endorsed by early jurists. Quoting al-Mazari, he writes:

Al-Mazari, referring to the opinion accepted by the majority of scholars (jumhur), said: calculation cannot rely on what the astrologists produce, because if this was required from people it would have placed great burden on them; this is because [calculation] is known to few people, and the shari’ah requires what is known to the majority.

It should have become evident by now that the consensus that was reached towards the sixth century of Islam was greatly influenced by the state of the science of astronomy, as well as the lack of direct access by the scattered Muslim villages and towns to reliable astronomers. Early Muslim scholars had good reasons to reject the method of astronomical calculations but it is no longer available for the present Muslim scholars. Those who insist that Muslims abandon astronomical calculation and rely on individual testimonies are in actuality asking Muslims to abandon the certainty of reliable knowledge, for the inconsistency of unverifiable individual reports.

The article is an inspiration from many Islamic websites that promote Lunar calendar and application of calculation method for deciding Ramadan and Eid festivals and thus to promote unity among Muslims.