Is Eid Tuesday or Wednesday? - India Real Time - WSJ
http://blogs.wsj.com/indiarealtime/2011/08/29/is-eid-tuesday-or-wednesday/
By Tom Wright
The confusion about Eid-ul-Fitr, the day Muslims break their month-long Ramadan fast, is on again.
Diptendu Dutta/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images Muslims offered prayers, ahead of Eid during the month of Ramadan outside a mosque in West Bengal on Friday.Some Muslims in North America, Europe and the Middle East say the holy day falls Tuesday. Others, including those in India, Pakistan and Southeast Asia, are likely to hold out until Wednesday.
The reason is an argument over how to determine the arrival of a new moon cycle which marks the end of the Islamic month of Ramadan and the arrival of the following month of Shawwal.
Islamic tradition states that a new lunar month begins with the physical sighting of a sliver of the new moon at sunset. (Islamic months begin at sundown.)
In the past, Muslims in different parts of the world would have seen this waxing crescent moon on different days due to geographical position, cloud cover and other meteorological factors. Without global connectivity, this hardly would have mattered.
But today, different Islamic authorities are keen that their interpretation of when Eid-ul-Fitr falls is taken up across the world so the faith’s 1.2 billion people can celebrate together.
Many countries take the lead from Saudi Arabia, which is home to Islam’s holiest mosque and the closest equivalent the Muslim world has to the Vatican. The Saudi Supreme Court, which typically makes a call on this based on the sightings of official astronomical committees, has not yet come down for Tuesday or Wednesday.
Tonight, those committees will be out at sunset, scanning the sky with the naked eye and telescopes. (Some traditionalists, though, eschew even telescopes.)
Generally, India and Pakistan celebrate a day later than Saudi Arabia, although Indians in Kerala, partly because of their cultural ties to Saudi Arabia, have often followed Riyadh.
The emergence of a school of thought that believes science, not physical sightings of the moon, should play a role has further complicated things.
The Fiqh Council of North America, a grouping of scholars, says that Islam should use precise astronomical data to mark the start of the lunar month.
Science can predict accurately when a new moon rises. A lunar month literally begins at the moment of “conjunction,” an astronomical term used to describe when the earth, moon and sun lie in the same plane. This year, conjunction marking the end of Ramadan occurred earlier today.
The Fiqh Council argues this means Eid-ul-Fitr falls tomorrow.
Another argument used by these “modernists” is that a physical sighting of the new moon anywhere in the world should be taken by all Muslims as a start of the lunar month. If you look at this map by the Islamic Crescents’ Observation Project, a Jordanian-backed attempt to share global moon sighting data, you’ll see the new moon should easily be spotted tonight in Patagonia and some other parts of South America but not in most parts of North America, Europe and Asia. The Fiqh Council says it also might be visible tonight in Hawaii using a telescope.
Saudi authorities are clearly uncomfortable with the idea that an astronomical calculation of a new moon or a sighting in Patagonia, part of Catholic-majority Argentina, could mark the start of Eid-ul-Fitr.
In other areas of Muslim life, standardization is now taken for granted. Most Muslims no longer rely on sightings of the sun to determine when to perform their five daily prayers but consult prayer times published by local Islamic authorities. (Even here there’s disagreements.)
But there’s a feeling that prayer times must differ, while Eid-ul-Fitr, a key Muslim holiday, should be celebrated by all on one day.
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In Indonesia, we celebrate in those two days.. it doesnt matter coz we respect others opinion.. the important thing is we can celebrate it in the peaceful.. Eid mubarak..
The logic that everyone should follow Saudi Arabia is deeply flawed…
They say we should follow Saudi because that is the centre of Islam so when they announce eid, everyone should follow.
So in that case, why don’t we follow Saudi and do our prayers at the same time as Saudi too? So when it’s time for Fajr in Saudi, it should be Fajr everywhere else in the world because Saudi is the centre of Islam.
See? So if it doesn’t make sense for prayers, then it doesn’t make sense for Eid either – because Eid is based on SEEING the moon, in the same way as prayers are based on SEEING the sun move across the sky.
Saying that we should follow Saudi so that the Muslims are connected is not an argument – after all fasting is a religious obligation, and if you’re celebrating Eid a day early… then you’re missing the blessings of both a fasting day, AND you’re missing the blessings of the actual day of Eid. Plus you have to fast an additional day afterwards to make up for the day you missed!
My opinion is that by the end of the month, *certain people* are just tired and ultimately they’re looking for any excuse to end the month long fast even a day earlier.
I’d like to know who Saudi is claiming saw the moon, because according to all astronomical data on Monday 29th Aug, the only place the moon would have been visible with the naked eye (as Quran and Hadith tell advise) was South America – so it would have been Eid there – but definitely NOT in Saudi!
Astronomical data says that it was impossible to see the moon from Saudi last night – so on what basis they have declared Eid is a total mystery to me.
Anyway, Eid mobarak to All
Celebrating on one day for all is the centralist mindset that in democratic countries should be discouraged and challenged. In the early times of Islam, Eid fell on different days and this makes it clear that Islam doesn’t oblige all to celebrate on the same day. Modrn day clerics however want to impose thier authoirty on all, which of course is not acceptable. That’s why Mulims today feel free to celebrate eid locally.
it does not matter.. can celebrate multiple days in different locations
I object to the statement that Saudi Arabia is the closest the Muslim world has to the Vatican. Al Azhar in Egypt is the closest- it’s the most highly respected institute in all of Sunni Islam.