السَّلاَمُ عَلَيْكُمْ وَرَحْمَةُ اللهِ وَبَرَكَاتُهُ
It’s Sunday 27th February 2022 / 26 Rajab 1443H.
Let’s talk about ‘Moon Sighting for Sha’bān’ today.
Ever since the arrival of the Muslims in the UK, the common belief has been that it is very difficult, if not impossible, to sight the new moon every month here in the UK. Hence, we started to follow the nearest Muslim country, which has a proper Moon Sighting system in place.
This was in the 1960s, and the country was Morocco. Due to the time zone and sunset times being very similar to the UK, there was some inconvenience in receiving news from Morocco. Therefore, in the 1980s, many Muslims started to follow Saudi Arabia.
Today in 2022, these are the 2 countries which are being followed by the majority of UK Muslims. However, the Sunnah method still remains, which is trying to sight the moon locally here in the UK every month. Is this possible? Has it been trialled? What are the results?
Since the last few years, I have been researching a lot on this topic. Living in the heart of the Muslim Community in Blackburn, my heart bleeds when all of us cannot start Ramaḍān together and celebrate both ‘Eids together.
Yes of course we can have different ‘Eids in different countries and maybe sometimes in the same country as well. However, definitely not in the same street, and the same area! During my research, I tried to find the lowest common denominator that both parties agree upon.
Whilst they import Moon Sighting news from Morocco and Saudi Arabia, both groups do agree that local UK sighting comes first. That sounds fantastic, but then we are back to square one again – can the moon be sighted in the UK.
Today, I am pleased to inform you that there definitely is light at the end of this dark tunnel. A group of very enthusiastic, passionate individuals have been carrying out local UK Moon Sighting for over 4 years now.
Having spoken with them, and meeting them, I have got to know them. It does seem like the moon can be sighted in the UK and we do not need to rely on foreign imports any more. To trial local UK Moon Sighting, we have a wonderful opportunity coming up.
Today, Sunday 27th February, is 26 Rajab for Saudi followers and 25 Rajab for Morocco and local UK followers. This means that this coming Wednesday (2nd March) is 29th Rajab for Saudi followers, and Thursday (3rd March) is 29th Rajab for Morocco or local UK only followers.
On Thursday 3rd March, at sunset time, the moon will be about 24 hours old. It will be a wonderful opportunity for each and every one of us to try and sight the moon here in the UK. To assist in this sighting, I have made arrangements for a very special seminar on Thursday 3rd March between 12:30 and 1:30. The details are in the poster below.
Attendance at the seminar is by registration only and the venue (most probably in Blackburn) will be confirmed upon successful registration. Knowledge is our asset. Although we cannot rely on astronomical calculations for starting the month, there is no harm at all in using this information to make sighting easy for us.
Please share the poster with your family and friends.
May the day be close when the Muslims of the UK unite on the issue of Moon Sighting, Āmeen.
https://hdreflections.com/category/moon-sighting/
جَزَاكَ اللَّهُ خَيْرًا
Request for Du’ās
وَالسَّلَامُ Hanif Dudhwala