السَّلاَمُ عَلَيْكُمْ وَرَحْمَةُ اللهِ وَبَرَكَاتُهُ
It’s Saturday 3rd February 2024 / 22 Rajab 1445H
Time to Unite on the Moon Sighting Issue
With 6 weeks to go to the start of Ramaḍān, اِنْ شَاءَ الَّلهُ, once again I would like to make a very humble appeal to all the Muslims of the UK to unite on the Moon Sighting issue.
https://hdreflections.com/category/moon-sighting/
I have touched upon this subject many times and have a lot of material on it on my website and there are also a number of video clips on youtube. In a nutshell, the criteria adopted by Wifāqul ‘Ulamā UK is the only criteria that can unite us all at the present time.
Why do I say this? In the UK, the majority of the Muslims are either following the Deobandī or Barēlwī schools of thought. The latter have remained on one criteria since the arrival of the Muslims in the UK.
Try and sight locally and if not possible then take news from the nearest Muslim country, which is Morocco. The Barēlwī school of thought adopted this criteria back in the 1960s and are still following the same criteria 60 years on.
Deobandīs also adopted the exact same criteria at the same time. However, in 1984, Jam’īat ‘Ulamā (a Deobandīs group) broke this unity and started following Saudi Arabia, resulting in the formation of another (Deobandi) group, Hizbul ‘Ulamā.
They were completely adamant on staying with Morocco and totally opposed the move to Saudi Arabia. This created huge disunity amongst the Deobandī school of thought. In 1986, Hizbul ‘Ulamā made a massive u-turn and started following Saudi Arabia.
However, they had already split the Deoband community. In 2002, a third (again, Deobandī) group was created, called Wifāqul ‘Ulamā, who adopted the Morocco criteria.
Today, the Barēlwi moon sighting criteria is the same as Wifāqul ‘Ulamā, and which Jam’īat ‘Ulamā, Hizbul ‘Ulamā and all the Deobandīs need to adopt. It’s quite simple; nothing complicated.
All our Imāms and ‘Ulamā need to ponder over this now. The Masjid management committees need to focus on this. Each and every Muslim adult needs to look into this. We were all united on this issue from our arrival in the UK till 1984.
I’m quite confident and very optimistic that we can all unite on the Wifāqul ‘Ulamā criteria, اِنْ شَاءَ الَّلهُ.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-FCp-TAOA60
Please watch this brief 5-minute video clip reflecting upon the message delivered at our annual Moon Sighting conference, here in Blackburn, on Sunday 21st January 2024.
May The Almighty unite us all on this Moon Sighting issue from this coming Ramaḍān, Āmeen.
This message of mine needs to go viral please.
جَزَاكَ اللَّهُ خَيْرًا
Request for Du’ās
وَالسَّلَامُ Hanif Dudhwala