Moon sighting controversy
Col (r) Ikram Ullah Khan
The moon sighting controversy has been plaguing the Muslim world since the very beginning. According to Al-Majmu, a famous treatise written by a celebrated Arab scholar of the 13th century Muhyud-Din Yahya al-Nawawi, the founders of various schools of thought including Imam Shafi and Imam Ahmad bin Hanbal have expressed divergent opinions on the moon sighting issue. Imam Shafi gives weight to arithmetic and astronomical calculations whereas Imam Hanbal considers the physical sight of the moon with naked eye as mandatory. He didn’t see local sighting as necessary.
According to him, once the moon is sighted anywhere in the Muslim world, every faithful must accept that. Another famous jurist of 13th century IbneTaymiyya, in his treatise “Risala fil Hilal (Booklet on the Crescent) categorically rejects the use of astronomical calculations in determining the sight of the moon. Yaqut ibn Abdullah al-Hamawi, a 12th century Arab geographer, gives the government of the time complete authority in making such decisions. He cites a legal maxim according to which decision by a ruler is decisive and erases differences. The grand mufti of Jamia al- Azhar in Cairo, Shaykh Mustafa Maraghi wrote in a paper back in 1920s that personal testimony of moon sighting can’t be accepted if scientific calculations conclusively prove that a moon sighting was not possible.
With the passage of time, multiple treatises by many renowned scholars have been written and debated on the perennial issue of moon sighting, each more convincing than the previous one due to explosion of knowledge. Moreover, gradual improvements in astronomical sciences as well as the increased reliance on the cutting edge technology and establishment of sophisticated observatories have made it easier to observe celestial objects with better accuracy. Yet controversies have been generated at the same time over earlier texts written on the subject.
The moon sighting controversy has hit Pakistan yet again with much confusion this time. The country has a checkered history of moon sighting dating back to 1948 when the first official institution to decide on sighting of the moon was established and a central committee was set up which would receive reports from district committees from different regions. The meteorological department too was consulted before a decision on moon sighting was made. The maiden controversy on moon sighting erupted in 1958 when Eidul Fitr was celebrated in Peshawar a day before the rest of the country thereby setting a wrong precedent. In 1961 three Eids were celebrated in Pakistan. A few years later the controversy cropped up again in 1966 and 1967 when Ayub Khan’s government changed its earlier moon sighting announcement late in the night.
In order to resolve the recurring controversy, the government of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto decided to give a legislative cover to the official moon sighting mechanism in 1974, and the National Assembly passed a law which authorised the government to set up a Central Ruet-e-Hilal Committee as well as provincial committees. It was made binding on the Central Ruet-e-Hilal Committee to consult the zonal/ provincial committees before making announcement.
The controversy kept on lingering till the government decided in 2019 to involve Ministry of Science and Technology (MoST) in the moon sighting issue and it played an active role in this regard under the guidance and supervision of its minister Fawad Chaudhry. The ministry developed a five year lunar calendar with dates for Eidul Fitr and Eidul Azha shown. As a consequence, serious differences arose between the Ministry of Science and Technology (MoST) and the then Chairman of Ruet-e-Hilal Committee Mufti Muneebur Rahman who was ultimately forced to make an unceremonious exit, and Maulana Abdul Khabir Azad was appointed as Chairman of the committee in January this year.
Unfortunately, this year the matter of moon sighting was compounded with the indecisiveness of the committee headed by its new Chairman Maulana Abdul Khabir Azad who comes across as a weak and indecisive person. The fact of the matter is that according to astronomers and met department, moon sighting was not possible even with the optical aids of latest technology let alone naked eye. But close to midnight all of a sudden “Shawal Crescent” makes its much awaited appearance in the sky and the announcement is made at around 11:30 pm thus raising the eyebrows of many believers. What made the Shawal moon sighted after 11:30 pm when most of the believers had gone to bed after getting tired with a long wait and with an intention to rise for sehri next morning is shrouded in mystery and is likely to remain such. The straight and blunt answer which a common man could perhaps proffer is that Shawal moon was not sighted in the sky, it was brought from somewhere else.
According to a popular version, what prompted the announcement of moon sighting late in the night was that the authorities wanted to avoid Eidul Fitr on Friday because it involved two ritual sermons, and according to religious myth and some misplaced belief when there are two sermons on Friday it is seen as a bad omen for the rulers. However, this kind of belief is not underpinned by either the Holy Qur’an or any Prophetic tradition.
Having said all that, what makes all the sordid story more painful is the non-professional approach adopted by the concerned committee while dealing with a highly sensitive religious issue making it carry a tinge of politics. It’s about time for the government to wake up, take the matter seriously and make arrangements to keep this most sacred religious festival above every kind of sectarian and political influence. Besides, this year Pakistan happens to be the only Muslim country where the believers were made to celebrate Eid after 29 days fasting. Rest every Muslim country had a 30 days fasting thus raising a serious question demanding a prompt answer. But who will answer this question?