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.

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.

Source: The Wall Street Journal