How We Make Global Islamic Calendar

From the time of Sahabah to the present, Muslims observed the movement of the sun by their naked eyes every day for their five daily prayers. When clocks were invented, Muslims changed this method and started using calculated movements of the sun.  They did so even though there was no Ayah or Hadith that provide for using calculations for Salah.  They established the timings of daily Salah and developed perpetual Salah timetables that can be used throughout the year. Now, instead of physically watching movements of the sun, we can follow a timetable that is based on the calculations of the movements of the sun.  No one disputes the use of calculated times for Salah and no one considers it a bid’ah (innovation), or forbidden in Islam.

The Prophet –peace be upon him- was fully aware of the condition of his people at that time and he gave them the instructions according to their capacity. He gave them a method that was easy and simple so that they could start and end their months with confidence and according to the natural moon cycles decreed by Allah ta’ala.

Muslims in general continued sighting the Waxing Crescent (Hilal) to begin and end their month of Ramadan and celebrate Eid. It was easy in those days, and unity for distant localities was not an issue, because the communication to other localities was not easy. Now the whole world is a global village (one entity) because of instant and fast communication. Moreover, we are living in a time when we have to plan Eid and Ramadan way ahead of time, and we cannot remain uncertain until the last moment.  Further, the science and computers advancement have put us in a position that we can accurately calculate the position and cycles of the moon.  That is where calculation can help us determine the beginning of a new month ahead of time and for the unity of Ummah, we must have calculations applicable to the whole world as one unit. 

It is reported that among the great Tabi’in, Mutarrif ibn Abd-Allah held the opinion that calculations of Hilal can be used for Ramadan. Imam Taqiuddin al-Subki a great Shafi’i jurist even said that calculation were more reliable than eye sighting. 

When Muslims learned writing and calculations and became more knowledgeable about the Moon and its various phases, more voices were raised to rely on the calculations of the Hilal instead of its physical sighting. 

Most jurists did not accept calculations because they were not sure whether the calculations were correct or could be trusted. With the development of astronomical sciences in the last one hundred years more and more voices are being raised by jurists in support of calculations.

One of the famous Muhaddith Shaikh Ahmad Muhammad Shakir wrote a long article emphasizing that calculation is the most appropriate method of determining the lunar months and it is permissible.

The objective of the Shari’ah is that Muslims begin and end the month of Ramadan with assurance and be united in the observance of these blessed times. The objective of the Shari’ah is not that Muslims merely conduct Moon sightings or remain uncertain about their time of ‘Ibadah until the last minute. The astronomical sciences are highly advanced today and more reliable methods are available to know the beginning of the lunar months. On the basis of the principles of the Shari’ah just as the timetable for Salah and Siyam are prepared, it is possible to prepare the calendars for the lunar months and for the beginning and end of Ramadan. This knowledge is now available and can be used. 

A suggested method that fulfills the basic requirement of the Shari’ah is based on two principles: 

a. The new Moon is born. This means that the conjunction must have taken place.

b. The new Moon has become Hilal. Enough time has passed to make it sightable.

The dates and locations, when and where the New Crescent Moon becomes visible after the New Moon phase depends on many factors.  These factors are the geometry of the Sun, Moon, and horizon; the width of the crescent; the Moon's surface illumination, the absorption of the Moon's light and the scattering of the Sun's light in the Earth's atmosphere (temperature, pressure and humidity); and the human optics. Some of these factors can never be put in calculations for practical reasons.

By scientific calculations we know very accurately and definitely when the conjunction has taken place and the new Moon is on the way to become Hilal. It becomes Hilal when it has moved to certain degrees away from the line joining the centers earth and sun, such that the light of the sun can reflect from the moon and can come to the earth.

By scientific knowledge and decades of research correlating observations of Hilal with calculated parameters of the moon we know where on earth the Hilal has formed to be visible. Whether people see it or not depends on many factors (such as clouds, atmospheric pollution, city light pollution, humidity particles in the air, or just being present in the location where it can be seen, etc.). Given these facts, actual sighting would be less reliable than accurate calculations to know definitely that the Hilal is there.

Sighting of the Hilal has generated a lot of controversies and divisions in the Ummah today. In Muslim countries the official bodies make the decision. Some people and some mosques still differ. Countries where Muslim minorities live, there is more division. In Western Europe and North America Moon sighting has become a much more divisive issue. 

The method of determining the beginning of an Islamic month suggested here is based on the principles of the Shari’ah. It complies with the Sunnah of our beloved Prophet –peace be upon him- and it uses our growing and advanced scientific astronomical knowledge. By accepting this method we can unite ourselves and can take the benefit of knowing our important dates in advance. This is an important benefit and it will save us many difficulties that we and our young Muslims (students) go through every year during Ramadan and Eid.

Lets us first examine what scientific knowledge we can use to construct a global Islamic calendar.

• Muslims have attained advanced scientific knowledge and are able to calculate the position of the moon and birth of moon quite accurately.

• Visibility calculations cannot be 100% accurate, as it involves changing atmospheric conditions and human optics.

• Visibility is affected by pressure, temperature, and humidity in the atmosphere and it varies with the eye-sight, experience and age of the observer, city lights, and pollution in the atmosphere.

Therefore, it would be best to use the moon-birth calculation with the probable sightability somewhere on earth, be it a continent, an island, or an ocean.

Three things are needed to construct a global Islamic calendar:

• Moon must have completed its cycle around the earth, which means that new moon must be born.

• Hilal must be formed and must be sightable somewhere on earth (Ittihadul-Mataal’e concept).

• Synchronization with the day convention is desirable so that all Muslims in the world observe religious duties on the same day.

With these considerations a suggested global Islamic calendar is as follows:

• Use astronomical calculation to determine the beginning of the Islamic lunar months with the consideration of the sightability of the Hilal anywhere on the globe. 

• To determine a global Islamic lunar calendar, the most logical conventional point of reference is the International Date Line (IDL). [Why IDL? Is explained later]

• If the moon is born between 0:00 - 12:00 UT the Islamic month begins at sunset of the day everywhere in the world.

• If the moon is born between 12:00 - 23:59 UT the Islamic month begins at sunset of the next day everywhere in the world.

Why IDL is Chosen as a Reference?

• International Dateline is practically used as a reference point for beginning of every day, which has been accepted by All Muslims e.g., to pray Friday prayers all over the world on a day that starts with IDL and ends with IDL. 

• This would synchronize the day convention used by the whole world to the Islamic day, such that every Gregorian dates has one corresponding Islamic date.

• Selecting 0:00 to 12:00 UT means that the moon is born before the day begins at the IDL, and is sightable somewhere in the world on that day.

• If the moon is born between 12:00 to 23:59 UT, it means that the moon is born after the day begins at the IDL, and the monthly cycle of the moon is not completed yet. So, the month begins on the evening of the next day.

• Use of UT makes it easy to compare the New Moon Birth Time that is always given as UT in Almanacs and other observatories web sites. So that any ordinary informed Muslim will be able to make the Islamic calendar without any calculations.

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Benefits of Adopting Global Islamic Calendar

1. Muslims would not have to wait for actual sighting and for the decision by the authorities until past mid-night. 

2. Chaos of mistaken claims of sighting would be eliminated.  

3. Knowing the Islamic dates ahead of time will remove unnecessary financial burdens in planning and making arrangements for Eid celebration.  

4. Muslims of the world will be more united in observance of Ramadan, Eid celebration and other Islamic holidays.  

5. Muslims in Non-Muslim countries can get there Islamic Holidays officially recognized, by the school and college systems and the governments.  

6. Global Islamic Calendar helps to build a unified Muslim world.

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In Saudi Arabia, Ramadan First day in 1438 Hijri will be Saturday, 27th May 2017,InshaALLAH. Ramadan 2017 is expected to be 29 day long because of slight chances of Shawal moon visibility in 24th June 2017. Otherwise 25 will be the last day of Ramadan in Saudi Arabia. As per Umm al-Qura Calendar and moon crescent visibility on 26th May evening possible by optical aid and naked eye if weather remains clean. Dates may also change, so it is requested to wait till official announcements.

Saudi Arabia's Umm al-Qura calendar has a good rule. Since the beginning of AH 1423 (16 March 2002), the rule has been clarified a little by requiring the geocentric conjunction of the sun and moon to occur before sunset, in addition to requiring moonset to occur after sunset at Mecca.

This ensures that the moon has moved past the sun by sunset, even though the sky may still be too bright immediately before moonset to actually see the crescent.

 In 2007, the Islamic Society of North America, the Fiqh Council of North America and the European Council for Fatwa and Research announced that they will henceforth use a calendar based on calculations using the same parameters as the Umm al-Qura calendar to determine (well in advance) the beginning of all lunar months (and therefore the days associated with all religious observances). This was intended as a first step on the way to unify, at some future time, Muslims' calendars throughout the world.

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The Astronomical Calculations and Ramadan

Part: 1

The debate of the Moon sighting with the naked eyes versus the possibility of using mathematical calculation goes back to the first century of the Muslim era. In fact, this debate has taken multiple twists and turns in the Jewish community centuries before its systematic deliberations by the Muslim scholarship. Given its long history, many of the arguments presented by the proponents and opponents of both views have been almost standardized. The nature of this debate and the reasoning process among the Muslim
scholars is a bit different from their counterparts’ among the Jews, as the Muslims have two divinely inspired sources of law which are historically authenticated. The Islamic discourse regarding this debate has predominantly revolved around the verses of the Holy Qur’an and narrations of the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him). The classical Muslim jurisprudential discourse is heavily dependent upon the Qur’an and Sunnah.Consequently, most of the traditional arguments for and against these positions are quite standardized and recurring in the Islamic literature of Tafsir, Ahadith, Fiqh and Fatawa.

The main arguments of those who oppose use of calculations in confirming or negating
the month of Ramadan, can be summarized in the following main points:

1: The Qur’an (in view of this group) categorically requires physical Moon sighting (with the naked eye) to confirm the beginning and ending of the devotional Islamic months such as Ramadan and Zil-Hajjah. The act of “witnessing the month of Ramadan” stated in the Qur’an means actually sighting the new Moon of Ramadan with the human eye.The Qur’anic term for the Crescent Moon is al-Hilal which, they argue, literally means “the sighted Moon.”

2: The Prophetic traditions, which reach to the level of infallibility, also require unconditional commitment to the physical sighting of the new Moon by the naked eyes(to begin and end the month of Ramadan). There are only two definitive methods of confirming or negating the Islamic months which are approved by the Prophetic injunctions. These are: the sighting by the naked eye or the completion of 30 days.

3: Muslim scholarship over the centuries has accepted these two categorical methods as normative in nature. The jurists have roundly rejected all efforts aimed at the utilization of mathematically computed astronomical calculations and vehemently opposed those Muslim scholars who employed calculations, including some known jurists, in part or in total. Some of these scholars such as Ibn al-Shikhir, Ibn Surayj and al-Subki were otherwise given tremendous respect and appreciation for their knowledge and piety.
Rejection of the astronomical calculations has been an established norm in all the known schools of Islamic jurisprudence including the Ja’afari school of thought.

4: Deployment of the astronomical calculations has not been advocated or accepted by the majority of jurists. It has been accepted by a small minority based upon some misguided, or weak at the best, interpretations. Even this minority opinion does not permit bypassing the physical sighting altogether. They only allow the use of calculations in cases of obscurities such as clouds getting in the way.

5: Physical eye sighting of the crescent moon has been the universal Prophetic practice. The Jewish people were also required to follow the same method in determining their
lunar months, and they were known to have followed this practice in history. Over time, they changed this divinely required Prophetic practice in an effort to synchronize their religious festivals and schedules with the solar civil calendars of secular authorities such as emperors. Now, following a calculated calendar for Islamic months is nothing short of imitating the Jews in their utter misguidance and pitfall.

6: Some contemporary scholars contend that the pre-Islamic Arabs as well as Muslims of the first generation were quite capable of employing astronomical calculations in determining their lunar months. Muslims emphatically rejected this method due to crystal clear Prophetic prohibitions regarding this matter. The science of astronomy in the past had reached its climax among the Muslim scholars due to their special interest in monitoring the motions of celestial bodies such as the Sun, Moon and other stars. Some of the known Muslim jurists such as Imam al-Qarrafi, Imam Ibn al-Arabi and many others were also astronomers of the high caliber who could establish precise calendars for lunation, recognize conjunctions, and predict possible sight ability of the new moon. In spite of that, these jurists did not resort to deployment of astronomical calculations in regards to Ramadan and other Islamic months. The science of observational astronomy had not developed much over the past centuries. Consequently, current dependence of the Fiqh Council upon the scientifically proven astronomical calculations to fix an Islamic calendar is not progression, but rather it is sheer backwardness.2

I would like to state from the onset that all of these vehemently propounded and popularly supported arguments do not stand ground against an in depth analysis. The Qur’an never required physical Moon sighting but asked for“witnessing the month”. It is an agreed upon fact that the Qur’anic phrase “whoever witnessed the month” means whoever is present in his residential place and gets to know about Ramadan’s arrival through any kind of knowledge, including sighting but not confined to sighting. The
Prophetic reports, in reality, require “certainty” vis-à-vis arrival and end of the month of Ramadan. The physical sighting of the new Moon was prescribed as a mean to achieve that certainty. Actual sighting has not been the objective of fasting. The Qura’nic phrase “al-ahillah”, is the plural of “al-hilal.” The word “hilal”, in the Arabic language, denotes “beginning part of something like rain, announcement, cry of joy, raising out loud voices”. Al-hilal has been culturally and metaphorically used to symbolize the new Moon of the first two to seven nights and then the last two nights of the month. There are
conflicting reports about the actual Prophetic response when he (PBUH) first time looked at the new Moon. One Hadith states that the Prophet (PBUH) used to turn his face away from the new Moon and seek Allah’s protection from its evils. The other popular report indicates that the Prophet (PBUH) would recite specific supplications at sighting the crescent Moon. The Hadith authorities such as Imams al-Bukhari and al-Muslim never reported any such supplications and, Imam Ibn Dawud clearly stated that both the above mentioned purported Prophetic reports were untrustworthy. The claims that, the method of completing thirty days in case of obscurities (ikma’l), is the only normative alternate (second to actual sighting), is also debatable.

There is no Ijama’a (consensus of the scholars of the Muslim Ummah) that using astronomical calculation in confirming or negating the month of Ramadan is illegal (Haram) especially in case of obscurities. There are several claims of such an Ijma’a in our Fiqhi literature but, it does not exist in reality. The debate about validity and non-validity of the mathematical calculations vis-à-vis Ramadan has been going on since the Successors times i.e., since the time of the first generation Muslims. The majority of the classical jurists have aggressively opposed use of mathematical calculations due to
multiple reasons. There is a long list of possible valid reasons for which the classical juristic discourse has been so roundly against the use of calculations, especially in the matters concerning faith and ‘Ibadah. There are instances in our history when, in case of atmospheric obscurities, righteous people like Mutarrif bin Abdillah Ibn al-Shikhir, Imam Ibn Surayj (d. 306 AH), Ibn Qutaybah, Imam Taj al-Din al-Subki (d. 683- 756 AH) and others have actually deployed mathematical calculations either in confirming or negating
the month of Ramadan. They were rebuked for such a progressive step by many of their
colleagues and the later classical jurists, again for multiple reasons (as will be discussed later in this book).

The use of mathematically computed astronomical calculations, in matters of religion,
has been dubbed as a Jewish innovation. The fact of the matter is that the fixed Jewish calendar is an intercalated calendar. The Jewish Rabbis exerted their efforts to synchronize their lunar calendar with the solar calendar for the purpose of celebrating their religious festivals during specific seasons of the year and, also to harmonize their holidays with the civil holidays. The pre-Qur’anic Arabs did the same. They used to intercalate extra days and an extra thirteenth month to their lunar calendar almost after every three years so as to force the dates of Hajj fall during specific seasons that were good for their traveling and business. This way the sacred time of Hajj got compromised and the Hajj was performed in those lunar months which actually were not the months of Hajj. The Prophet (PBUH) insisted upon bringing the time back to its original form and stipulated that the new month be started with actual sighting of the crescent Moon and not with the arbitrarily intercalated mathematical calculations.

Ismail K. Poonawala, the author of article on “Ramadan” in Encarta, explains that: “In the pre-Islamic Arabic calendar, the month of Ramadan fell during the heat of summer. The word Ramadan means “scorcher” in Arabic. The early Arabic calendar, like the current Islamic calendar, was lunar. Because a lunar month has only 29 or 30 days, a year of 12 lunar months falls short of the 365 days in a solar calendar. In the pre-Islamic calendar, the lunar months kept their place in the seasons by the insertion of an extra
month every two or three years. The Islamic calendar abolished this practice and fixed the Islamic year at 12 months totaling 354 days. As a result Ramadan occurs about 11 days earlier each year, and it rotates through the seasons in a cycle totaling about 33 years.”3
Therefore, implying scientifically developed precise astronomical calculations to confirm or negate the actual new Moon of the Islamic lunar months (hence the original sacred time) would not come under the rhetoric of Jewish imitation in the matters of Din. It does not change the sacred time of the established lunar months. In reality it helps us determine them with precision and certainty.

Finally, the science of astronomy has been developed tremendously over the past few centuries. The ancient Babylonian as well as Greek astronomy was based upon wrong understanding of our solar system. The Ptolemaic astronomical principles ruled the world since the 2nd century AD. “The Ptolemaic theory held that Earth is stationary and at the center of the universe; closest to Earth is the Moon, and beyond it, extending outward, are Mercury, Venus, and the Sun in a straight line, followed successively by Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, and the so-called fixed stars.”4
Muslims were good observers and few of them were proficient astronomers. They tried to fix many aspects of the faulty Ptolemaic astronomy. They did not fully succeed as the Ptolemaic Geo centric theory of the universe was founded on wrong footing in the first place. “Greek astronomy was transmitted eastward to the Syrians, the Hindus, and the Arabs. The Arabian astronomers compiled new star catalogs in the 9th and 10th centuries and subsequently developed tables of planetary motion. Although the Arabs were good observers, they made few useful contributions to astronomical theories. In the 13th century, Arabic translations of Ptolemy’s Almagest filtered into Western Europe, stimulating interest in astronomy. Initially, Europeans were content to make tables of planetary motions, based on Ptolemy’s system, or to write short popular digests of his theory. Later the German philosopher and mathematician Nicholas of Cusa and the Italian artist and scientist Leonardo da Vinci questioned the basic assumptions of the
centrality and immobility of Earth.”

Fred Lawrence Whipple and Vera C. Rubin show that, “After the decline of classical
Greek culture Arabian astronomers attempted to perfect the system by adding new
epicycles to explain unpredicted variations in the motions and positions of the planets.
These efforts failed, however, to resolve the many inconsistencies in the Ptolemaic
system, which was finally superseded in the 16th century by the Copernican system.”5

The systematic explanation that the universe is solo centric and not geo centric is credited
to the Polish astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus who, in 1543, explained the movement of
the planets around the sun. “The Copernican system advanced the theories that the earth
and the planets are all revolving in orbits around the sun, and that the earth is spinning on
its north-south axis from west to east at the rate of one rotation per day. These two
hypotheses superseded the Ptolemaic system, which had been the basis of astronomical
theory until that time. Publication of the Copernican system stimulated the study of
astronomy and mathematics and laid the basis for the discoveries of the German
astronomer Johannes Kepler and the British astronomer Sir Isaac Newton.”6

I am not denying here the fact that the medieval Muslim centuries had witnessed
flourishing of scientific development and progress in many fields including astronomy.
Their astronomical discoveries were hampered due to several innate mistakes in the
foundational principles of the Ptolemaic theory. The medieval scientists also lacked most
of our modern day highly sophisticated technological instruments. These amazingly
advanced tools such as high level telescopes, well equipped laboratories, NASA’s
expeditions to the Moon surface (Space Exploration) and many other modern discoveries
have helped astronomy to branch out into Gamma-Ray Astronomy; X-Ray Astronomy;
Ultraviolet Astronomy; Infrared Astronomy; Radio Astronomy; Radar Astronomy and
many other helpful areas. There are countless projects which have entirely focused upon
the earth-moon relationship and moon’s movement in its orbit around the earth. For
instance since 1957, the IGY (International Geophysical Year) project has been studying
moon motions and positions with powerful Markowitz cameras at over twenty
observatories around the globe. These astronomical calculations are erudite and precise.
“These calculations are aided by precise observations of the moon's position with the
Markowitz camera. Such moon-position cameras are being utilized for this work at 20
observatories around the world”7

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