Moonsighting

It is stated in Khalid Shaukat’s website on www.moonsighting.com that there is a possibility of moon sighting in on Wednesday night. Will the moonsighting of the people of suffice for the Muslims in North America and other parts of the world? Is the moonsighting in conducted according to Shari’ah? Who supervises that? If the moonsighting is permissible and valid then why we cannot follow ’s verdict on Eid? What is the difference?

In principle, if the moon is sighted any where in the world and that is confirmed through Shari’i Shahadat or the khabr Mutafeez (general and common information) then it will be valid. (Fatawa Mahmoodiyya, volumes 7, pages 282-286; and volume 11, page 80) Hence, the moon sighting in will be valid for the people of the North America and the entire world.

The moonsighting in is conducted and supervised by the Ulama and is done completely according to Shari’ah.

If the moon sighting in is conducted according to Shari’ah, it would be valid. However, there are conflicting reports about the way and procedure of declaring Eid. According to some versions, Eid and other lunar months are declared based on the mere birth of the moon (black moon) and not on the visibility of the crescent. I have seen official lunar calendars even before the commencement of the lunar month. This would not be possible if the procedure of viewing the crescent was conducted.  Hence, there is a major difference between the procedure of sighting the moon in and .

The issue of validity of Hajj is not based on the correct procedure of moonsighting. It is based on the Hadith of Rasulullah (Salla Allaahu Alayhi Wa Sallam) that Hajj will be on that day when people perform Hajj. (Tirmidhi) What would be the need of this Hadith if the moonsighting was correct and valid?

And Allah Ta’ala Knows Best

Mufti Ebrahim Desai

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