بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
وصلى الله على نبيه الكريم
وعلى آله واصحابه اجمعين
Recently Fawad Chaudhry, a
disgraced cabinet member in the current Pakistani government who now holds the
portfolio of Minister of Science and Technology, stated that the government of
that country will soon introduce a fixed lunar calendar based on astronomical
calculations, particularly for the purpose of determining the beginning and end
of Ramadan. This is another example of the devious agenda of Imran Khan`s
government to gradually impose a state version of Islam on the nation. Since
its inception, Pakistan has never had a truly Islamic government that observes
and implements the Shari`a. Instead, there have been various governments, both
civilian and military regimes, that used and continue to use the name and slogan
of Islam for political convenience and legitimacy. Imran Khan himself, during his
election campaign, put forward the slogan of Madina Riasat in order to
dupe the general Muslim public of Pakistan into voting for him and his party.
This is the same Imran Khan who is notorious for having a secular, irreligious
lifestyle. Going clean shaven, keeping pet dogs in his home, and worst of all prostrating
to tombs, are the well known public characteristics of the Prime
Minister of this so-called "Islamic Republic". His hypocrisy of
playing dumb and failing to condemn the naked persecution of our Muslim
brethren in China by the Communist regime reveals just how disgusting and
cowardly the man is. This being the condition of the Prime Minister, it is not
surprising how thinly veiled the contempt for Islam there is among his hand
selected cabinet. The obese pig Fawad Chaudhry has a record of pronouncing
statements and outlining policies of his government that are manifestly
inimical to the cause of Islam. As I said, the government`s decision to introduce
a fixed lunar calendar for the next ten years based on astronomical
calculations is part of a broader agenda to impose upon Pakistan a State
sanctioned Islam and eliminate any dynamic manifestation of the Faith which is
independent of state control. Such an agenda also includes, among other things,
"mainstreaming" the privately run madaris, strictly monitoring
the activities of the Ulama and preachers, and regulating the content of
religious sermons. Now I am the first person to strongly criticize the
corruption of the contemporary Ulama and our mainstream religious institutions.
But State control and regulation of Islam is no solution. It can be likened to
curing the disease by shooting the patient to death. Islam itself is meant to
be a privatized affair independent of centralized control and State regulation,
especially when the State is as tyrannical and fallen as it is today, and as it
has been for centuries since the end of the Rightly-Guided Caliphate. After
Allah Himself, the highest authority in our Religion is the institution of
Prophesy. And in reality, this is a single authority because the Prophet is
merely the mouthpiece for Allah, his authority being derived from his office of
speaking on behalf of Heaven and not from his own self. Then how could we have
received our Islam if the activity and words of the Prophet were subject to the
authority of the central state, being regulated and monitored by the
government? Therefore, in its very DNA Islam is skeptical of the State and
foresees a constant struggle between the Prophet and the Pharoah, in our time,
represented by the competing narratives of the saintly, ascetic and lettered men
of Religion and the clean shaven, elitist ruling class that have their hands
firmly gripped on the reins of political power.
Returning to the issue of
astronomical calculations to determine the start and end of Ramadan, to be
fair, this is an issue of legitimate jurisprudential difference. But by and
large, the mainstream of the Muslim Umma, led by the traditionally educated and
certified Ulama, have adhered to the method of visible moonsighting, based on
the Hadith:
صُومُوا لِرُؤْيَتِهِ وَأَفْطِرُوا لِرُؤْيَتِهِ فَإِنْ
غُمَّ عَلَيْكُمْ فَأَكْمِلُوا الْعِدَّةَ ثَلاَثِينَ
Fast with its sighting and
break fast with its sighting. But if it is obscured for you then complete
thirty days.
With these words the
Prophet (sall Allahu alayhi wasallam) clearly instructed the Umma to initiate
the beginning of Ramadan with the actual sighting of the crescent, and likewise
to end Ramadan and begin the next month of Shawwal with the sighting of the
crescent of the new moon. The fact that he (alayhis-salam) also instructed us
to complete thirty days of the month if we are unable to sight the crescent due
to obscurities such as cloudiness, haze, dust, etc., proves that the beginning
and end of the fast of Ramadan is meant to be determined by visible
moonsighting and not astronomical calculations. That is because astronomical
calculations do not take into account the obscurity of the horizon due to
things like cloudiness, haze, dust, etc. Those who assert that science has
progressed to the level that we can manufacture a fixed lunar calendar that
will precisely determine the occurrence of the lunar months years and years in
advance must admit that even the latest scientific and astronomical methods of
calculation and weather forecasting cannot predict the precise movement,
formation of clouds and other factors that obscure the horizon even several
days in advance, let alone years. As for the other version of the Hadith which
states:
فَإِنْ غُمَّ عَلَيْكُمْ فَاقْدِرُوا لَهُ
But if it is obscured for
you them calculate it
This is used as a basis
for the position of using a fixed lunar calendar of astronomical calculations
and disregarding visible moonsighting altogether. The truth is, however, that
if we accept the interpretation of the Hadith that we are to make a calculated
determination regarding whether the crescent should theoretically be visible or
not if the horizon is obscured or cloudy, that is still not a justification for
producing a fixed lunar calendar that determined the beginning and end of
Ramadan years in advance. That interpretation would only be applicable on the
eve of the 29th of Sha`ban and Ramadan when the horizon is obscured
or cloudy. In actuality, the meaning of this version of the Hadith is the same
as the other, i.e., that if the horizon is obscured we are the complete thirty
days even if the crescent would be visible if the horizon wasn`t obscured:
فَإِنْ غُمَّ عَلَيْكُمْ فَاقْدِرُوا ثَلاَثِينَ
But if it is obscured for
you then calculate thirty days
This is the Wisdom of Allah;
it is from the legislated ways of worship to actually visibly sight the
crescent moon in order to begin and end the month of Ramadan. To change this
method is not only an innovation, it is an evil emulation of the Jews who
created their own calendar based on calculation in order to determine their
months and festivals well in advance. Before the ancient Israelites would light
fires to inform the people of surrounding areas of the beginning of the new
month based on the sighting of the crescent moon. But then their rabbis and
scholars played games with the Religion and created a new, fixed calendar for
the purpose of fixing the seasons for the festivals and holy days. Did not our
own Prophet Muhammad (sall Allahu alayhi wasallam) warn and rebuke us that we
would follow the misguided ways of the Jews and Christians to the extent that
if one of them walked straight into the hole of a lizard there would be one
from this Umma who would blindly follow him into it as well?! As for the silly argument that we Muslims calculate the timings of the five daily prayers that are based on the position of the rising and setting of the sun and do not actually have to visibly observe that; the answer is that there is no instruction of ruya or visible sighting for that from the Sunna in contrast to the Prophet Muhammads (sall Allahu alayhi wasallam) explicit instructions regarding determining the start and end of Ramadan in the Hadith I have cited.
Sadly, popular preachers
and scholars with great name recognition have begun promoting the use of a
fixed lunar calendar that is based on astronomical calculation rather than
visible moonsighting. Figures like Yasir Qadhi, who is a member of the Fiqh
Council of North America, have altered their traditional position on visible
moonsighting in favor of calculation for the sake of keeping with modern
trends. As I wrote in my critique of the modernist deviant Ghamidi, the agenda behind
this push for adapting a fixed lunar calendar based on calculation to determine
the beginning and end of Ramadan is to convenience those of our community who
have to notify their employers in advance of when they wish to take a day off
from work to celebrate Eid. Essentially it is this business interest that
motivated a class of scholars and Muslim intellectuals to sell their Religion in
legitimizing a fixed lunar calendar based on calculation and abandon the
teaching of the Sunna to determine the start and end of Ramadan by visible
moonsighting.
