Moon Sighting With Scientific Tools

July 10, 2024

2 min read 2 min

Question

he most important thing about Eid moon. It is a problem here in Inida and Pakistan. Some say that you have to sight it with naked eyes. Some say calculations is right. Some say not. I personally believe in calculations as you know they always are 100% correct which we just witnessed this year. I wanted to ask what does the sahih hadiths of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) say. What is the context in which it has been said? Is it compulsory to sight the moon with naked eyes or because as we use technology in nowadays we can use it in this situation too? Why Muslims have so much problems with moon sighting not with other matters when they use technology even in religion. Why do these problems appear more in Indian and Pakistani community? What about Arabs? They have kept the deen simple. Is it right or not?

Answer

There is no problem with determining the Eid using scientific aids. The scientific tools need to calculate at what day the moon will be visible to a naked eye.

However it needs to be appreciated that like many other acts of worship fasting too has aspects of collectivity in it, in particular Eid needs to be celebrated by the whole community rather than individuals. Accordingly it is always advisable to follow what the community of the Muslims in the area that the individual resides are doing in terms of starting and ending the fasting. If the individual disagrees with the starting or ending date of the month he may do his best to correct the views of the community however at the end if he does not success, it is still better to follow the community in this rather than being separated and excluded from the community.

As for the question why there are so much problems about religion in India and Pakistan and not in Arabian countries I think as we go from one Muslim country to the other one, the type of the problem with understanding of practising religion may change but problems are always there, as we are all human being and prone to error, bias and misjudgement.

Answered by: Farhad Shafti

Date: 2015-01-16