The Sunnah tells us to begin Ramadan upon sighting the new moon. Yet every year we have (and will continue to have) debate over this agreed sighting of the moon, but should this be a point of disunity? What if this happened to the companions when Islam was in more than one city.. what would they do? Well actually it did... Narrated Kurayb, I came to Syria and completed her errand (Umm Fadl). Then the new crescent of Ramadan was sighted while I was in Syria. I saw the new crescent on the night of Friday, then I returned to Madinah at the end of the month. Ibn Abbas asked me about the sighting of the moon and said: When did you see it? I said: We saw it on Friday night. He said; You saw it on the night of Friday? I said: Yes, and the people saw it and started fasting, and so did Muawiyah. He said: But we saw it on the night of Saturday, so we will continue fasting until we have completed thirty days or we see it. I said: Will you not be content with the sighting of Muawiyah and his companions? He said: No, (because) this is what the Messenger of Allah enjoined upon us. [Muslim; Tirmidhi; Abu Dawud; Nasai] The moon matures through its cycle as the night progresses from timezone to timezone and may not be visible where the night falls before other regions. The moon may be more visible in one hemisphere than the other, rural regions than urban, higher altitudes than lower. Additionally there is valid ikhtilaf (different opinions) over using a global sighting for everyone or local/regional sighting of the moon. In some areas the start date is a non-issue (especially where a central authority is in charge of handling this for a whole country), but if you are in an area where there is debate over fasting (Saturday or Sunday) the most important principle is to hold fast to your local masjid community (jamaah) as long as they are following the Sunnah of sighting - whether they concluded to start Saturday or Sunday - and remember your reward is with Allah for following the true guidance and not our personal desires of one day over the other. Narrated Abu Hurairah. The Prophet said: The fast is the day the people fast, the breaking of the fast is the day the people break their fast, and the sacrifice is the day the people sacrifice. [Tirmidhi 8/16] » Source: facebook/alicamarata (Like & Share)
Posted on: Sat, 28 Jun 2014 10:19:13 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015