Expected differences in the Muslim World for the Eid El-Ftr
Translated by ICOP Member: Omar Bouderdaben
After the historic “same day” start of the month of Ramadhan in the Muslim World, it is expected that for the month of Shawwal, the Muslim World will be divided. All the Arab countries Started the month of Ramadhan on the same day, Wednesday, July 10th 2013; nay the majority of the Muslim world started on the same day except Turkey and its follower which started on Tuesday. And on the other side, Pakistan, India and Bangladesh started on day after that, Thursday because they could not see the crescent on Wednesday, which coincided with the 29 day of Shaaban for them; and this is in accordance to astronomic calculation.
As for the crescent of the month of Shawwal, the majority of the Muslim World will be out sighting the crescent on Wednesday, August 7 2013. For the Arab World, the moon conjunction will occur before Sun set and the moon will set after the Sun set in all Arab countries, except that it will not be seen on that day after the Sun set with unaided eye nor when using telescope due to its low altitude and proximity to the horizon and the very thin crescent. However, it would be possible to see with the use of a method which is not totally accepted by shari’ah.
And since the moon will set after the Sun set on Wednesday in the Arab world and since the conjunction occurs before Sun set, many Arab and Muslim countries will consider those two conditions enough to accept any sighting of the moon as genuine and it is expected the majority of these countries to announce that Eid is on Thursday, August 8, 2013. As for the countries that accept only sightings that do not contradict science, they will declare Eid to be Friday, August 9 2013.
As a summary, the starting of month of Shawwal will be on Thursday, August 8, 2013 for those who accept astronomical calculations and do not require a physical eye sighting or do not scrutinize the sighting reports or those who accept the use of the “astrophotography” method (CCD imaging). On the other hand, the month of Shawwal will be on Friday, August 9, 2013 for the countries that do scrutinize the reports and accept only physical sighting of the moon by naked eye or aided with telescope, and these countries are few.
Looking at the moon on Wednesday August 7, 2013 throughout the world, It would be impossible to sight from northern Asia, all European countries and Canada because the moon sets before the sun. The sighting will not be possible with unaided eye nor with the telescope despite the setting of the moon is after that of the sun, in Asia continent (except the north), Australia (Except its far west), North Africa and the united states of America. The sighting will be possible only with the use of the telescope in central Africa and Central America. At the same time the sighting with unaided eye will be possible but hard in South Africa and South America. And the Countries where the moon could be sighted easily with unaided eye are Chili, Argentina and Pacific Ocean.
The following is the position of the moon in some selected cities on Wednesday August 7, 2013:
- Jakarta: The moon sets 18 minutes after the sun set and the moon is 14 hours and 33 minutes old.
- Abu Dhabi: The moon sets 7 minutes after the sun sets and the moon is 17 hours and 55 minutes old.
- The Noble Makkah: The moon sets 11minutes after the sun sets and the moon is 18 hours and 30 minutes old.
- Amman: The moon sets 4 minutes after the sun sets and the moon is 19 hours and 4 minutes old.
- Cairo: The moon sets 6 minutes after the sun sets and the moon is 19 hours and 08 minutes old.
- Rabat: The moon sets 6 minutes after the sun sets and the moon is 21 hours and 06 minutes old.
The sighting of the moon from all the above cities is not possible with an unaided or aided eye (not using/using a telescope). To have an idea of the meaning of this, it is worth mentioning that the shortest time after sun set of a moon that was sighted was with a naked eye was 29 minutes and it was sighted in Palestine in September 20, 1990. The youngest moon that was sighted was a moon 15 hours and 33 minutes old and it was sighted in the United States February, 25 1990. The two criteria are not enough to determine the possibility of the sighting of the moon as there are many parameters that affect that like proximity of the moon to the sun or the proximity of the moon to the horizon at the time of the sighting.
