International Astronomical Center

So far, the earliest sighting of the crescent was on 07 March from Malaysia by Mr. Kassim Bahali. The crescent was also seen on 07 March from Iran, Yemen, Syria, Kenya, Nigeria, Guyana, and 'Trinidad and Tobago'.

Monday 06 March

• Malaysia: ICOP member, Mr. Kassim Bahali said: "In Malaysia, 6th Mar. (Monday) was 29 of Thul Qeadah and the sighting day for hilal of Thul Hejjah 1420AH. When the sunset on 6th of Mar (Monday) at 19:25, I tried to see the crescent with binocular 7 x 50, but I was not able to see the crescent since the sky was cloudy about four degrees above the horizon. It was announced by the officials that tomorrow 7th of Mar (Tuesday) will be the 1st of Thul Hejjah 1420AH."

• UAE: ICOP member, Dr. David McNaughton said: "It was impossible to see the crescent on Monday 6th March because of insufficient distance from the sun (just as the calculations had predicted). It was very easy on Tuesday 7th, when Jupiter provided a very useful 'beacon'. In our latitudes, you could almost come vertically down from Jupiter to find the New Moon - even before the end of civil twilight."

• Saudi:

  1. ICOP member, Mr. Saleh Al-Saab said: "There were seven persons at the site trying to see the new crescent from a good site to the west of the city but no one could see it." On the next day he added: "No one of the other 'official' committees confirmed seeing the hilal yesterday."

  2. ICOP member, Mr. Hani Al-Dalee' said: "Today in Saudia is the last of Thul Qidah, it means that we are going to stand on Arafat on the 8th as usual!"

  3. Mr. Salman Shaikh said: "As expected, the Riyadh committee did NOT sight the Hilal yesterday (06 March). By the way, we were also joined yesterday and today by Br. Hani Dalee, a founder member of the Jordanian Astronomical Society, who is now in Riyadh, Alhamdulillah." Later on he added: "For Dhul-Hijja, we went with the Riyadh committee. Neither the Riyadh committee nor any of the other committee reported any sighting of the Hilal on March 5 evening or March 6 evening. Yet Dhul-Hijja 1 was declared for March 7. Further, on March 7 evening, several brothers here in Lucent Technologies in Riyadh saw the Hilal. It was very thin. We saw it from after the Maghrib prayers for about 20 minutes. It's thinness and short time made it clear beyond any doubt that it was the Hilal i.e. the first day crescent. The brothers from Lucent witnessing this included me, Br. Ziaur Rahman, Br. Ali Al Shamrani, Br. Aamer Sabbah, Br. Shahin Iqbal, Br. Budiatmoko Onang, Br. E. Ashraf Koya and others. Ofcourse several Muslims outside also witnessed the Hilal. Seven of us from Lucent went to try to briefly meet Sheikh Saleh Ibn Muhammad AlHaidan, the Head of Majlis AlQada AlAala (Supreme Court ?) of Saudi Arabia, but somehow it was difficult to put the message through."

• Jordan: Cloudy weather in Amman!

• South Africa:

  1. ICOP member, Mr. Hashim Salie said: "The members of the Crescent Observers Society reported at their various sighting vantage points. No crescent was seen. The Muslim Judicial Council declared the 1 Thul Hejjah 1420 to be on Wednesday 08 March 2000. The Majlisush Shura Al-Islami and the Islamic Council of South Africa are delaying their announcement of Al-Eid Al-Adhaa on confirmation of when Youme Arafah will be in Makkah."

  2. ICOP member, Mr. Ebrahim Isaacs said: "The crescent observers went to sight the crescent last night (06 March) and did not see the crescent. Today is therefore the 30th Thul Qada and tomorrow (08 March) the 1st Thul Hijjah."

• Germany: ICOP member, Mr. Kadir Yucel said: "There were no chance to see the sky (Totally cloudy)."

• UK: ICOP member, Mr. Mohammad Baig said: "London was completely cloudy so no attempt was made to sight the crescent."

• Mauritania: ICOP member, Dr. Abderrahmane Ould-Beddi mentioned that the sky was cloudy.

• Canada: ICOP member, Mr. Mohammad Farooq said: "In Hamilton Ontario, the horizon was very clear at local sunset time. Age of the moon at sunset was only 17 hours 57 mins and altitude of the moon was 5.39 degrees. Because the moon was not old and not high enough, therefore I was unable to sight the crescent."

• Trinidad and Tobago: ICOP member, Dr. Shirin Haque-Copilah said: "The new moon was searched for from the onset of sunset at 6.15 p.m. until the moon was supposed to have set at 6.51 p.m local time on Monday. There was a band of clouds on the western horizon with a few breaks in between. Using naked eye and a 10 x 50 binoculars the sky was scanned. The crescent moon which would have been just over 16 hrs WAS NOT SEEN at St Augustine in Trinidad at longitude 61.5 W degrees and latitude 10.6 N degrees."

Tuesday 07 March

• Indonesia: ICOP member, Mr. Suwandojo Siddiq said: "Determination of the beginning of Dzul-Hijjah is very important due to Hajji (wukuf in Arafah 09-ZHJ) and the Islamic Celebration of Iedul Adha (10-ZHJ 1420H based on our own date, not Saudi date). The result of our calculation, based on position of our city Bandung, (West Jawa Indonesia: 6:67S 107:37E), that:
  1. Ijtima' (conjunction) occurred at date 06/03/2000, time 12:17:53.

  2. At maghrib (sunset), 18:10:09 LT, moon Alt = 2.068 deg, moon age = 5.89 hrs, Hilal would NOT BE VISIBLE. Its irtifa' (Moon-Alt) was too low. But at the evening of Monday 06/03/200 (18:10 until 18:30 LT) I tried to stand at the top of mosque minaret (20 m high from ground floor) to see and PROVE the visibility of the Hilal. Note: Bandung City is surrounded by hills and mountains, so I need a free space to west direction.

  3. The following evening, 07/03/2000, maghrib time is 18:09:4LT. After maghrib time, 18:35:18 LT, (18:20 to 18:45) when Sun-Alt = -5 deg, the best time to see Hilal, Moon age was = 30.11 hrs. and Alt = 9.574 deg. I did also as previous day standing on the top of mosque minaret. If the sky was clean, Hilal should be visible. But unfortunately it was rain at Banding, so the sky was covered by heavy haze/cloud. We could not see the sun before sunset also we could NOT see the HILAL (Crescent). I am sorry.

  4. Eventhough we Could NOT do ru'yatul-Hilal (moon sighting) due to rain and cloud, but the Faqih (astronomical experts) of Jam'iyah Al-Islamiyah Indonesia, agreed and considered that the first date of Zul Hijjah is Tuesday 07 March 2000 and Celebrating Iedul Adha 10 Zul-Hijjah 1420H, Thursday 16 March 2000. We expect also Wukuf-Hajji at Arafah-Makkah, will be held at Wednesday 15-03-2000. Insya Allah."

• Malaysia: ICOP member, Mr. Kassim Bahali said: "This is my second report. On 6 of March (Monday) the crescent was not seen but on 7 of March (Tuesday) the crescent was seen from the balcony of my house in Jasin, Malaysia 10 minutes after sunset. The crescent was seen by my binocular 7 x 50 but it was not seen by naked eyes. It was visible last 8 minutes because the western horizon become more cloudy. In Malaysia the officials was announced that the 1st of Thul Hejja was on 7 of March 2000."

• Iran:
  1. ICOP member, Mr. Asadollah Khoddam Mohammadi mentioned that he was able to sight the crescent on Tuesday 07 March by naked eyes.

  2. ICOP member, Mr. AliReza Mehrani said: "We saw the crescent on Tuesday March 7th. However, as you know, due to its position in a very high level, it was easily observable (in Iran). Perhaps, the only interesting thing about the observation is the photo we took from the crescent by means of a 12" telescope. I send you this photo."
     Moon Crescent, on March 7 at 18:20 LT.
     From Adib Center, Esfahan, Iran. By Alireza Mehrani.
     NiKon FM2, Lens: 12" SCT f/6.3 F=3000 mm. 1/2 s Exp. Konica 200.

• Yemen: ICOP member, Dr. Mojahid Najem said: "The crescent was clear Yesterday 7 March (Here in Sana'a). It was seen about 8 minutes after sunset and stayed for about 55 minutes. It was not visible the day before by naked eye. Yemen was days different from Saudi in the last month (11) which makes the first day of the month on 7 March but It seems that the government will correct that although I am not sure till now."

• Syria:

  1. ICOP member, Dr. Jalal Khanji said: "The crescent for the month The Al-Hejja 1420 AH was observed by three members of the Crescents’ Observation and “Mawaqeet” Committee in The Department of "Awkaf" in Aleppo (Dr. Khanji, Dr. Huseini, Mr. Kaied and Mr. Hamdo)."

  2. ICOP members, Dr. Hasan Bilani said: "I have the pleasure to inform you that the crescent for the month The Al-Hejja 1420 AH was observed in Aleppo by The Director of The Department of "Awkaf" (Dr. Shami), (Mr. Zeituni) and me. The crescent was first seen by theodolite around 17:48 , and by naked eyes from 17:49 onward."

• Kenya: ICOP member, Mr. Mahmood Essa said: " We are happy to inform you, that we observed the Hilal at about 18.55 local time here in Mombassa. It was clearly visible with the naked eye. I have also been asked by Ali Dharani ( the other Kenyan ICOP member ) to pass on the same message to yourself."

• Nigeria: ICOP member, Mr. Alabi Isiaq said: "Assalam Alaykum. The crescent was seen here last night (Tue 07/03/00). Wed (08/03/00) is 1 Thul-hijjah."

• Morocco: ICOP member, Dr. Hamid TOUMA said: " I am very glad to inform you that the Moroccan Government has announced that it was impossible to observe the crescent on the all area of Morocco on the 6 March 2000 after sunset. So the first day of Thul Hejjah is Wednesday 8 March 2000. It is a good decision which is in the good sense of the astronomy prediction. As you know the new Moon was born on 6 Mach 2000 at 5h 17 min 46 s. On the same day at sunset, it was only 12 hours of live, so it was impossible to observe it. However, on the 7 March 2000, after the Sunset the Crescent had 37 hours of live, so it was visible. In Rabat, I have not seen it because the Western horizon was very cloudy. So in Morocco, the first day of Thul Hejjah is the 8 March 2000, and the Aid ALADHA will be on Friday 17 March 2000. AID MABROUK TO ALL MEMBERS OF ICOP AND WA KOLI AMINE A ANTOUM BI KHAIR. Thank you."

• Guyana: ICOP member, Dr. Muhammad Hafiz said: "My father who is the Imam for the Rose Hall town Masjid in Guyana. Told me the crescent for Zul Hijjah, 1420 AH was seen on March 7th, 2000 at 6:29 pm or 18:29 hrs Guyana time (at sunset)."

• Trinidad and Tobago: ICOP member, Dr. Shirin Haque-Copilah said: "On Tuesday , at an age of over 40 hrs, and at about an elevation of about 20 degrees, the crescent moon hung like a beautiful lamp in the sky, visible just minutes after the sunset at St Augustine (Alhum-dullilah)!"

The Saudi declared that the beginning of Thul Hejjah will be on Tuesday 07 March, because they completed 30 days of Thul Qea'dah!!!! But we wonder, which 30 days they are talking about ! Monday 06 March was the 29th day of Thul Qea'dah in Saudi! This what all their media showed: TV channel one, channel two, Saudi radio, ALL their newspapers, Umm Al-Qurrah calendar. There was not any thing in Saudi which stated that Monday 06 March was 30 Thul Qeadeh! Kindly find below a copy of their official statement!

Surprisingly, no one claimed seeing the crescent in Saudi on Monday 06 March. For sure, it was already not possible to be seen on that day from Saudi... Anyway, here we again started one of our most important months wrong!

As usual, most Arabic countries followed Saudi without even 'thinking' ! The official Egyptian statement was rather disgraceful! They said: Since the crescent was clearly visible after the sunset of Tuesday 07 March, then Tuesday 07 March was the first day of Thul Hejjeh!!! Woow! What a new way to determine the beginning of the Hejric months! We always used to know that the beginning of the month is determined by observing the crescent after the sunset of 29th day of the previous month, NOT on the 1st day of the new month! Also, from astronomical point of view, having a relatively 'think' crescent on a certain day does NOT mean this is the second day of the month. We do advise the non-astronomers NOT to talk and 'give decisions' about astronomical issues as long as they are not qualified to do so! Else, the result will be starting our months on wrong days. Actually this what have been happening for decades! As you could notice, eventhough no one even claimed seeing the crescent on Monday, most countries started the month on Tuesday!!!

More confusing is the official Saudi statement, in which they requested the people to observe the crescent of Thul Hejjah crescent. In their statement they mentioned that Sunday 05 March is 28 Thul Kea'dah, AND IN THE SAME LINE, AFTER FEW WORDS, they said that Monday is the 30th day of Thul Kea'dah ! Because no one saw the crescent of Thul Kea'deh (NOT Thul Hejjah) on Saturday's night!!! We wonder, how come that Sunday is 28 Thul Kea'dah and Monday is 30 Thul Kea'dah! And what is the story of seeing Thul Kea'dah crescent!!! They should talk about Thul Hejjah crescent NOT Thul Kea'dah! Simply they don't want to declare their obvious fault in determining the beginning of Shawwal crescent, which still confusing them until Thul Hejjah! Kindly find below their official statement.

Tuesday 07 March:-

1. Malaysia
2. Indonesia
3. Yemen
4. Saudi Arabia
5. Jordan
6. Egypt
7. Kenya

Wednesday 08 March:-

1. Iran
2. South Africa
3. Nigeria
4. Morocco