International Astronomical Center

Friday 02 June

• Saudi:
  1. ICOP member, Mr. Saleh Al-Saab mentioned that no crescent was seen. Also, the sky was hazy.

  2. ICOP member, Mr. Salman Shaikh said: "We tried to sight the Hilaal outside of Riyadh. I know that is a bit too early, but you know the situation here! We could not sight the hilal and it was hazy, but Alhamdulillaah we made some "political" progress, by meeting some people there."

Saturday 03 June

So far, the earliest sighting of the crescent was on 03 June from India by Dr. Sultan Ismail. The crescent was also seen on 03 June from Iran, Iraq, Saudi, Bahrain, UAE, Jordan, Palestine, Nigeria, South Africa, and USA.

• Singapore: ICOP member, Mr. Firdaus Yahya said: "According to the calendar set by the Islamic Council of Singapore, 1st Rabiul Awal falls on Sunday, 4 Jun 2000, after completing a 30-days Safar. With this I would like to congratulate the Muslim world for the month of the birth of our beloved Prophet Muhammad, sallahu 'alaihi wa sallam."

• India: ICOP member, Dr. Sultan Ismail said: "MOON SIGHTED ON 3RD JUNE 2000"

• Iran:
  1. ICOP member, Mr. AliReza Mehrani said: "5 members from ICOP Jamshid Arshadi - Alireza Mehrani - Saeed Janghorban - Leila Mir shamshirgaran - Soheila Mir Shamshirgaran and 4 members from AAS observed new moon this month. We saw moon crescent before sunset. We will email the picture that was taken to you on Jun 6th."

  2. ICOP member, Mr. Asadollah Khoddam Mohammadi mentioned that he saw the crescent.

• Iraq: ICOP member, Mr. Tarik Katbeh mentioned that he saw the crescent by naked eyes with difficulty due to the hazy conditions.

• Saudi: ICOP member, Mr. Anwar Al-Muhammad said: "Myself tried to sight the crescent and I advised my students to do it. I know from sky simulation software that crescent will set an hour after sunset. Also, we determined its location at that time, and how to track it. But, I could not see it because the western horizon was hazy after Maghreb prayer. One hour later, I received a phone call from one of my students living in different near place, and he claimed that he could see and sight the crescent in the same location at 6:50 pm. Thus, it is a good beginning of the new month for all muslims and namely for all ICOP members."

• Bahrain: ICOP member, Mr. Fathi Mayoof said: "THE FIRST DAY IS 4-6-2000 THE CRESCENT WAS DIMMER AND DIFFICULT TO SEE BY NAKED EYE DUE TO HAZY HORIZON, IT STAYED OVER THE HORIZON 65 MIN (FROM SKYMAP). WE COULD SEE IT FOR AROUND 25-30 MIN"

• UAE: ICOP member, Dr. David McNaughton said: "My wife and I both saw the New Moon from Dubai beach this evening (Saturday). It was just discernible to the naked eye, handicapped as we were by bad industrial haze and high humidity. However, it could probably not be described as 'glaringly obvious', although eventually it did become quite clear to my wife (whose long-distance eyesight is better than mine)."

  Jordan: What a thin beautiful Crescent!

  Palestine: Eng. Ayman Tirhi of PAS said: "I observed the crescent from the roof of my home in Jerusalem area with my wife this evening and we managed to see it starting from 7:59 (Palestinian Time). It is still in the sky very clear. We tried to observe it yesterday but we did not manage to see it. Mr. Maroof Rabaa' just called me from Nablus and he told me that he observed the crescent at 7:57 from Nablus. That is 2 minutes before I saw it from Jerusalem since the mountains in Nablus are higher than the mountains in Jerusalem."

• Kenya: ICOP member, Mr. Mahmood Essa said: "Regret to let you know, owing to cloudy conditions, I could not sight the crescent yesterday, Saturday."

• Morocco: ICOP member, Dr. Hamid TOUMA said: "I am very glad to inform you that in Morocco, the first day of RA1 was officially Sunday 4 June 2000. During the night of 2 June, we have tried to observe the crescent but it was impossible to observe it so the Safar month has 30 days and the first day of RA 1 was so the 4 June 2000. This observation is ok with the theoretical previsions, because the New Moon was on 2 June 2000 at 12 h 15 mn (UT) and at the 20 h in the same day it was impossible to observe the crescent because it has only 8 hours of life. And after the Sunset on the 3 June 2000, the crescent has 32 hours, and it was too large to be observed. At Rabat, we couldn't observe it because the sky was totally cloudy. In the end, I would like to take this opportunity to express to all Muslims and to all ICOP Members a Good AID MAWLID AL NABAWI AL KARIM."

• South Africa: ICOP member, Mr. Hashim Salie said: "A relatively big crescent moon was sighted with ease. Sea level observers were covered in low mist clouds. I sighted the crescent from Signall Hill, with 6 other observers. 1st Rabee ul Auwwal 1421 commences on 04 June 2000."

• Nigeria: ICOP member, Mr. Alabi Isiaq said: "The crescent was sighted here on Saturday (03/06). There's been persistent rain and cloudy sky, which makes sighting difficult earlier."

• USA: ICOP member, Mr. Gulamabbas Khakoo said: "Observed the crescent on Sat. 04 Jun, 20:15 hrs. in Buena Park, CA. It was very easy sighting."

• Mexico: Mr. Muhammad Hafiz said: "THE CRESCENT WAS NOT SEEN IN GUADALAJARA, MEXICO ON 3RD OF JUNE, 2000 AT SUNSET (TIME 8:45 PM-MEXICO TIME). THE HORIZON WAS CLOUDED OVER BY SCATTERED RAIN CLOUDS FOR THIS DAY. CURRENTLY WE ARE IN THE RAINY SEASON, IN WHICH IT RAINS EACH AFTERNOON (AT SUNSET), THUS MAKING OBSERVATION DIFFICULT FOR CRESCENT SIGHTING."

Saturday 03 June:-

1. Jordan
2. Saudi

Sunday 04 June:-

1. Singapore
2. Palestine
3. Morocco
4. South Africa
5. Bahrain

Monday 05 June:-

1. Pakistan