وقال عضو المشروع السيد سامي خادم الشريعة "The crescent was seen by our colleague in daytime by CCD only and it was very hard (6° elongation only). Because of the strong haze and the short moonlag time there was no success after sunset." 

وقال عضو المشروع المهندس قمر الدين "On Thursday, 19 July 2012 (29 Shaban 1433 AH) many people from throughout UK have attempted to sight the crescent moon (Hilal) of Ramadan after sunset. None of the groups were able to sight the Hilal, even though some places had clear sky conditions.

We have not received any reliable sighting reports (Muhaqaq-Ruyat-Basari) from east of the UK/Morocco either. The Morocco Awqaf Ministry and Jamiat-e-Ulama South Africa have both reported negative sightings.

Therefore, the Wifaq/Batley Ulama have decided that the month of Shaban 1433 AH will complete 30 days and the month of Ramadan 1433 AH will start from Saturday 21 July 2012 (i.e. sunset of 20 July 2012), Insha-Allah.

Note that none of the 9 official Saudi Hilal Committees were able to sight the Ramadan Hilal this evening, even by telescopes, but the usual persons from near Riyadh (Sudair and Shaqra) have claimed sightings and their report has been accepted by the court. May Allah forgive our mistakes and guide us to the right path (Ameen)." 

وقال عضو المشروع السيد Muhammad Dar "Due to heavy clouds on western horizon sighting was not attempted" 

وقال عضو المشروع الدكتور جواد تورابنيجاد "This evening (Thursday, July 19, 2012), the crescent moon of Ramadan was not sighted in Blacksburg, VA.  The western horizon was mostly cloudy.  We stayed there only for a few minutes." 

وقال عضو المشروع السيد جيم ستام "Through a break in the clouds, the crescent passed after sunset, but it was not visible in an 8 inch telescope." 

وقال عضو المشروع السيد سوجنج  رياضي "On Thursday, July 19, 2012: The New Crescent of Ramadhan 1433 AH was NOT SEEN from Assalaam Observatory- Surakarta Central Java - Indonesia. We are about 200 moslem tried to see, but the sky was cloudy. And also about 38 location in Indonesia reported that the Hilal was not seen. Indonesia Government declared the 1st Ramadhan 1433 AH will be on Saturday, July 21, 2012. " 

وقال عضو المشروع الدكتور محمد حسين   أحمد "The new moon was not sighted in Brunei this afternoon, Thursday 19/7/2012. Therefore the 1st day of Ramadan will start on Saturday, 21 July 2012." 

وقال عضو المشروع الدكتور عبد العزيز إبراهيم "As a point of interest, I set up a Dobsonian XT6 telescope to try to capture the crescent but to no avail. The solar coronal glare was larger than usual, especially upwards of the trailing limb of the sun. The moon was positioned in this area. There was a mass coronal emission yesterday and perhaps (?) this may be the cause of the excessive coronal glare.

The weather was fine and trying to break the world record for a telescopic sighting proved unsuccessful.

" 

وقال عضو المشروع المهندس مارتن إليسياسر "We went to Jebel Shams, a 3000m high mountain to try to observe the crescent on 19. July. We started around 0930 and tried for 6 hours to image the crescent in daytime, but could not detect it. The sky was ok (which probably translates to excellent by local standards), but the area around the sun was still white with scattered light. This was not good enough to detect a crescent at 5° elongation. 

Later, clouds moved in and covered the sky, with some light rain. Shortly before sunset, the sun reached the lower edge of the clouds and nicely vanished in the haze some time later, still above the geometrical horizon. As the crescent was at least 100 million times fainter (going from the astronomical brightnes of sun and crescent) i just watched the colorful show.

I tried to take some "measurements" of the sky brightness during the day, using a quick lashup of a solar-photometer-lens for my DSLR. I will try to analyze these images later, hoping to get some kind of numerical value for the sky quality we encountered.
" 

وقال عضو المشروع السيد عبد العزيز أنيانج "All nine regions in Ghana did not see the new crescent except the Ashanti regional capital, Kumasi.  Two groups with representation from the National Hilal Committee went to the hihg ground to observe the new crescent, but could not see it.  On their return to the city, they were told that someone saw it with some other people and hence announcement was made that night to commerce the fast on the following day.  The next day (friday July 20) after sunset the new crescent was clearly seen by almost all the ten regions in Ghana.  Ramadan Mubarak...Ramadan Kareem!" 

وقال عضو المشروع السيد قاسم بهالي "The Hilal sighting ceremony was held at Al-Khawarizmi Observatory. The Governor of Malacca and more than 300 peoples joined this ceremony. Hilal was not seen due to western sky was cloudy." 

وقال عضو المشروع السيد صموال جبريل "The western horizon was partly cloudy,sunset was not visible too." 

وقال عضو المشروع السيد قمر الدين محمد "It was cloudy here, Sun disc disappear at 6:38 Pm local time due to Cloudy Western sky (approx: 20 degree). New Hilal of Ramadan is not visble." 

وقال عضو المشروع الدكتور عثمان النافطي "The western sky was totally clody as it is now rainy Aston here in Bauchi Nigeria. So the crescent was not sighted. However I got report from another town, Nafada about 350km away where the sky was superbly clear and hundreds of people there have tried sighting it but could not see it. All other friends that I constantly ask to try sighting the crescent during other lunar months also admitted not seeing it. Surprisingly though we heard from some media outlets that some people in couple of locations have sighted it.  The problem though is that once Saudi Arabia announced beginning of Ramadan it becomes a very strong justufication for claims of sighting and thus very difficult to refute.
Alhamdu Lillah.

Usman El-Nafaty" 

وقال عضو المشروع السيدة بسمة ذياب "Although it was officially the first day of Ramadan in Jordan following Saudi Arabia,7 of the Jordanian astronomical society went to observe the new crescent ( in Abu Soos/Amman )and had their breakfast outdoors. The western horizon was clear, but the crescent was seen 3 minutes after Sunset only by 25*100 binocular. " 

وقال عضو المشروع السيد حسين الشيخ عيسى " The New Crescent of Ramadhan 1433 AH was seen from N'tissa station - Ghardaia. from 25 personnes present only 2 personne saw the hilal by binoculars." 

وقال عضو المشروع السيد أبو عمار  مانجورانجو "This is a belated report and is being submitted for record purpose.

The 29th of Sha'ban in our extant calendar falls on Friday, July 20. Hence, sighting of hilal was attempted on the evening that day although there was no great expectation of positive result because the whole country was on the front end of a low pressure storm, locally named Ferdie by our meteorology agency. Heavy rains fall on many parts of the country, resulting into floods even in metropolitan areas like Manila. 

But to chance for the occasional and brief clearing of clouds, the attempt to observe the hilal was made by several parties. This was done mostly by members of the Tabligh movement whose members are located in most towns and villages in the country. No other group of Muslims in the Philippines has the organization and resource to seriously observe the hilal on a nation-wide and regular basis.

Since the hilal was not sighted on Friday evening, Ramadhan starts on Sunday, 22 July. Of course there are groups around who belong to the Saudi club and who started the Holy Month on Friday.  " 

وقال عضو المشروع الدكتور جواد تورابنيجاد "We arrived at our sighting location around 8:26 pm EDT (sunset: 8:38 pm).  Using binoculars, We started scanning the expected crescent location in a partly cloudy and hazy western horizon.  It was at 8:32 pm when my daughter located the moon using the 10X50 pair of binoculars.  Shortly after, following her directions, using the 7X50 pair of binoculars, I sighted  the crescent.  At 8:34 pm, my daughter sighted the moon with naked eye.  A minute later, the moon was behind the clouds and reappeared at 8:41 pm.  My naked eye sighting was at 8:43 pm.  We followed the crescent with binoculars till 8:52 pm when it was covered by clouds (moonset: 9:21 pm)." 

وقال عضو المشروع السيد سوجنج  رياضي "On Friday, July 20, 2012: The New Crescent of Ramadhan 1433 AH was SEEN from Assalaam Observatory- Surakarta Central Java - Indonesia. We are about 100 moslems saw the hilal, approx 10 minutes after sunset when the moon altitude at 10.5 degree by teleskop. We saw the hilal at 20 minutes after sunset, naked eye." 

وقال عضو المشروع المهندس سيد  رستامي "The crescent was seen by 9*50 finder and 8" telescope at few hour before sunset in my personal observatory." 

وقال عضو المشروع السيد علام سلطان "Not seen by us / officially announced that seen:: Today (Friday, 20 July 2012=29 Shabaan 1433 in Pakistan) on my request,  a large number of persons ( members of the moon-sighting committees of our institute "JAMIA-TUR-RASHEED" + my friends + their companions) tried to sight the moon all over Pakistan at more than 59 places but the moon could not be sighted. Almost, it was cloudy countrywide today.
Note 1: On the basis of the reports of two places……(1)Shahpur, Chakar, Sindh (2) Kachi, wanga, Dera Ghazikhan…….Chairman of central official moon sighting committee of Pakistan, mufti Munee-bur-Rahman announced that moon has been sighted thus Saturday 21st July 2012 is 1st Ramadhaan 1433 AH in Pakistan.
I am sorry to comment over this announcement without knowing the full written detail of the questions and answers between the witnesses and the expert of official committee. 
Note 2: Inshaallah, a detailed report of our own observations will be available soon in Urdu. 
" 

وقال عضو المشروع المهندس مارتن إليسياسر "We started well before sunset, using a mobile telescope optimized for crescent observations. Sky conditions were very hazy, but free of visible clouds. We could quickly see the crescent with the CCD camera and the telescopes tracked it well. This crescent was not a difficult task for the CCD system.
Switching to the visual view, we could later also see it visually through the telescope after sunset. 5 observers where present and i think we all saw it visually, but it was not easy and finding precise focus for each observer was important. We could NOT see it with the naked eye. 
I took some images with a standard DSLR through the telescope, to get images similar to the visual view. I have added a raw image from the DSLR, a contrast-stretched image from the DSLR and an image from my dedicated crescent imaging system, all taken with the same telescope." 

وقال عضو المشروع السيد فردوس  مزلان "On Friday, 20th July 2012 M equal to 29th Sha'ban 1433 H, we have split into many places in Malaysia to see the new moon. Below is the result of our rukyah team.

1. First Team

Kuala Kedah, Kedah (06:06:32.0 N , 100:17:12.0 E), Seen, 7.55 pm until 8.10 pm, the new crescent was seen by Mr. Mohd Redzuan bin Pandil, Mr. Muhammad Muhaimin bin Abd Abas, Mr. Mohd Husni bin Jamil, Mr. Musa bin Kasim, Mr. Syukri Arif bin Yusuf, Mr. Muhammad Afiq bin Mohd Safri and Mr. Khairi Shah bin Yahya.

2. Second Team

Pulau Pinang (05:25:00 N , 100:15:00 E), Seen, 7.45 pm until 8.15 pm, the new crescent was seen by Mr. Muhammad Muinuddin bin Mat Jusoh.

3. Third Team

Sungai Buloh, Kuala Lumpur (03:09:00 N , 101:41:00 E), Seen, 7.50 pm until 8.10 pm, Ms. Rasyidah bt Harun and Mr. Mohd Afif bin Mohd Nasaruddin.

4. Fourth Team

Baitul Hilal, Teluk Kemang, Negeri Sembilan (02:26:43.0 N , 101:51:16.0 E), Seen, 8.00 pm until 8.01 pm, the new crescent was seen by Mr. Mohd Razib bin Mohd Aris, Mr. Azizie bin Azmi, Mr. Mohd Haziq bin Hamzah, Mr. Mohd Afiq bin Hamzah, Mr. Afiezie bin Mohd Yunus, Mr. Syamil bin Mohd Sulaiman, Mr. Nik Nazrul bin Nik Kasbi, Mr. Mohd Rozaini bin Md Rahman, Mr. Mohd Jamal bin Othman, Mr. Nurfarhan bin Khamis, Mr. Mohd Khairi bin Nuruddin and Mr. Zulkarnain bin Jauhari.

Also seen with Binocular (Copitar Look 12x21 m/m Field - 4.6 Degree (Hilal)) by Mr. Rasyiq bin Alwi.

5. Fifth Team

Tanjung Mas, Muar, Johor (02:03:00 N , 102:34:00 E), Seen, 7.50 pm until 8.00 pm, the new crescent was seen by Mr. Afzan Amly bin Haji Ahmad Taha and Mr. Nazarul Hisyam bin Ishak. 

6. Sixth Team

Danga Bay, Johor Bahru, Johor (01:38:00 N , 103:40:00 E), Seen, 7.35 pm until 7.36 pm, the new crescent was seen by Mr. Mohd Imran bin Yusof.

.....

So, tomorrow, 21th July 2012 M (Saturday) is the 1st Ramadhan 1433 H. Our goverment already announced that tomorrow (21th July 2012 M) is 1st Ramadhan 1433 H.

.....

" 

وقال عضو المشروع الدكتور ساني  مصطفى "The western horizon was cloudy and hazy. No stars could be seen." 

وقال عضو المشروع السيدة بسمة ذياب "كانت رؤية الهلال ميسّرة بالعين المجرّدة، وقد شاهدته من خلال نافذتي الشمالية. بالإضافة إلى المنظر الجميل للزهرة والمشتري بلمعانيهما.

 The waning crescent of Sha'ban was easily seen by naked eyes. I could see it through my room window. Venus and Jupiter were shining with a high brightness too." 

وقال عضو المشروع المهندس مارتن إليسياسر "The easy crescent put up quite a fight, using clouds and enormous amounts of haze to hide in. I had to stalk it for more than one hour, standing on the open window of my hotel room till the crescent became visible in a gap in the clouds. By then, the crescent had reached a height of 20° und the sun was due to rise soon thereafter. In the end, it was also seen with the naked eye." 

وقال عضو المشروع السيد جيم ستام "Old Moon Crescent Observation Report
======================================
Observed:   Wednesday; July 18, 2012  -  05:39 (Local)

Location (WGS 84)     = Tucson, Arizona (USA)
   Longitude = 110.9651 W
   Latitude  =  32.4206 N
   Elevation = 842 meters
   Time Zone = -7.0 hours

Surface conditions at location:
   Temperature =  22 °C
   Humidity    =  43 %
   Pressure    =  29.79 in.

   Very slight haze, but some high cirrus present.

Topocentric and local time values from “Accurate Times”:
   Moonrise (at sea level)  =  05:00
   Sunrise  (at sea level)  =  05:24
   Time from new moon at   05:39   = -16 hr. 25 min.
   Moon lag time                   =         24 min.
   Relative Altitude               =    4.6  degrees
   Elongation from sun             =    8.1  degrees
   Crescent width                  =      9  arc seconds
   Illumination                    =    0.5  percent

I was NOT able to see the crescent, even through a telescope.

The sky looked superb in the east, but 5.5 degrees was just too high (mountain) to offer the contrast needed to see the crescent.

Observer:              Jim Stamm
E-mail Address:    StammJim@gmail.com" 

وقال عضو المشروع السيد سوجنج  رياضي "On Wednesday, July 18, 2012; we are from Assalaam Students Astronomy Club (CASA), The Modern Boarding School of Islam ASSALAAM. We saw the crescent after shubuh prayer, and the moon was covered by cloud before sunrise. " 

وقال عضو المشروع المهندس مارتن إليسياسر "Tons of haze made the old crescent impossible to see visually from my hotel room, using small binoculars. I also tried a cheap lens with a CMOS camera and some processing, but conditions were to bad and i could not be sure of pointing accuracy. The sun showed some sunspots when it finally became visible in the haze. The weather conditions here are really bad. We need to factor this into the models, so as not to raise unrealistic expectations."