International Astronomical Center

So far, the earliest sighting of the crescent was on 02 July from Malaysia by Mr. Kassim Bahali (KUSZA Astronomical Unit). The crescent was also seen on 02 July from Jordan, South Africa, and USA.

Sunday 02 July

• Malaysia: ICOP member, Mr. Kassim Bahali said: "Alhamdullilah, the moon had been sighted at Bailtul Hilal Teluk Kemang, Malaysia 10 minutes after sunset at about 19:35 local times. A group of people Baharuddin (ICOP member from KUSZA), Dr Zamri (UM), participants from Mufti and Religious department, JAKIM and others could saw the very thin crescent with Meade 8" & 10" LX200 telescope, and binocular. 3/7/2000 is our first day of Rabiul Akhir 1421."

• Iran: ICOP member, Mr. AliReza Mehrani said: "I together with three members of ICOP (Leila & Soheila Mir Shamshirgaran, Saeed Janghorban) and six members of AAS observed the Moon crescent. Due to the presence of scattered clouds and dust, we did need succeed to observe the crescent. In Iran, July 3rd is equal with Rabea' thani, 1th."

• Saudi: ICOP member, Mr. Saleh Al-Saab said: "IT WAS TOO DUSTY. MONDAY IS THE FIRST DAY OF RABEEA AL-THANY."

• UAE: ICOP member, Dr. David McNaughton said: "Thick dust haze and patchy cirrus - no success."

  Jordan:

  1. Irbid City (80 Km North of Amman): ICOP member, Mr. Bilal Gharaibeh said: "Because of the heat the sky was very dusty, also the city lights affected the visibility."

  2. Amman: Three JAS members: Eng. Khalid Al-Tell, Hani Dalee', and Ibrahim Odwan, tried to observe the crescent but they couldn't due to the hazy and partly cloudy whether.

  3. Ash-Shoubak (220 km South of Amman): Six members of JAS and ICOP went to one of the best areas in Jordan to observe the crescent from! The coordinates of this area are:-

     - Longitude: 35:30 E
     - Latitude: 30:24 N
     - Elevation: 1646 m
     - Time Zone: +3:00

     With great thanks Al-Ittihad Schools offered us one of their busses to go to the location of observation. The driver, Mr. Fayez Ash-Sharif was so cooperative, and we reached the location around 18 local time. We did visit Ash-Shoubak several times, and were fond of its marvelous nature! And its clear skies! However, this time the western horizon was rather hazy!! Which surprised us! Well, we said to each other "We bet, it is still better than Amman :-)!". We mounted the LX200 10" telescope, and we did two-star alignment at daytime! It was so interesting to see the stars at daytime :-)! And we did see Venus as well! We entered the coordinates of the crescent, and the telescope moved automatically to the entered coordinates. However, so far no crescent was seen!

     At 19:42 when the Sun was still visible Katbeh said I can see the crescent! I looked in the eyepiece, and I noticed something! But as for me I can't confirm it was the crescent. But Tareq did believe it was the crescent. The Sun disappeared among the haze somehow around 19:47. Later on at 19:53 I did see the crescent through the telescope with considerable difficulty. All the observers could see the crescent via the telescope after that. But none of us was able to see the crescent by either binoculars or naked eyes, although it was expected to see the crescent by naked eyes under perfect atmospheric conditions. But for sure it was not perfect conditions at all!

     The observers were:-

     1. Fayez Ash-Sharif (Ittihad Schools)
     2. Tareq Katbeh (ICOP)
     3. Moh'd Odeh (ICOP)
     4. Emad Ashi
     5. Ali Katbeh
     6. Qusay Karman
     7. Hussain Ammareen

     The crescent conditions (when firstly seen):-

     • Sunset at sea-level: 19:44.
     • Sunset at 1646 meters above sea-level: 19:51
     • The crescent was firstly visible at: 19:53
     • Topocentric Moon's age: 20:59
     • Geocentric Moon's Age: 21:33

  Palestine: Eng. Ayman Tirhi of PAS said: " I tried to observe the new crescent from the roof of my house in Jerusalem with my wife (Eng. Samah), but we did not manage to see it because there were a lot of clouds in the sky."

• South Africa:
  1. ICOP member, Dr. John Caldwell of the South African Astronomical Observatory (SAAO), mentioned that the western horizon was superb and he was able to see the crescent by both naked eyes and binoculars.

  2. ICOP member, Mr. Hashim Salie said: "The beautiful, thin, young crescent moon was seen from Cape Town on 2 July 2000. The 1st Rabee-u Thaaniy corresponds to 03 July 2000."

• Morocco: ICOP member, Dr. Hamid TOUMA said: "I am very glad to inform you that the Moroccan Government has announced yesterday that it was impossible to see the crescent within the area of Morocco, so the first day of Rabea II will be tomorrow 4 July 2000, in Morocco."

• Trinidad and Tobago: ICOP member, Dr. Shirin Haque-Copilah said: "My apology for not sending the report the last few months, but on each occasion the sky had been too cloudy as we are pretty much into the rainy season here, as happened this month also. The search will continue, Insha Allah!"

• USA:

  1. ICOP member, Mr. Gulamabbas Khakoo said: "Observed the Sighting of the Moon Crescent for Rabii-ul-Thani in Buena Park, California on July 2nd at 20:25 hrs. The 1st of the month falls on 3rd July, Monday."

  2. ICOP member, Mr. Muhammad Hafiz said: " I WAS IN UPSTATE NEW YORK. I LOOKED FOR THE CRESCENT ON THE 2ND JULY BUT WAS NOT ABLE TO SEE ANY AT SUNSET. THE OBSERVATION WAS DONE IN THE TOWN OF WITNEY POINT IN BIGHAMTON."

Mondauy 03 July

• Yemen: ICOP member, Dr. Mojahid Najem said: "Great crescent could be seen even before sunset."

• Kenya: ICOP member, Mr. Mahmood Essa said: "Regret to let you know it was too cloudy yesterday 2/7/2000 to observe the crescent. However, I am happy to report that I managed to see the crescent for a while today ( 3/7/2000 ) before it got covered with clouds yet again. It was quit clear and I saw it with naked eyes. It was quite high up in the sky and not too thin. Hope above info is useful."

• Nigeria: ICOP member, Mr. Alabi Isiaq said: "The crescent for Rabii-thani was sighted here (Lagos) on Monday (03/07/00). Tuesday 04/07/00 is taken as the 1st Rabii-Thani. Meanwhile, the crescent was not visible on Sunday (02/07/00)."

Sunday 02 July (Wrong in ALL countries. No crescent visible anywhere!):-

1. Jordan

Monday 03 July:-

1. Malaysia
2. Iran
3. Saudi
4. South Africa
5. Kenya
6. USA

Tuesday 04 July:-

1. Morocco (Could be late!)
2. Nigeria (Could be late!)