With Muslims across the nation actively involved in preparations for Eid celebrations, an understanding of the genesis of the festival is in order.
The moon always remains the most sought after thing for Ramadan fasters but as elusive as the beloved of Urdu poetry; especially the anxiety rises high when western horizon becomes cloudy in monsoon.
Time and again questions have been raised on the issue of Islamic calendar and its system of reckoning months. The modern techies talk of gadgets which enable us see through the clouds and ascertain crescent, i.e. first moon.
Many, believing in unanimity of brethren, try to make Muslim ummah united to celebrate Eid on one day throughout the globe, which is other wise a ridiculous idea. It is simply an impossiblity.
Elders may recall that President Ayub Khan of Pakistan once had conceptulised a plan to see both Western Pakistan and Eastern Pakistan (now Bangladesh), celebrate Eid on a single day. So, it was decided then that a Pakistan Air Force plane would fly above the clouds and confirm the sighting of first moon.
He was 'Master not a Friend' of wisdom, ignorant of the very fact that the pilot would not have found crescent in the sky, but a full moon, because the moon is always in space. It is for our convenience that different phases of moon were fixed by the astrologers as parameters to fix a day of month in a lunar calendar.
It is all applied geography to mend our calendars. Some how the Muslim clergy persuaded him not to indulge in such foolish endeavours and so the highest office was saved from shame.
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What do Islamic tenets say of this phenomenon, let us see. The festivals in the Islamic world are observed according to the Hijri calendar which is a lunar calendar, as is in case of the Hindu calendar.
The best path in Islam to follow, after Holy Qur'an, is the path of traditions (hadiths) of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). Hadith literature says that on one such occasion, when asked by his companions about the days of a month, Prophet had raised his both hands and waved ten fingers thrice saying : "ha kaza (this way)" i.e. 30;and again waved his hands thrice holding a thumb folded, third time, saying : "ha kaza (this way)" i.e. 29.
It means in the Islamic calendar, there can be a month either of 29 or 30 days. There can never be 28 or 31 days. Now, the question comes as to how to decide the length of a month; if it is of 29 or 30 days? The deciding factor remains the sighting of the crescent or first moon on the horizon. The prophet, in this respect, has said: "See the crescent and start your month; see another crescent end your month".
As an interpretation of this, hadith experts on Islamic jurisprudence say there are three conditions of ascertaining sighting of the moon-Rauyat, Shahadat and Mudda.
Rauyat means seeing the crescent of the moon with your own eyes. Shahadat means having valid evidence of two believers who confirm the moon's sighting. If both ways fail, then the third option of Muddat or completion of 30 days is applied.
In this last interpretation, there remains no room for confusion about the ending of the fasting month.
It is very interesting to note that for any other month of the Islamic calendar, nobody bothers about the sighting of the moon.
The prophet has said: "Make efforts to see the crescent of (month of) Sha'ban, Ramadan and Zil-Hajj".
Sha'ban is the eighth month of the Islamic calendar preceding Ramadan, Ramadan is well-known to all for being the fasting month and Zil-Hajj is the last and 12th month in which the pilgrimage to holy cities of Mecca and Medina is performed by Muslims.
When my friends and relatives ask me about the day of Eid, I tell them: "Let me ask my friend Rajeev Dwivedi who is a Hindu Pandit."
My reply makes them really uncomfortable. An Eid! Being forecasted by a Hindu Pandit? It seems totally unacceptable to them. My tricky reply has obviously nothing to do with forecast or foreseeing the future. It is simply a lighter tone given to a serious query.
In fact, the Hindu almanac is based on astrological calculations, having an account of the moon's travel.
It is near perfect in fixing time and the day or days of Amawassya (dark night), as the month starts with Amawassya in the Hindu calendar, being a lunar calendar.
As per this theory it is important to know that amawassya is for a single day or two and when exactly it is to end? If single-day amawassya ends by the next morning or noon then there is a great possibility of sighting of crescent in the following evening to make the month of 29 days.
The dooj (second day) of Hindu calendar becomes the first day of the Islamic calendar. If the amawassya extends further say till evening then there would be no crescent on that evening. It means the month is of 30 days.
I am really surprised to see that why people are unable to understand the geography which based on the curvature of the round shaped earth which revolves on its own axis and also around the sun. Moon is a star of earth, revolving around it. So as a result we have bright and dark halves of a 24-hour day.
Thus is constituted a day and a night; 29 or 30 days make months and so an annum is completed. The Gregorian calendar (wrongly called the Christian calendar) which is commonly used world over is a solar calendar. There falls a difference of nearly 10 t0 12 day between lunar and solar calendar years (i.e. one month's difference in every three years). This-is-why the festivals of muslims revolve throughout the calendar to fall in every season but this is not the case with the Hindu calendar, though it is a lunar calendar, because of the fact that their calendar is adjusted after every three months by adding an adhik-maas (additional month).
There can not be a possibility on this round earth that sun or moon is sighted by people around the globe. So as a matter of fact when Muslims in Mecca and Medina in Saudi Arabia sight crescent it is obvious that it would not be visible to people in India. As a matter of fact they celebrate Eid a day or two before the people of Indian sub-continent. The same difference is between Europe and Australia, America and Far East.
So, this year, when the end of the holy month of Ramadan nears its end, I advise people not to bother about sighting of crescent. Be patient... let the earth take a full round, let the moon complete its full circle, let the Amawassya passes through its full tenure. The Allah who created sun, earth and moon, He only made fasting obligatory on us, He taught us constraint and tolerance....so He only will make crescent appear on the horizon at its stipulated time and date.... Bury your hurries for a nice curry, collect berries for a good Eid-day...but if you ask me Eid when? Clouds are out there to test your tolerance. Wait for the crescent to appear on the western horizon.
G.S.Khwaja, is an epigraphist of Arabic and Persian working with the Archaeological Survey of India, Nagpur. He is also an expert on Islamic culture.