| Visibility of Crescent Dear Mr. Abdul Rahim One of the first visibility criteria for determining the probability of sighting the new crescent was determined by Ibn Tariq, Khawarizmi etc and modified recently with the likes of Schaefer, Ilyas, Yallop and others. Few factors are necessary for sighting the moon which is true during the time of the Prophet (pbuh) and now. one is the angle of elongation between the Sun and moon which should be at least 9 degrees (or a moon age greater than 15 to 18 hours) Second is that the moon set should be after sunset. Khawrizmi recognized that the moonset should be at least 45 minutes after sunset. This is common sense (which is often lacking in those that argue one has to leave Magrib prayer to sight the moon). Immediately after the sun has set and till the sun has gone below the horizon for at least 3 degrees (i.e. 15 minutes), the twilight from the sun obscures any visibility of the reflected light from a young moon. Therefore it is fool hardy to look for the moon immediately after sunset or at least till 15 minutes have elapsed when looking for a very young new crescent. This is like looking for the light of torch light on the ground at noon, the brightness of the noon will prevent the ring of light from being seen. Allah (subhanawata’ala) is all knowing. 15 minutes is more than enough to perform Magrib and the two Sunnah. If the moon is much older like >24 hours, then it will be seen from around sunset as the brightness is high but it will also be seen for longer time as the moon set is longer with the longer age of the moon. So all through this 1426 years, there was never a need for the Magrib prayer to be delayed. A young moon will be see only after 15 minutes of sunset and if it is still not set and the older moon will be well seen for a longer time as the moon set is delayed. If on the 29th, the moon is clouded over, complete 30 as ordered by the Prophet (pbuh). As you rightly said Manikfan is not an astronomer. Hence he does not understand this. But then He is not a scholar of Islam, he is not a scholar of mathematics as expounded in his errors of methods in calculation of Prophet’s birth date of birth, He is not a scholar of calendars as expounded by his erroneous methods. So I suggest you contact authentic scholars of Islam who know Islamic rulings to understand Islam and good Muslim astronomers who understand astronomy. Else you will be in the cess pool of errors filled with non defendable methods and will find no one to support you on the day of judgment. Islam came in a simple way and it remains simple. Do not make it mechanistic. Just like you would not go to a self taught non qualified person who claims to be a heart surgeon to get your heart operated if that need came along, you should not go to people who know neither astronomy, nor mathematics, nor Islamic shariah nor science nor calendarical rules for Islamic calendar. Allah guide us all to the truth. Still time for asking Allah’s mercy before the end of Ramadan to show you the true path and ask forgiveness for rejecting authentic muttawattir hadith. salams Brother My Reply (I understand later that Mr. Riyad never saw hilal, He just predicting with software of Schaefer, Ilyas, Yallop. I proved that the software is impractical and invalid ) Dear Brother AssalamAlaikum & Eid Mubarak Have you ever seen the Hilal of 29th or 30th or 1st? Has anyone now living seen the Hilal? Hilal is the first crescent that appears in the end of the month in the western horizon. This is seldom visible under miraculous conditions. Let those who have seen the Hilal give me the details of their observation. In the shariah we need not see the Hilal after completing 30 days for the month. We complete 30 days by fasting on Sunday. So Monday is the Day of Eid without any doubt. Let them say Monday is a day of Ramadan if they have proof for it in the Quran and Sunnah. Ramadan began on Saturday, As you know Omer bin Khathab established the Hijri Calendar for Islamic calendar system. In his calendar, not only the Ramadan, Shawal, and Dulhajj but also it was 12 months. As per your visibility system Omer (RA) and his colleagues practiced to go to western horizon every month end for fixing the dates of his calendar at time of Magrib. Oh! It is unbelievable! How many years he was practiced this way in his ruling period. You put some factors of visibility at time of Prophet SAWS and now you consider it as very easy. From were you got all this factors, is it not mathematics? Is it not the part of 29.53 days the Jewish theory (convert in to hours). Did The Prophet teach you all this things? Now you are stating that calculability can apply only for visibility, not for the knowing the dates are 29 or 30 or first of the month. I cannot understand what a basic theory of Islamic calendar you meant. A train is starting from Ernakulam to Bombay with speed of 100km per hour and it is constant speed and non stop. The distance from Ernakulam to Bombay is 1000km. But there is a tunnel in between. When train passes through this tunnel suddenly it disappears in dark no body can see any thing inside and out side of the train. Then how many hours used to reach the train at Bombay? For the answer no need to ask any mathematician or any great scholars. This is what in the case of Lunar month. The speed is constant, non stop and the tunnel is conjunction. No need to wait in the other end of the tunnel to confirm that train is coming out or not. If we did not see the train because of our physical conditions or any other diseases like blood pressure or diabetic. that does not mean train did not come out. Your quote of an Hadees of Prophet that if on the 29th the moon is clouded over complete it 30. Do you know 29th is conjunction. It may not be seen in western horizon. Perhaps the month is 30 The 29th the last crescent of the month( urjoon ul Qadeem) can be seen easily over the eastern horizon and it is rising up at time of Fajr. You quoted as Aisha RA. The Prophet practiced to count in Shaban more than the other months. Why he is counting in Shaban in advance. Is it enough that goes to western horizon in time of Magrib to see the hilal at the end of the month Shaban? If it is not seen, complete it as 30. Very simple. I had also quoted some factors of visibility it is from US Naval Observatory in my last email ( the time an observer first sees that young Moon cannot be computed exactly. The time the Moon first becomes visible after the New Moon depends on many factors. The various effects are the geometry of the Sun, Moon, and horizon; the width and surface brightness of the crescent; the absorption of the Moon’s light and the scattering of the Sun’s light in the Earth’s atmosphere; and the physiology of human vision. These things all change very rapidly.) This is the present condition of visibility. I attached some animations with this letter. Go through this and just imagine you are in a space station, you want to practice fasting and prayers. What kind of mythology to be used for it. You think. Use your brain as processor, not only storage of knowledge; A donkey also can carry the books of knowledge. But only the man can think with his brain: the gift of Allah to knowing him through his creation. God Bless you Wassalam Eid Mubarak Abdulrahim |