Fitr Jitters? Believe your Eid! As salam alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu I pray this finds you all in the best of physical and spiritual health. This is a statement to clarify the confusion of the last couple of days regarding the end of Ramadan and Eid. The headline: Eid on Monday or Tuesday was perfectly valid. Neither qada nor kaffara is required of either group. Above all, do not condemn those who followed a different position. _____________________ It’s a tragicomic situation that, following a (pretty unprecedented) united beginning and end to Ramadan, the Muslim community in the UK has conspired to create a yet new species of confusion with which to baffle and bemuse all concerned. This new breed: the Eid that wasn’t. As most are aware, Islamic months begin with the sighting of the new crescent moon. There are a number of fiqh issues around this, including whether this entails hypothetical or actual sighting, the geographical extent of a sighting, and so forth. Given the location of the UK in the far north and the inclement weather conditions, it is normally impossible for the crescent to be sighted here. As such, the ulama normally pronounce the new month on the basis of sightings elsewhere in the world: most commonly North and South Africa, but sometimes other places. For most Muslims, however, these are dilemmas for the ulama to wrestle with - specifically those who have been given the responsibility to pronounce on the beginning of the month. The moral responsibility of the lay Muslim is fulfilled simply by adhering to the decision of the ulama. This is a very important point to bear in mind, especially in an era where we are all armchair moonsighters and coffee-table jurists. This year, the moon was sighted on Sunday 27th July in Johannesburg, South Africa. There were some questions raised about this sighting, given that it was not seen by many observers in Cape Town (to the west), where thousands of people gather annually to observe the Eid moon over the Atlantic. Nonetheless, after listening to witness testimonies and not-inconsiderable debate, all the ulama bodies in South Africa decided to accept the Johannesburg sightings. It should be noted that all South African Muslims (of every theological stripe) adhered to the pronouncement of a Monday Eid, including the Capetonian Muslims who failed to see the moon! Meanwhile, in the UK, it appears that the confusion started early. On Sunday, some individuals declared (incorrectly) that the moon was impossible to sight, then announced it had been sighted in South Africa, then retracted it - all within the space of several hours. In other places, frantic phone calls were being made to people at 2am Monday morning telling them to fast. Nonetheless, the official ulama bodies announced Eid as being on Monday on the basis of the South African sightings. Thereafter, however, messages began to circulate about a retraction of this decision, which included a clip on a Urdu language TV channel. It stated, inter alia, that the Monday Eid was incorrect, that it should have been Tuesday, and that Muslims thus needed to make up a day’s fast. This message - purportedly from the ‘Ahle Sunnat wal Jamaat UK’ - spread like wildfire over social media and unfortunately caused a great deal of distress and confusion (not to mention sleepless nights for ulama and their families, having to field hundreds of phone calls!). This was followed (several hours later) by a Facebook clarification from representatives of an official body of ulama, stating clearly that Eid on Monday was valid and that there was no reason to perform qada fasts. Unfortunately, as is the way of such things, this does not appear to have spread anywhere near as far or fast as the first rumour! In a nutshell: Fitna (confusion, dissension and chaos) is to be avoided under all circumstances. The responsibility of the lay Muslim is to adhere to the decisions of the ulama on matters regarding community religious responsibilities. The responsibility of the ulama (and those privy to their discussions, like students) is to maintain the confidentiality of the legal discussions that occur until a decision has been reached and clearly communicated to people. There is no sin or make-up required, regardless of whether one performed Eid on Monday or Tuesday. One who performed Eid on Monday, but is uncertain about its correctness, is entitled to perform a qada fast, but should do so in such a way that does not cause misgivings in others. It is strongly recommended that effective, language-appropriate official channels are set up to disseminate important community information in a timely and clear manner, and that these become the go-to resource for the community, rather than unverified anonymous messages. As a related point, it should be noted that the adab of passing on ‘important messages’ via social media is that one should always verify before sending onwards. The Prophet (peace and blessings upon him) said, ‘it is sufficient to be branded a liar that a person (uncritically) parrot anything that they hear.’
Posted on: Wed, 30 Jul 2014 14:02:53 +0000
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