Ramadan: The start and finish

The Prophet (pbuh) said: “Fast  when you see (the moon) and cease fasting when you see it, and if it is hidden or cloudy, complete the counting of Sha’aban as 30 days.”  

The issue of sighting of the moon to start the Ramadan Fast and mark the Eid-el-Fitr day has over the years been a cantankerous  one, causing division amongst Muslims; into those who say their claim is premised on the saying of the Prophet (pbuh) cited in the Hadith above; those who opt for scientific calculations; those who insist on seeing the moon with their own eyes (koro koro as some say), whatever the weather condition, and even if they have to throw in some additional days after the thirtieth of Sha’aban, before they start the Fast; to the proponents of marrying physical sighting with scientific calculations to arrive at the various blessed dates.

Muslims in Nigeria have over the years commenced the Ramadan Fast and observed the Eids on different dates, within the North and in the northern and southern parts of the country. In 2011 a section of the Muslim community commenced the Ramadan fasting on a Sunday in outright defiance of the pronouncement by the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar III, as leader of the Jama’atu Nasril Islam (JNI), the country’s Muslim umbrella organization, to commence fasting on the following Monday.

Calculations of sighting of the moon and observations have matched month on month for over a decade now and has guided the ummah in some parts of the world. In Saudi Arabia and other UAE countries their committees on moon sighting are well established and their pronouncements on dates accepted and relayed to the people accordingly. Similarly, in the United States of America (USA), UK and other Asian countries their Islamic Shura Council and Fiqh Council have adopted single  position on confirming the crescent sighting such that differences are not allowed to cause disunity among the blessed Ummah. Indeed many hadith on the matter of moon sighting are a pointer that even the Companions (as) and their later contemporaries did not concur in toto about the start and end of the Ramadan Fast but this did not degenerate into a source of disunity or discord among the Ummah.

Allah (swt) says:“And hold fast, all of you together, to the Rope of Allah and be not divided among yourselves.” Al-Imran.

In one of his write-ups, Usman H. Dukku ([email protected]), had listed reasons for disagreement between Muslims in Nigeria over the sighting of the moon to include: that “most Nigerians do not go by the official announcements; that an organised system of monitoring the moon is wanting; that Sha’aban and Ramadan have had 29 days each in the past 40 years while Shawwal and Dhul-Qi’dah have had 30 days each but only in Nigeria and; that Nigeria leads the world in moon sighting.”

He explained that the above situation, “has led to a dichotomy: those that follow the announcements with absolute loyalty; and those that totally reject such announcements” adding that, “Whereas the former maintain that they are following their leaders, as dictated by the Shari’a, the latter believe that the leaders are wrong and, therefore, should not be followed.”

However, it is encouraging that Islamic religious leaders in Nigeria have started making effort towards bridging the unfortunate dichotomy in the observance of Islamic dates and the blessed events attached to them. The Sultan of Sokoto and President General of the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA), Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar III, and Professor Dawud Noibi, Executive Secretary, Muslim Ummah of South West Nigeria, while addressing the National Conference on Moon Sighting in Nigeria in July last year, lamented over the division the controversy on moon sighting has brought between Muslims in Nigeria and called for uniformity in observing the Ramadan Fast in the country.

The religious leaders stressed on the need for the various leaders of the Muslim Ummah in the country to ensure that there is mass education of Muslims on the need to adhere strictly to the rules regarding moon sighting for the Ramadan.

Also speaking to Daily Trust on the issue, leaders of the Izala Islamic group, Ash-Sheikh Muhammadu Sani Yahaya Jingir and Sheikh Abdullah Bala Lau, harped on the need for unity amongst Muslims as one of the greatest features and benefits of the Islamic Law and also urged the people to strive for knowledge in order to serve Allah in accordance with his commands, noting that: “Allah (swt) has in the Glorious Qur’an commanded us to ‘refer to God and His messenger in matters of dispute.’ (4:59; 26:10) and to ‘ask those who possess knowledge, where we do know not.’ (16:43).

As we look out for the new crescent early next week, the clarion call to the generality of Muslims is to follow the informed opinion of the majority of Muslims in starting and ending the Ramadan, even if this opinion is opposed an individual opinion or that of an organization, and to end the attitude of those who dub pronouncement to commence Ramadan by leaders as ‘azumin radio’ or ‘azumin sarki’.

Opting for the opinion of the majority in matters of ijtihad as against following individual opinion, the learned ones tell us, is a well established and recommended option in the Islamic Law.