Ramadan: Why there is controversy over moon sighting
Earlier, the Izala group based in Jos have commenced fasting on Sunday on the instruction of their leader, Sheik Jingir, even when instructions from the palace of the sultan tells Muslims the moon have not been sighted on Saturday and Muslims were to complete the month of Sha’aban to 30 and commence fasting on Monday. […]
Earlier, the Izala group based in Jos have commenced fasting on Sunday on the instruction of their leader, Sheik Jingir, even when instructions from the palace of the sultan tells Muslims the moon have not been sighted on Saturday and Muslims were to complete the month of Sha’aban to 30 and commence fasting on Monday.
As the spiritual leader of Nigerian Muslims, and in accordance with the teachings of Islam, the Sultan’s instruction detailing the commencement of the beginning of the Ramadan fast when Muslims are expected to abstain from food and drink from morning till sunset is usually awaited keenly by Muslims spread across the 36 states of Nigeria and the Federal Capital, Abuja after credible reports of sighting of the moon are received from any part of the country.
While the palace said news of Saturday’s sighting of the moon are not credible and as such not to be relied upon, Sheik Jingir disagrees, hence his instruction to his followers to commence fasting in violation of the Sultan’s instruction.
Sheik jingir said: “On the first day moon-sighting was to be observed (Saturday), we received phone calls from our state chapters that people caught glimpse of the lunar month of Ramadan in their respective towns. And the first phone call we received was from the chairman council of ulama of Toro Local Government. Instantly, we told them to inform their district head, having done that, they were taken to the palace of the emir of Bauchi. They furnished him with details and concrete proofs that they had seen the moon. We also got another phone call from Kebbi State that the moon was sighted in several towns, some of which are Basaura, Kalgo and Katanga. They too paid a visit to the palace of the emir of Gwandu, where they informed him that the moon was sighted. Similarly, we got another phone call from Sokoto that the moon was seen in Tambuwal. We received another call from Gusau the capital city of Zamfara State. And from Jalingo the capital of Taraba State. Having gathered all these information, I called one of the numbers linking the palace of the sultan. The person who answered the called told me that he was sick and lying at home. For this reason, he could not go out to inform the palace. I also tried the second number. As the phone was picked, I informed the person on the line the places where the moon was sighted. He told us that he would look for the closest person to the Sultan who would inform him. We said we were waiting. As we waiting for long there was no response, we re-dialed the number, and the person who picked the phone told us that we were not alone, he received the same message from different places, as such we should keep on waiting. But we were askance when our Sokoto State chapter told us that Professor Gwandu announced that Ramadan fasting should start on Monday. Radio Kaduna announced the same thing. Having pondered on all that transpired we concluded that the announcement violates the teachings of Islam and the treaty entered with us. As we agreed that if we sighted the moon we should inform them; we sighted the moon and informed them, but they did not take us serious.”
The sultan of Sokoto, in his defense, during a chat with journalists in Sokoto last Sunday said: “What people don’t know is we have moon sighting committees in 36 states of Nigeria, which we set up at our meeting. And there is National Moon sighting committee which we set, which we all agreed, all of us Muslim leaders in this country, chaired by Group Captain Usman Jibril who is based in Kaduna, we have committee members from Lagos and other places. One of the ways of getting information about moon sighting is from this committee. Usman Jibril and his committee talk to each state committee. So one of the ways I relied on sighting the moon is Usman jibril’s committee, he will call me and tell me how far and we bought six binoculars, very giant ones, and gave them to the six geopolitical zones, which would aid us in sighting the moon.
“So we distributed them to aid our eyes, there is nothing wrong with that. Islam did not say you can’t do that. So these committees are there and then we have each senior emir with their own committees too, they work also in consonance with these other committee- Usman Jibril’s committee. On moon sighting day, Usman Jibril said we have not seen the moon, we are still looking. The Emir of Kano, Emir of Katsina ,Lamido of Adamawa, Shehu of Borno, Emir of Zazzau, Emir of Bauchi, Emir of Fika, Etsu Nupe, all of them, nobody said they have sighted the moon, all of them are all alive.
“Before then we took a decision last year or two years back, I can’t remember, once it is 8:30pm on the 29th of the month, we close accepting calls or any information on sighting of the moon, why? To check people who are trying to be mischievous because if there is a new moon today 7th august, it is the first day you are suppose to look for the new moon, if it comes at 7:05 by six ,seven, eight minutes the moon is gone, you cannot see it at 7:10,7:20, so if somebody comes to tell you he has seen the moon at 8:00 he is telling lies ,it is not possible. It is 100 percent impossible; these are some of the things that we check. We double check, it is very important that we put these things that you people don’t know because you are not aware of all these things we put in place and it is very important that we put these in place and it has helped us a lot. So there is no disunity, and that’s what happened last Saturday. We kept on calling at 8:00, 8:30 no single person came forward, then from the blues somebody came and said we have seen the moon in Tambuwal, when in Tambuwal? How did he get to see the moon? The District Head of Tambuwal called me on his GSM.
“Meanwhile this gentleman has been on hospital bed for the past three weeks being operated. On hospital bed, somebody called him that moon was sighted in Tambuwal and then he too he called the moon sighting committee, so he didn’t follow the rules we have set. Immediately they told me I said no. I am not accepting that one. Call him and tell him I said no, since I am the leader and I have my reasons. After we finished at about 9:00, 9:15, they said from Gada, they have seen the moon. We had already drafted our statement after I had talked to all the other leaders, not to talk of the south, in the south not even a single person said they have seen the moon, the whole southern Nigeria. For the whole south, not a single person.”
The Sultans position is made difficult by the beliefs adopted by clerics who belong in the same school of thought like Sheik Jingir that technology should not be deployed to aid the sighting of the moon as it goes contrary to the tenets of Islam. Also, the likes of Sheik Jingir aver that Islam dose not say a committee should decide the sighting of the moon but individuals who are found to be truthful and trustworthy in the society.
Sheik Jingir said: “Vividly Islam attached higher significance to observing the moon, rather than allow a group of people to form a committee, so as to enable them decide, whether the month will be complete (30 days) or not.” The Sheik also deplores the use of technology, saying : “Within the last two to three years, when His Eminence the Sultan, Sa’ad Abubakar assumed the throne and Allah (SWT) bestow him with leadership position, the issue of moon sighting turned out to be a problem, owing to which a decision was reached on sighting the moon through the use of computer (technology). For this reason, we wrote extensively to clarify the Islamic stand on the matter, which negates the new method to be adopted.”
In fairness to the Sultan, long before he assumed the throne, the issue of moon sighting has often generated controversy among Nigeria’s Muslim population. At times, Muslims start and end their fast contrary to the days most Muslim countries in the world start and end their fast. The controversy has also seen Muslims in the south starting and ending the fast on a different day from Muslims in the north. Even among Muslims in the north, there have been disagreements on the issue. So, even though the Sheik cites the tradition adopted during the days of the prophet in his defense, the truth is it has often failed to win the general consensus of Nigeria’s Muslim population.
Besides, there is the issue of the integrity and even knowledge of the people who call claiming to have sighted the moon. The Sultan cites examples of such fraudulent people: “In this very palace, a moon sighting report was brought. The moon was sighted in one…I won’t call the name of the town. So they brought the people with the list of 10 names-Muhammadu, Abdullahi, etc, they brought them to the committee. They asked who is Mallam Abdullahi; they questioned them to authenticate their state of mind, whether they are good Muslims, etc. They asked him where he sighted the moon. He said ‘I didn’t see moon anywhere, I didn’t know how my name got there’, they said okay sit down. They followed these names one by one up to 10 not one of these people said he saw the moon, but they have written their names and brought the list that they have sighted the moon in their town. How do you want me now with this information from someone coming from one village, that I accept it against the larger majority of the Muslims in this country? Then the third one, somebody sent me a text, of course you know there’s no name. In the text the person said in Hausa, ‘we said we saw the moon but it was a lie we didn’t see it, we know you don’t check, we pray Allah forgive us’. This was sent to my phone, with the number put on NTA that when they see the moon they should inform us.
‘I have started investigation, I gave the number to somebody else, he called the person, the person answered; he heard in the background someone like one of these Mallams. I didn’t say anything, just to confirm if the number is working. We now went to MTN; if it is registered, we want to know this person. MTN said we have to go through security. It is not an easy thing, it is a process; we have gone to SSS to get clearance, if we can know who that person is. Put yourselves in my shoes, when you are faced with these issues that I have told you. I have to be very, very careful about accepting such reports of sighting of moon especially very late in the night. They are used to 29th, every 29th they must see the moon and it doesn’t follow; now we have simple technology which will tell you the new moon is at so, so and so time but it might not be seen or it could be seen, then you know there is a possibility, but if it says it cannot be seen anywhere in the word, then you know that if the moon is born at 7:40pm, there is no way you can see it that evening. If it is more than 7:40 pm, you couldn’t have seen it at 7:10 or 7:15, it was not even born and when it was born, you cannot even see it. This is simple astronomy. Technology has helped us but we look until we see, if we don’t see, that’s all, if it is not 29, it is 30 and after 30 no 31.”