Moon Sighting Committee

Can you please tell me about the monthly Moon Sighting system of Wifaqul Ulama, the Ulama who supervise the decisions and the Ulama who endorse this system?

 

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عمدة التحقيق في احكام الأهلة لأهل باتلي و بريطانيا

This is a sum­marised trans­la­tion of the book­let.  The evi­dence of the prin­ci­ples (described below), dis­cus­sions and opin­ions of Ula­ma have been delib­er­ate­ly left out to present a sim­ple set of rules for Mus­lims in Britain to under­stand. We encour­age those inter­est­ed in in-depth dis­cus­sion to read the book­let in full.

9^th of Jumadut-Thani 1429

Sat­ur­day, 14^th of June 2008

Proof of (Moon Sighting):

Three dis­tinct terms name­ly “News”, “Tes­ti­mo­ny” and “Announce­ment” are used in con­nec­tion to Moon Sight­ing. It is imper­a­tive that these are under­stood in their Islam­ic (Shari­ah) con­text to avoid con­fu­sion. It is our opin­ion that major­i­ty of the mis­un­der­stand­ing lies in lack of com­pre­hen­sion of these terms. Moon Sight­ing can be proven from any of these five (5) methods:

1. (Actu­al) Moon Sighting
2. Tes­ti­mo­ny of Moon Sight­ing and it can be split into 3 cases: 
   1. (Direct) Tes­ti­mo­ny of (Actu­al) Moon Sighting
   2. Tes­ti­mo­ny upon some­one else’s (direct) Tes­ti­mo­ny of (Actu­al) Moon Sighting
   3. Tes­ti­mo­ny upon some­one else’s Qad­ha (legal­ly accept­ed judge­ment of Ula­ma that tes­ti­mo­ny of (Actu­al) Moon Sight­ing has been accepted)
3. Cor­re­spon­dence between Qad­hi (Judge) to anoth­er Qadhi
4. Isti­fad­ha
5. Radio, Tele­vi­sion, Tele­phone, Let­ters, Fax­es or oth­er accept­ed means of communication

Procedure of establishing Islamic Month:

Bat­ley Moon Sight­ing Com­mit­tee (BMSC) have encap­su­lat­ed these as eight (8) prin­ci­ples and these are as follows:

1. Where the 1st of the Islam­ic Month is estab­lished in Sau­di Ara­bia, Moroc­co and (South) Africa on the same day it should be adopt­ed for Unit­ed King­dom, unless it con­tra­dicts (Islam­ic) prin­ci­ples or intel­lect  (to be adopt­ed here)
2. Train, pro­vi­sion and estab­lish (com­mit­tees of peo­ple) who estab­lish (actu­al) Moon Sight­ing. They should be well versed in ide­al sight­ing loca­tion as they change through­out the year
3. If 29th is firm­ly estab­lished in British (as per prin­ci­ple 1, above) then announce­ment should be made
4. If the Moon is not sight­ed on the 29th (of the Islam­ic Month) then the tes­ti­mo­ny can be obtained from oth­er coun­tries provided: 
   1. They have the Islam­ic date as Britain
   2. Act­ing on the infor­ma­tion must not make an Islam­ic Month have 28 or 31 days in Britain
   3. The Moon Sight­ing sys­tem should match or close­ly agree with prin­ci­ples of Moon Sight­ing in the Hanafi Madhab
   4. Mem­bers of the Moon Sight­ing com­mit­tee should have trust in the infor­ma­tion (being received)
5. There should be a bilat­er­al agree­ment with the coun­tries from which the infor­ma­tion is being received (in prin­ci­ple 4, above). Fur­ther­more, these coun­tries should have their own reli­able and robust (local) Moon Sight­ing sys­tem and not rely on sight­ing from others
6. The sta­tus of “news” received on the phone is the same as the let­ter. It should be con­clu­sive­ly estab­lished that the per­son on the phone is the same as being claimed. The per­son receiv­ing the phone call must know the per­son on the oth­er (end) and the infor­ma­tion must be ver­i­fied with oth­ers. This infor­ma­tion should reach the sta­tus of reli­a­bil­i­ty through ver­i­fi­ca­tion by oth­er means and then the announce­ment should be made.
7. Peo­ple must not rely on infor­ma­tion (received) from oth­er coun­tries and make deci­sions. They should con­tact (local) Moon Sight­ing com­mit­tee, pro­vide all the (nec­es­sary) infor­ma­tion and then reply upon the deci­sion of the Moon Sight­ing committee
8. Tes­ti­mo­ny of (those who sight­ed the Moon) can be reject­ed if it con­tra­dicts oth­er exter­nal fac­tors (e.g. the one pro­vid­ing the tes­ti­mo­ny may be hon­est but with  weak eye­sight). Tes­ti­mo­ny of a Faasiq (sin­ner) can be accept­ed if it agrees with oth­er exter­nal factors.

The tim­ings to make a deci­sion depend upon the Moon Sight­ing com­mit­tee. Where infor­ma­tion is not received from over­seas, announce­ments will be made after com­plet­ing 30 days for Eid. This is because cau­tion is nec­es­sary for the com­ple­tion of acts of wor­ship (i.e. fast­ing in Ramad­han) ver­sus months of non-fast­ing. Over­seas infor­ma­tion will be delib­er­at­ed, con­sult­ed and relied upon after sun­set in Britain (even dur­ing longer sum­mer days).

Procedure for Ramadhan Announcement when Horizons are clear:

1. When the hori­zons are clear, a large group (Jamm-e-Ghafeer) must tes­ti­fy to the sight­ing of the Moon so the Moon Sight­ing com­mit­tee can reach a sat­is­fac­to­ry conclusion.
2. When the hori­zons are clear and there is no local sight­ing but a reli­able and trust­wor­thy Mus­lim man or woman reports sight­ing from an ele­vat­ed van­tage point (when the hori­zons are unit­ed), an announce­ment can be made if the Moon Sight­ing com­mit­tee can reach a sat­is­fac­to­ry conclusion.
3. When the hori­zon is clear and there is no local sight­ing but a large body of Mus­lims come and tes­ti­fy from anoth­er loca­tion, an announce­ment can be made if the Moon Sight­ing com­mit­tee can reach a sat­is­fac­to­ry conclusion.

Procedure for Ramadhan Announcement when Horizons are not clear:

1. Tes­ti­mo­ny of a sin­gle Baa­ligh (adult) Mus­lim man or woman regard­ing sight­ing will be accepted
2. Tes­ti­monies of a two reli­able and trust­wor­thy Mus­lim men or women that so and so appeared in front of Mus­lim (Qad­hi) in anoth­er loca­tion and Mus­lim (Qad­hi) made a deci­sion based on the tes­ti­mo­ny, in our presence
3. Tes­ti­mo­ny of a sin­gle reli­able and trust­wor­thy Mus­lim that so and so sight­ed the Moon but he is unable to appear in front of the Moon Sight­ing com­mit­tee, he has tes­ti­fied in front of me and I am witness
4. Infor­ma­tion about the deci­sion of Moon Sight­ing Com­mit­tee is relayed by mobile or tele­phone in such a way that the voice is rec­og­nized and the infor­ma­tion s ver­i­fied through oth­er means
5. Infor­ma­tion from the Inter­net, Radio or TV about a coun­try with which we have a bilat­er­al agree­ment will be only be accept­ed when ver­i­fied by estab­lished means.
6. Reli­able and ver­i­fied infor­ma­tion from those who sight­ed the Moon is com­mu­ni­cat­ed through var­i­ous Radio sta­tions (etc) when those who are sight­ed are iden­ti­fied or a rep­re­sen­ta­tive of Mus­lim (Qad­hi) or Moon Sight­ing Com­mit­tee makes the announce­ment, an announce­ment can be made if the Moon Sight­ing com­mit­tee can reach a sat­is­fac­to­ry conclusion
7. So many let­ters, fax­es or phone calls come from a region that an over­whelm­ing con­clu­sion is reached that Moon was sighted.
8. Moon Sight­ing com­mit­tee sends a rep­re­sen­ta­tive to anoth­er region and he comes back and tes­ti­fies that Moon was sighted.
9. Mus­lim (Qad­hi), Mufti or rep­re­sen­ta­tive of Moon Sight­ing Com­mit­tee sends a let­ter to the head or mem­ber of Moon Sight­ing Com­mit­tee (exclu­sive­ly) and the authen­tic­i­ty of the let­ter is established.
10. Mus­lim (Qad­hi), Mufti or rep­re­sen­ta­tive of anoth­er Moon Sight­ing Com­mit­tee decides about the start of the Month at anoth­er loca­tion. A sec­ond Moon Sight­ing Com­mit­tee which has a bilat­er­al agree­ment with (the first) informs us (via phone or let­ter or any oth­er reli­able and trust­wor­thy means) and it is rea­son­ably estab­lished that the news is accu­rate and correct.

Procedure for Shawwal/Dhul-Hijjah Announcements when Horizons are clear:

1. When the hori­zons are clear, a large group (Jamm-e-Ghafeer) must tes­ti­fy to the sight­ing of the Moon so the Moon Sight­ing com­mit­tee can reach a sat­is­fac­to­ry conclusion.
2. When the hori­zons are clear and there is no local sight­ing but a report from anoth­er loca­tion is tak­en and the num­ber (of those who have sight­ed) is large enough such that refu­ta­tion is improb­a­ble, an announce­ment can be made if the Moon Sight­ing com­mit­tee can reach a sat­is­fac­to­ry conclusion.

Procedure for Shawwal/Dhul-Hijjah Announcements when Horizons are not clear:

1. A report from anoth­er loca­tion is tak­en and the num­ber (of those who have sight­ed) is large enough such that refu­ta­tion is improb­a­ble, an announce­ment can be made if the Moon Sight­ing com­mit­tee can reach a sat­is­fac­to­ry conclusion.
2. Tes­ti­monies of a two reli­able and trust­wor­thy Mus­lim men or a sin­gle reli­able man and two reli­able women using the word “Sha­hadah (tes­ti­mo­ny)” in front of Mus­lim (Qad­hi).
3. Tes­ti­monies of a two reli­able and trust­wor­thy Mus­lim men or a sin­gle reli­able man and two reli­able women (from anoth­er loca­tion) that Mus­lim (Qad­hi) in anoth­er loca­tion made a deci­sion after accept­ing testimonies
4. Tes­ti­monies of a two reli­able and trust­wor­thy Mus­lim men or a sin­gle reli­able man and two reli­able women present their tes­ti­mo­ny to two reli­able and trust­wor­thy Mus­lim men or a sin­gle reli­able man and the first appoint the sec­ond as their rep­re­sen­ta­tives and the sec­ond group presents the tes­ti­monies, pro­vid­ed that these tes­ti­monies are done sep­a­rate­ly and not col­lec­tive­ly (in front of each other)
5. Mus­lim (Qad­hi), Mufti or rep­re­sen­ta­tive of Moon Sight­ing Com­mit­tee sends a let­ter to the head or mem­ber of Moon Sight­ing Com­mit­tee (exclu­sive­ly) and the authen­tic­i­ty of the let­ter is estab­lished by two reli­able Mus­lims. The mes­sen­gers who bring the let­ter can also be estab­lish the authen­tic­i­ty of the letter
6. A sin­gle reli­able Mus­lim tes­ti­fies (for him­self) and two reli­able Mus­lims tes­ti­fy on behalf of anoth­er Muslim
7. Moon Sight­ing com­mit­tee sends a rep­re­sen­ta­tive to anoth­er region and he comes back and tes­ti­fies that Moon was sighted.
8. Tele­phon­ic news has the same sta­tus as let­ter i.e. authen­tic­i­ty needs to be estab­lished either via video link or web­cam or any oth­er method such as that it is estab­lished that voice is not being forged etc and the per­son is reli­able and reli­gious. In addi­tion, oth­er means of con­fir­ma­tion for exam­ple con­firm­ing direct­ly with those who have sight­ed (the moon) or have heard about the sight­ing (direct­ly) if the num­ber of those who know about the sight­ing reach­es a large num­ber (such that authen­tic­i­ty of news is estab­lished), this news can be relied upon
9. Reli­able and ver­i­fied infor­ma­tion from those who sight­ed the Moon is com­mu­ni­cat­ed through var­i­ous Radio sta­tions (etc) when those who are sight­ed are iden­ti­fied or a rep­re­sen­ta­tive of Mus­lim (Qad­hi) or Moon Sight­ing Com­mit­tee makes the announce­ment, an announce­ment can be made if the Moon Sight­ing com­mit­tee can reach a sat­is­fac­to­ry conclusion
10. So many let­ters, fax­es or phone calls come from a region that an over­whelm­ing con­clu­sion is reached that Moon was sighted
11. Mus­lim (Qad­hi), Mufti or rep­re­sen­ta­tive of anoth­er Moon Sight­ing Com­mit­tee decides about the start of the Month at anoth­er loca­tion. A sec­ond Moon Sight­ing Com­mit­tee which has a bilat­er­al agree­ment with (the first) informs us (via phone or let­ter or any oth­er reli­able and trust­wor­thy means) and it is rea­son­ably estab­lished that the news is accu­rate and cor­rect and the one inform­ing one is recognised

Procedure for Announcements for all other Months:

1. Tes­ti­monies of a two reli­able and trust­wor­thy Mus­lim men or a sin­gle reli­able man and two reli­able women is suf­fi­cient whether the hori­zons are clear or not

Principles and Responsibilities of Members of Moon Sighting Committee

1. Com­mit­tee must con­sist of a min­i­mum of 11 people
2. Com­mit­tee must con­sist of a peo­ple of Knowl­edge. If this is not pos­si­ble at least 3 mem­bers should be peo­ple of knowl­edge and the rest must be wise and have suf­fi­cient ground­ing in basic Mas’ail (issues) of Deen
3. Announce­ments must be made using specif words and ratio­nale for the deci­sion must be in the explanation
4. All local­i­ties must have local Moon Sight­ing committees
5. The func­tion of local Moon Sight­ing com­mit­tee should be to accept local Moon Sight­ing testimonies
6. Moon Sight­ing com­mit­tee meet­ing should be for­mal. The meet­ing should be presided by a (for­mal) chair­per­son and in his absence a chair­per­son should be appoint­ed. He should be the Ameer and will make the final deci­sion, and the announce­ment should be from him
7. Moon Sight­ing com­mit­tee meet­ing should at least have 7 mem­bers present when make deci­sions for Ramad­han, Shaww­al and Dhul-Hijjah
8. It is rec­om­mend­ed that Moon Sight­ing com­mit­tee meet­ing should at least have 5 mem­bers present when make deci­sions for all oth­er months
9. Moon Sight­ing com­mit­tee mem­bers who are Non-Schol­ars shall have the right to give an opin­ion but final deci­sion will be made by Scholars
10. If the num­bers of the Moon Sight­ing com­mit­tee mem­bers decline then the the local Schol­ars will be giv­en the right to select suit­able members
11. If the local Moon Sight­ing com­mit­tee ceas­es to func­tion the respon­si­bil­i­ties should be passed to local Scholars
12. If the local Moon Sight­ing com­mit­tee rules need to be amend­ed it can be done with con­sul­ta­tion pro­vid­ed the prin­ci­ples (above) are not con­tra­dict­ed or violated
13. Moon Sight­ing com­mit­tee will be allowed to receive news from abroad (when required) pro­vid­ed the prin­ci­ples (above) are not con­tra­dict­ed or violated