Ḏhū al-Ḥijja 1440 Memorandum of Understanding

In the Name of Allah, the Most Gra­cious, the Most Merciful.

As-salā­mu ‘alaykum wa-rah­mat­ul­lāhi wa-barakā­tuh (Peace, Bless­ings & Mer­cy of Allah be upon You).

This state­ment is being issued on the 24th of July 2019 and super­sedes all pre­vi­ous state­ments on the sub­ject. This MOU has been reached due to the sin­cer­i­ty, hard work and ded­i­ca­tion of all par­ties involved. May Allāh Ta’āla accept it and make it a means of ben­e­fit for all (Ameen).

Key Points:

1. All 12 months of the Islāmic cal­en­dar are sub­ject to (phys­i­cal) moon sight­ing. Astro­nom­i­cal cal­cu­la­tions can be used to assist in the process of moon sight­ing and dec­la­ra­tions of moon sight­ing. How­ev­er, cal­cu­la­tions can­not be used exclu­sive­ly to deter­mine the start­ing or end­ing of the Islāmic months.
2. It is Fardh alal Kifayah (com­mu­nal oblig­a­tion) to sight the Cres­cent moon. There­fore, we assert that all efforts will be made to sight it in Unit­ed King­dom on the 29th of each Islam­ic month. We will coor­di­nate and share moon sight­ing data and ver­i­fi­able actu­al moon sight­ing news to deter­mine the dates for each Islāmic month. If it is not sight­ed in the UK, we will rely upon cred­i­ble and ver­i­fi­able moon sight­ing news from Moroc­co or South Africa and share infor­ma­tion as need­ed and as necessary.
3. The Cres­cent needs to be sight­ed after sun­set on the 29th of every Islam­ic Month. There­fore, final announce­ments for the start­ing or end­ing of Islāmic months can­not be made before sunset.
4. In line with this cri­te­ri­on AND astro­nom­i­cal cal­cu­la­tions, the pre­dict­ed dates for Ḏhū al-Ḥij­ja 1440 are shown below. These are sub­ject to moon sight­ing of the Cres­cent and can change:

• • Ḏhū al-Ḥij­ja: Sat­ur­day, 03rd of August 2019
    
  • Eid al-Adha: Mon­day, 12th of August 2019

Detailed MOU: