Why does Wifāqul Ulāmā not follow the Moon Sightings from Nigeria? You have commented on the Mozambique, Kenyan and French Sightings, what is your opinion on Nigeria?

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

As-salā­mu ‘alaykum wa-rah­mat­ul­lāhi wa-barakātuh

19th of Dhu al-Qada 1440 (22nd of July 2019)

Wifāqul Ulāmā con­tin­ues to mon­i­tor and work with as many coun­tries in Africa as pos­si­ble. We inter­act and com­mu­ni­cate with hon­or­able Mus­lims of Nige­ria and key stake­hold­ers in the moon sight­ing process. We have held a few meet­ings and are con­tin­u­ing to gath­er data about Niger­ian moon sighting.

WHEN IT COMES TO THE ISLAMIC MONTH OF DHUL-HIJJAH, IT IS THE OPINION OF SOME OF THE NIGERIAN SCHOLARS THAT SINCE ARA’FAH IS (PHYSICALLY) LOCATED IN SAUDI ARABIA, AND PILGRIMS WILL BE PERFORMING HAJJ THERE, THE SAUDI MOONSIGHTING DECLARATIONS FOR DHUL-HIJJAH SHOULD BE FOLLOWED IN NIGERIA IN ORDER TO SYNCHRONIZE FASTING OF ARAFAT DAY AND EID DAY WITH THE PILGRIMS. HOWEVER THERE ARE MANY SCHOLARS AND OTHER MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC IN THE COUNTRY, WHO ALSO BELIEVE IN IKHTILAFUL MATALE’A, NAMELY, THAT NIGERIA SHOULD GO BY ITS OWN SIGHTING FOR DHUL-HIJJAH. IN 2018, THE LEADERSHIP OF NIGERIAN MUSLIMS DECIDED TO ADOPT THE MOONSIGHTING OF SAUDI ARABIA FOR NIGERIA. DIALOGUE AMONG SCHOLARS IN NIGERIA CONTINUES ON THE SUBJECT.

Thus, at this time the inde­pen­dent and trans­par­ent 12 month­ly moon sight­ing sys­tem in Nige­ria is still work in progress.

جزاك اللهُ خيرًا

01AUGUST2019

 

سلام عليكم

There was no pos­i­tive Dhul Hij­jah cres­cent sight­ing report in Nige­ria yes­ter­day, after due con­sul­ta­tion with Schol­ars H.E has declared today 02 August 2019 as 1st Dhul Hij­jah 1440H based on Sau­di Arabia’s sighting.

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