بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
News & Comment
Ummah stays divided as moon sighting turns into moon fighting
News
Pakistan: Qasim Ali Khan Mosque declared Eid after receiving around 50 testimonies; Muslims in Europe, America, Middle East and South Asia observed Eid on Sunday 25th 2017. For keeping the divide, Government fearing scholars while talking to The Express Tribune declared, “Celebrating Eidul Fitr on Sunday will be un-Islamic,”
https://tribune.com.pk/story/1444263/parts-k-p-celebrate-eid-tomorrow/
https://tribune.com.pk/story/1442522/scholars-declare-celebrating-eid-25th-will-un-islamic/
Comment
Previously pseudo-science and nationalistic excuses were used to convince people that having multiple Eids is normal but it seems that as people started having their doubts about these worldly reasons as Muslims fear Allah and question that the witnesses from one specific area and others are not to be taken as reliable. This has become more pronounced by modern instantaneous communication, as a result of which people know that multiple Eids are being celebrated in different countries. These rulers chose to give people a dose of their own medicine. Give them the guilt of being disobedient to the Almighty.
This is a result of having capitalist Secular states that are used to commanding and pushing people according to their own whims and desires without fearing Allah (swt). Their interest lies in division of Muslims, where they are busy accusing each other of being wrong and confused about the Ahkam-e-Islam. Allah (swt) and Rasool Allah (saw) have made Islam easy and clear for the people. As far as the claim of these so-called scholars that scientific techniques are being used to detect the moon, Rasool Allah (saw) said
«إِنَّا أُمَّةٌ أُمِّيَّةٌ، لاَ نَكْتُبُ وَلاَ نَحْسُبُ، الشَّهْرُ هَكَذَا وَهَكَذَا»
“We are an illiterate nation; we neither write, nor know accounts. The month is like this and this.” (Al Bukhari)
By divorcing of the sighting of the moon from where they are to the sighting in the homeland Muslims in the West are promoting the idea of religion as a cultural artifact. Muslims must understand that fasting in Ramadan and celebration of Eids are acts of ibbadat (worshipping) for the whole Muslim Ummah. You may have certain cultural foods and dresses but your moon and Eid is one. This festival is to unite the hearts and minds of the Ummah.
In the time of Rasool Allah (saw), he met a delegation arriving in Madinah during the day in which the Prophet (saw) and the Muslims were fasting because they did not see the crescent. Therefore, when the delegation informed the Messenger (saw) of the sighting of the crescent, the Messenger (saw) ordered the Muslims to break their fast, and that day was the last day of Ramadan. These were not mere events with no relevance to our life nowadays, but are the examples set for us to live our lives in obedience. May Allah provide us with the shade of Khilafah (Caliphate) upon the method of the Prophethood and make our eyes and hearts witness a Ramadan and Eid under the true leader of Muslim Ummah.
Written for the Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir by
Ikhlaq Jehan