Ramadan And It’s Crescent
So the holy month of Ramadan is on the doorstep, starting tomorrow or the day after, depending on whether they see the crescent today or not.
Now, just this once, I want to get this whole crescent thing off my chest because it’s bugging the hell out of me!
Every year, religious insititutions in all Muslim countries go out and start looking out for the crescent that marks the beginning of the holy month of Ramadan. But of course, they won’t all be able to see the crescent from all over the world on the same day, and we end up with Muslim countries starting the month on different days and ending it on different days too.
Ramadan should start and end on the same day for all Muslims, I think it’s wrong the way things are going now.
Some people suggest we all follow Saudi Arabia, and some others think that if one country declares it has seen the crescent then all countries should declare the beginning of Ramadan.
But then second thoughts, politics, international relations get in the way of those ideas.
I personally think the solution would be for all Muslim countries to get behind one International Muslim Institution, that has among its duties the watch for the crescent in all Muslim countries and declaring Ramadan for the whole world.
Such an institution would have members from all over the Muslim world, and also serve as a central for Muslim scholars to debate and issue religious decrees (Fatwas) for the whole Muslim world, avoiding having scattered scholars issuing different and conflicting decrees on their own.
This would also eliminate the risk of having rogue self-claimed scholars issuing decrees for their own benefits and influencing Muslim youth.
Of course, Muslim countries’ adherence to Islam varies and so a decree that would be accepted in one country might not be in the other, but that’s politics not religion.
In the end, and when it comes to religious matters in our time, I think that it’s important to have one centralized source. Whether the country chooses to apply the decree or not is something else, but the source should be one.
This post turned out something a lot different from what I had in mind when I started writing it, but well that’s the beauty of writing I guess. you start somewhere and end up somewhere else.
Anyway, this is my opinion, maybe a bit optimistic or even unrealistic, but well we can still dream.
Anyway, I’ll be tuning in to the news today to see the Mufti (Head scholar) of Tunisia announce whether Ramadan starts tomorrow or the day after.
In either case, Ramadan Mubarak to everyone. May it be a happy and blessed month for you all.
Update: Ramadan in Tunisia starts on Wednesday, and started on Tuesday for most other countries.
15 Responses to “Ramadan And It’s Crescent”
Haitham on Oct 3, 2005 | Reply
Kol Sana wenta and your family taybeen
Hannibal on Oct 3, 2005 | Reply
Romdhanik Mabrouk!
Je Blog on Oct 4, 2005 | Reply
Ramadan 1426/2005
Ramadan Announcement 2005 - The French Islamic Council, Paris has announced that 1st Ramadan 1426 will be Tuesday 4th Oct 2005.
Mohsan on Oct 4, 2005 | Reply
Ramadan Mubarak !
Saha Ramdankoum
MMM on Oct 4, 2005 | Reply
Thanks
Haitham, Koll Sana ou inta b’kheer, you and your whole family 
Hannibal, Inshallah Romdhanik Mabrouk and best regards to your family too
Mohsan, Romdhanik Mabrouk to you and your family
And well, guess what? Ramadan in Tunisia starts tomorrow, Wednesday, not today like most of the world.
Just goes on to confirm what I wrote in my post.
sinan on Oct 4, 2005 | Reply
Ramadan Karim to you and your family and all your loved ones
Roba on Oct 4, 2005 | Reply
Kol saneh o into salmeen MMM
Hou-Hou Blog on Oct 4, 2005 | Reply
Le Ramadan
�a ne me fait presque plus rire ces �lucubrations autours du croissant lunaire annon�ant le d�but du mois saint. Une civilisation qui, il y’a des si�cles, avait fait de la science une priorit� et d…
KC on Oct 5, 2005 | Reply
MMM
You’ll find a proposed solution regarding this subject in the link below which I came by today:
http://www.al-sharq.com/site/topics/article.asp?cu_no=1&item_no=162545&version=1&template_id=265&parent_id=259
KC
KC on Oct 5, 2005 | Reply
MMM
You’ll find a proposed solution to the subject in the link below which I happened to cross through today.
http://www.al-sharq.com/site/topics/article.asp?cu_no=1&item_no=162545&version=1&template_id=265&parent_id=259
KC
WALEG on Oct 5, 2005 | Reply
This is really ironic!
This time, I’m just visiting your blog to WISH you and to Eman a happy ramadan
Kol 3am wantom bekheer my dear friends.
‘looking forward to c u soon’
kais on Oct 5, 2005 | Reply
ramdan mobarik
koffiekitten on Oct 6, 2005 | Reply
Here they all say that Tunisia just doesn’t want to follow Saudi…. I think it would be better if they all followed the same dates.
Arafatler on Oct 6, 2005 | Reply
Allahu akhbar al rahman walrahim
wakulu muaminin mabruk.
Omar Abo-Namous on Oct 7, 2005 | Reply
Assalamu Alaykum and Ramadan kareem,
why didn’t i think of that proposal? Create a giant islamic church to overlook the doings of all muslims regardless of the country they’re living in.. Ok, i know why i didn’t think of that:
1. I did think of it, but it turned out to be one idea i don’t want to think about. (ok, somewhat confusing) We muslims don’t need a church! That’s the whole point about islam (imho).
2. In germany we’re trying to establish one umbrella organization to speek and issue statements for all muslims. The idea is advancing (year after year), but the issue is really not that easy, and i’m talking about germany! I’m not talking about two different arab states!
3. It is ok for ramadan to start on different days in different parts of the world. Infact it should be pretty normal for southeast asians not to see the crescent and us in europe to see it.
Having many different ulama’ and therefor different opinions can have it’s downsides (in that any alem can issue his own fatwa without being spokeman of an organisation), but as i noted before, this is islam and that ensures, that every single muslim has to think for himself about what is wrong and what is right. “.. wa in aftawk ..”
Salam. Omar