Eid-Ul-Fitr
The holy month of Ramadan is coming to a close and that means Eid-Ul-Fitr is coming. This is one of the most festive times of the year for Muslims and it's why in my novel "Under The Full and Crescent Moon" the opening scene is of a moonsighting event that will determine if it even is the end of Ramadan.
And that is because the Muslim calendar is strictly lunar. Each month starts with the advent of the new moon and so it could be either 29 or 30 days. Historically the only way to know when the new moon would be is to actually see it, and that's why we have the tradition of a mullah or sheikh of a mosque looking up to see the new moon at the evening of the 29th to determine if the next day is Eid or not. So was Ramadan 29 or 30 days in my novel? You'll just have to read it to see. Appreciate the support!
The limitations of the approach are obvious, if the night is cloudy then there's no way to see a new moon and so a month that should only be 29 days long will stretch out to 30. Even more distressingly to me, if the leader of one mosque sees the moon, but the mosque a few streets over doesn't, then that means the Muslim community isn't celebrating one of the most joyous times of our year at the same time. A moment of celebration becomes just another reminder of our disunity. And seeing as how we've allowed our fellow Muslims to suffer from the worst kinds of atrocities without uniting to protect them, that hurts me more and more every year.
And this is where my progressive instincts clash with tradition, because we now live in a society where we don't need to look up to know when the new moon is.
I can just go here1 to know exactly when the new moon was because we have incredibly advanced knowledge of physics, astronomy, and math that allows us to just calculate this for hundreds of years in advance. Look here2 I can tell you exactly when the new moon will be in 2046 and I could go further if this site didn't decide to stop at twenty years.
A purely scientific approach to determining the new moon and the new month would not be traditional, but it has the overwhelming benefit of ensuring we all celebrate at the same time and it would take the ambiguity out of one mosque or organization doing things differently from others and forcing a different day. The fact that the new moon happens at the same time everywhere on the planet3 is a miracle that our advanced knowledge can take advantage of to ensure we celebrate together.
So do I do it this way? No, because that is not the tradition of my community and I'm going to celebrate with my community. Traditions are important, but they can change. In fact change is inevitable, and what we should do is work towards ensuring that change is positive.
So Eid Mubarak to my Muslim siblings all over the world and may we work together towards changing our current painful and disunited circumstances into a better, united future of justice and peace for all of us. Inshallah.