A PERSPECTIVE ON THE RAMADAN CRESCENT AND POPE’S SPEECH

Hasan Zillur Rahim

Religious passions have a direct bearing on our spirituality, so it is
important that we evaluate these passions from time to time to steer
ourselves in the right direction.

One particular issue that ignites Muslim passion is marking the beginning of
Ramadan. It determines not only the day we begin fasting, but also the days
we celebrate Eid-ul-Fitr, the feast of fasting, and Eid-ul-Adha, the feast
of sacrifice.

Most Muslims have traditionally split between two schools of thought, one
going with moon-sighting announcements from the Middle-East, typically Saudi
Arabia, and the other with local moon-sighting. In most cases, the former
begins Ramadan a day earlier, and celebrates the two Eids also a day
earlier, than the latter.

About a month ago, the Fiqh Council of North America (FCNA) announced that
it would use astronomical calculations to determine the beginning of the
Islamic lunar months “with the consideration of the sightability of the
crescent anywhere on the globe.” The sightability criterion was for the new
moon to be born before 12:00 noon GMT somewhere on the globe before the end
of the night in North America.

The Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) endorsed FCNA and referred
interested Muslims to its Website for a “50+ page analysis and a PowerPoint
presentation” for details.

The reaction was swift and predictable. The Islamic Shariah Council of
Northern California, along with other organizations, issued a statement
refuting the decision of FCNA to pre-fix the beginning of the lunar months
on the basis of the said criterion, and forcefully reiterated its decision
to continue with local moon-sighting.

A close reading of FCNA and the Sharia Council declarations, however,
reveals a startling fact: The two groups have used the same set of core
Quranic verses and ahadith to justify their respective conclusions and
refute the other!

So what’s new, a cynic might ask.

What is new is that for the first time, FCNA has defined a specific
astronomical calculation to mark the beginnings of lunar months,
particularly the month of Ramadan, local moon-sighting notwithstanding. This
has had the unfortunate effect of revealing more sharply than ever the
latent acrimony between the two schools of thought and polarizing Muslim
communities further.

Why does this particular issue arouse such passion? More importantly, can we
do something about it?

I believe that the heightened passion is due to a myth that has gone
unchallenged for too long, which is that to begin fasting on the same day
and to celebrate the two Eids together reflect Muslim unity at it best.
Conversely, not doing so implies that Muslims are fragmented and disunited.

It is time we exploded this myth once and for all. Muslim unity, or lack of
it, has nothing to do with same-day commencement of Ramadan and its same-day
ending. It is a false criterion, a red herring that leads to bitter
finger-pointing: “You have sold your soul to the Saudis”, “No, you have
sacrificed ijtihad on the altar of your arrogance!” and so on.

Once the myth is gone, the invectives can disappear and the stress that
accompanies the start of the sacred month can be a thing of the past.

But we can also look at the issue in a more positive way. Consider this
saying of the Prophet: “The differences of opinion among the learned within
my community are a sign of God’s grace.” In this light, we see the two
schools of thought not as a cause for anger or sorrow but as a blessing.
After all, both schools consist of Muslim scholars, imams, astronomers and
professionals drawn from different fields. Why not celebrate their good
intentions, even if their conclusions differ?

This points to two larger problems, however: first, the inability of many
Muslims to articulate their position without indulging in overheated
rhetoric and second, responding to religious provocations with violence. The
reaction to Pope Benedict’s “evil and inhuman” speech is only the latest of
such examples.

Muslims had every right to feel offended by the Pope quoting a 14th century
Byzantine emperor’s insult of Prophet Muhammad and “his command to spread by
the sword the faith he preached.” Many Muslim leaders and organizations
responded to the Pope’s speech at the University of Regensberg in Germany
with calm dignity and accepted his subsequent apology, but there were also
many shrill and incendiary denunciations that made no sense. And there could
certainly be no justification whatsoever for the firebombing of churches in
the West Bank and Gaza and the killing of the Italian nun Leonella Sgorbati
in Mogadishu. Even though we cannot control the behavior of a minority of
deviants and extremists among the world’s 1.2 billion Muslims, it must never
stop us from unequivocally condemning their acts of terror and hold them
accountable when possible. Surely the Quranic warning that “if anyone kills
an innocent human being it is as if he has killed all mankind” is applicable
to the killers of the nun in Somalia.

As we transcend our polarizing passions in the month of renewal that is upon
us, and as we strive to improve on our ability to articulate our opinions,
we should also recognize that in a world of contending truths, provocations
through words, cartoons, pictures or movies must be met not with violence or
displays of religious chauvinism but with dialogue and decency.