Deoband Fatwa
Moon Birth and Validity of Astronomical Calculation for Hilal Sighting!
Dear Brothers & Sisters in Islam Assalamu alaikum ww
Promoters of Anti-Islamic –Anti Saudi movement on the subject of Hilal Sighting are hell bent on trying to convince Muslims that the Crescent Visibility Charts and Observatory predictions from Astronomical calculations are 'conclusive and absolute' and therefore must be relied upon, and if any Testimony of Hilal sighting does not agree with the Astronomical Predictions, it must be rejected, no matter what Islam and our Prophet SAW said and he & Sahabah rd. practiced and they never asked about ``Imkane Ruyat by calculation from expert of his nabougher Jews in Madinah Tayyibah! togather no matter who has sighted the Crescent and how pious and qualified that person is. Their argument is simple – they will not accept any sighting report to be true if it goes against the calculated predictions from theories which some of the present day 'experts' and 'mufti' regard to be the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Their false belief spins around the birth and age of the new Moon, and calculated Hilal visibility charts.
Till now, they use to slander Saudi Arabia to publish Ummul Qura Calendars and adhere strictly to it without any attention to actual Hilal sighting. But Allah has shown them that Saudi Ulama only follow actual sighting Testimonies, and willingly go against their own pre-published Calendars, and it is these 'modern Muftis of UK' who are hard and fast with their own pre-published Calendars and will not allow any deviation from them even if the Hilal is sighted by most pious and upright members of Muslim Ummah.
We copy here a Fatwa from the Great Mufti of the World Renowned Islamic seat of Learning – The Darul Uloom of Deoband. The argument to judge Hilal sighting Testimony in light of calculated predictions is totally non-Islamic, not reliable, and not acceptable. The Honourable Mufti saheb uses very harsh words to compare the Moon Birth approach with polytheist traditions of birth of the Hindu gods Kanhaiyya and Ganesh. He uses most clear and unambiguous words to render such calculations and theories to be un-Islamic.
Fatwa
By;The Great Mufti Hadhrat Mufti Nizamuddin Saheb rahmatullahi alaihi
Senior Mufti, Darul Iftaa, Darul Uloom, Deoband
The word Birth means to come in to existence from absence. This is not the case here: Sun and Moon are concurrently present since the time Allah has created them. They are never absent: they temporarily become invisible (dark) out of the wisdom of Allah, like at the time of Solar and Lunar Eclipse. The Moon remains invisible for one or two days every month, then it re-appears.
The most we can say is that the Moon has re-appeared or renewed. According to Islam and Islamic Principles, to call it 'Birth of the Moon' is totally WRONG. Calling it 'birth' is like the Hindu tradition of 'birth of Kanhaiyyaji and Ganeshji'. That can never become an Islamic belief. It can only become an alteration of the correct Islamic belief. And it is compulsory to REJECT any alteration of the correct Belief.
The second argument is : How many hours after the conjunction of the Sun and The Moon does the Crescent becomes visible to eyes? This is based on, and is derived from the astrological and astronomical calculations. Both these are against the explicit / authentic Traditions. eg. The Hadith 'We are the unlettered Ummah, we neither write nor calculate …' and 'Fast after seeing the Crescent and end Fasting after seeing it' as well as other Authentic Ahaadith. In Durre Mukhtar and Shaami (vol. 2 Pg. 92) suggest – Their saying is, according to unanimous agreement, not to be relied upon, and it is not permitted to follow their calculations on its own'.
Then the argument – How many hours after the conjunction does the Crescent become visible – is their Pundit's deductions: it is calculated as height of one mast, two masts etc. This is a copying of their theory, and it is totally against the Shariah Rule, and Not to be Relied upon.
(Copied from from the book ``Saudi Arabiyah ki Ruyat Muftiyane Kram ki Nazar Main``p9-You can see this book on our website)