Ep.49 Understanding Ramadan Moon-Sighting with Ustadh Iyad Hilal
Every year, as Ramadan approaches, many in the Muslim community turn into pseudo-astronomers and classical scholars. Every punter on WhatsApp has something to say about the moon, whether it was sighted and why this country or another are wrong. Of course this comes from a good place, we all know that the Prophet (saw) ordered us to sight the moon as a condition for starting and ending Ramadan and we all strive to perfect our Ibadat. But there is something farcical about the debates, it has become a metaphor for our broader division - you can have two countries in the same region declaring Ramadan on different days and sometimes, as is found in the west, two people on the same street or in the same community on different days in the calendar.
Our guest this week is Ustadh Iyad Hilal. He is an Islamic scholar and is soon to publish the fourth edition of his popular Usul al-Fiqh book, aimed at English speaking Muslims. He has spent years studying the topic of moon-sighting and argues that in origin a lot of the debates about what constitutes sighting have been subject to differences between the classical scholars. To insist on one way, as some Islamic groups do, in the absence of a caliphal authority that resolves disputes, comes from a shallow understanding of the lawfulness of difference of opinion in Islam. He argues that it is perfectly natural for there to be differences of interpretation of texts and that the correct way is to accept this difference with adab and civility. In other words, there is no problem in having differences as long as it is based on a sincere reading of the Islamic sources of law.
He talks through all the evidences on the matter and discusses issues of using calculations, local vs global sighting, what is a witness and following countries such as Saudi Arabia exclusively in determining Ramadan.