Eid Mubarak!!!!!!!!!!

The Moon was sighted in MelbornFlorida

By Imam Umar. His Character was confirmed

by Imam Yahya Abdullah and Bilal Hasan. We will

Make prayer tomorrow at 10:00am sharp. The Feast

will be at 12:00. All activities will be at the masjid.

Eid Mubarack

[Note: Saudi Arabia is one of the few countries in the world today that employs the Hijri calendar for every day use. That is great. It is a practice that needs to be followed in the rest of the Islamic world also. Unfortunately, the way the calendar is established in Saudi Arabia leaves a lot to be desired. Because of Saudi Arabia’s status in the Muslim world, the problems with Saudi calendar have spilled over into other areas as well, especially in Muslim communities in Europe and America. Here is some information that could help Muslims in those areas sort out the issue. Editor]

Background

Muslims in North America have made a good effort Alhamdulillah to do local sighting, especially with the coordination of ISNA, ICNA, WDM and NC, which together formed the Islamic Shura Council of North America. But still some insist on following the announcement from Saudi Arabia, which is often ahead of sighting (including my personal sighting) in America, and also almost always one or often even two days ahead of sighting reported from countries east of Saudi Arabia e.g. India, Pakistan and Bangladesh.

So the natural question is - is there some problem in the Saudi announcement? If the Saudi sighting is correct, then the Hilal should be more easily seen in USA where the sunset is several hours later. Also, how come at times the Saudi announcement indicates sighting of Hilal when the moon sets before sunset there, and even before the birth of the dark invisible astronomical new moon! Further even the following simple reasoning casts doubt on Saudi dates: The world being a globe, any place round the world (on the same latitude), should over time be equally likely to be the first place to sight the Hilal. Hence for some years, the sighting in USA should be before sighting in Saudi Arabia. But if every year the Saudi announcement is ahead of the sighting in USA, the question arises: Is something wrong going on?

Imam Kashif Abdul-Karim

Dear Believers of MICGH

We must fast a minimum of twenty nine days. Remember we started on the 2nd of September. Tomorrow will be our twenty nineth day. We will look to sight the moon tomorrow night to determine if we will fast an extra day or break our fast. We will work with 200 Imams across the country to make this determination. This will be done through a conference call at 10:30 pm eastern time. It may be possible for the moon to be be sighted in our country tomorrow night. We will post our finding on this web site at 11:00 pm.You may also call me between 11:00pm and 12:00am at 203-435-0520 if you do not have access to the internet.

Please look at moonsighting.com.

Please note  that moonsighting.com said it was impossible for the moon to have been seen in Saudi Arabia because the moon was to young.

"Official Decision and Announcement of the High Judiciary Council of Saudi Arabia: Since the moon of Shawwaal was sighted this evening, here in Saudi Arabia, we shall be completing twenty nine (29) days of Ramadhaan. Subsequently, we shall be celebrating 'Eed al-Fitr on Tuesday 30th September 2008, inshaa.-Allaah
Comment by Moonsighting.com: It was impossible to see the moon in Saudi Arabia. The moon set before sunset and moon age was only less than 7 hours."

Please also see statement from cresentwatch.org

"Crescentwatch.org encourages everyone to go out to look for the new crescent moon this Tuesday night (Sep. 30th) in anticipation of the beginning of the month of Shawwal and the close of this blessed month of Ramadan. However, Muslim astronomers have indicated that it will be very difficult to sight the moon anywhere in North America on Tuesday evening (see visibility charts here), and we will perhaps complete the 30 days of Ramadan and sight the new moon of Shawwal on Wednesday night. We are thus anticipating to celebrate Eid on either Wednesday, Oct. 1st, or on Thursday, Oct. 2nd.

The crescent would be visible shortly after sunset, low in the sky, and slightly to the left (south) of where the sun had set. It is a beautiful experience to sight its emergence, and it is a sunnah of our noble Prophet, sal Allahu alayhi wa salam, that we hope the ummah revives.

Please check our site (www.crescentwatch.org) for regular updates, moon sighting reports, and additional information on moon sighting. We will post our final determination regarding the date of Shawwal and Eid al-Fitr on Tuesday night at 8:30pm PST. in sha Allah"

Please see Icna.org

ICNA is the group that has the convention in Hartford each year during July 4th weekend.

"Islamic Circle of North Ameria will make a statement regrading the Eid ul Fitr day on the evening of Tuesday, September 30th, based on local moonsighting information. The statement will be posted on this website as soon as the decision is made by the committee, inshaAllah."

We Pray our city will be able to celebrate Eid together based on our local sighting and/or the fiqh council's of North America's calcalation practice for the Eid.