Choosing "Eid Day" Without Moon Sighting

Based on astronomical calculations, the Fiqh Council of North America has announced Eid ul Fitr (1433A.H) celebration to be on Sunday, the 19th of August 2012, which happens to be the first day of Shaw'waal after the completion of Ramadan. Shaw'waal is the 10th month of Islamic calendar; this calendar is based on astronomical calculations to affirm each date, and not on actual sighting of the moon with naked eyes.

Some people follow calculations while some follow Saudi Arabia, but some only follow local moon sighting for deciding the right day of Eid.

The ongoing controversy keeps the issue debateable as is obvious below:

1. Hadith Sahih Al Bukhari Narrated by Ibn Umer (rz): “I heard Allah’s Apostle saying: ‘When you see the crescent of the month of Ramadan, start fasting, and when you see the crescent of the month of Shawwal, stop fasting, and if the sky is overcast and you can’t see it then regard the month of Ramadan as of 30 days.”

2. The Hilal Committee Canada maintains, the USA and some countries of the Caribbean belong to one “Matla (horizon)” - especially regions falling in the Toronto time zone EST), and as soon as sufficient evidence is available of moon-sighting, Eid is declared after verification.

The Hilal Committee evaluates astronomical data as well  - to reach its decisions, however, all decisions are based on the actual sighting of the moon with naked eye in North America and the Caribbean.

3. Though, Islamic law clearly requires actual visual, unaided sighting of the moon, yet, there are no restrictions to use calculations in determining the probability of a moon sighting.

4. Due to the different horizon of Saudi Arabia, some senior Muftis and Scholars of Saudi Arabia including Sh. Abdullah bin Baz, Sh. Saleh bin Uthaimeen have issued fatwas for North American Muslims to go by the local sightings only.

Apart from the above discussion, once the “fasting workout” of July-August 2012 is over, the celebration of joyous occasion of Eid-ul-Fitr (1433 AH) will begin on Sunday 19th Aug with a large congregational prayer in all Canadian cities. However, Muslims living on the east and west coasts of the USA and Canada, may begin the celebrations on different dates depending on new moon sighting in specific locations.

In fact, the Eid is “Thanksgiving Day” for the believers. This day is for the Muslims to show their real happiness for physical and spiritual healing. They thank Almighty Allah for enabling them to go through the month of fasting and listening to the Qur’an with full devotion. They thank Almighty Allah(swt) for strength and the opportunities of life, which He has given to them to carry out their obligation of fasting and other good deeds during the blessed month of Ramadan.

Eid prayer is wajib (strongly recommended). It consists of two Rakaat (units) with six or thirteen additional Takbirs. It must be offered in congregation. The prayer is followed by the Khutbah (sermon).

The Khutbah is part of the worship and listening to it is Sunnah.

Then there is Zakat al-Fitr which is mandatory on every Muslim on his own behalf and on behalf of all people he takes care of, and it must be paid ahead of Eid prayer.

As Eid is not a national public holiday in Canada, many Islamic businesses and organizations adjust their business hours to accommodate the great event. A crowd build up inside and outside of Masaajid (mosques) and rented halls and open spaces during Eid ul Fitr is huge as has been seen in Ottawa, Montreal, Vancouver, Calgary and Toronto, where the congregational prayers are done at multiple times to accommodate the large number of worshippers.

Also, the Eid Festival includes a carnival with many fun-filled rides, shows, sport tournaments and a variety of international cuisines. Muslims young or old wear expensive clothing, gifts and greeting cards are exchanged and children receive presents or cash. People dress up in their fancy clothes. Special foods are prepared for friends and relatives. They visit each other's homes on the Eid day in the convenience of “open house fashion” welcoming everyone to enjoy sweets and tasty dishes.

ISNA (Islamic Society of North America) and ICNA (Islamic Circle of North America) are well known for their contributions to the Muslim community.

However, MAC (Muslim Association of Canada) is fully dedicated to reach out to lower-income families and invite them to the Eid festivities as guests. This program is offered to guest families free of cost, making the event accessible to all. MAC currently operates in 11 Canadian cities, with a vision to establish an Islamic presence in Canada that is balanced, constructive and integrated within the social fabric and culture of Canada. Furthermore, MAC works to achieve its mission by building Muslim individuals, through active educational efforts, who are spiritually connected, strongly grounded in their own faith, motivated and enthusiastic, with an understanding of what Islam actually means in the today’s world.

On this occasion, the Canadian political leaders make statements of "Eid Mubarrak" to wish their best to the Islamic community.

The Muslims donate money generously and also contribute to their local food banks on this day for those who are less fortunate.
Nevertheless, while celebrating the Eid day, millions of vulnerable kids, women and men around the World including the ones in Kashmir, Palestine, Iraq, Afghanistan, Chechnya, Africa, Asia Europe, South America and North America shouldn't be neglected at all.

Although, family fun and entertainment continues all day long, yet the unique purpose of celebrating Eid remains the praise of Almighty Allah (SWT) and obeying His commandments indeed.

Pakistan's 65th Independence Day

Millions of “Muslim lives” were lost while struggling for an independent homeland. As a result, Pakistan came into being on 14th August 1947 (27th of Ramadan). The word Pakistan is a conjunction of two words Pak meaning “Pure” and Stan meaning “Land,” a name suggested by Choudhry Rehmat Ali.

For celebrating the independence, all the government and non-government offices, courts, post offices, banks, educational institutions, and major markets stay closed to facilitate the celebration of Pakistan Independence day. On this statutory national holiday, changing of sentinel occurs at the mausoleums of Dr. Allama Iqbal - the poet of the East, and Muhammad Ali Jinnah - the founding father of Pakistan.

The public do enjoy cinema shows, music contests, special theatre shows, national song competitions, concerts, and fireworks. Radio and television stations broadcast national songs - "specially prepared" for Independence Day programs. The Pakistanis, home and abroad, celebrate the special occasion with patriotic zest. Many people dressed up in green and white (Pakistani flag’s colors) attend the Independence Day parades. Pakistan’s national flag is hoisted on public and private buildings, residences and monuments at dawn. Parliament House is colorfully illuminated. The prime minister and president address and congratulate the nation.

Pakistan, a country of almost 190 million people is currently struggling to stay afloat politically and economically, and the proud nation is happy to have its own homeland after sacrificing millions of lives during the genuine freedom struggle.

Historically speaking, the Mughal rule ended during ‘the 1857 uprising’ followed by the British Raj.

However, a large scale armed struggle against the British Raj eventually turned into a messy freedom movement leading to independence of India in the later years.

Soon it was followed by another freedom struggle but in a peaceful manner by the Indian National Congress.

Muslim leaders Sir Syed Ahmed Khan and Syed Ameer Ali worked diligently for the Muslim people’s political advancement. Later on, the Muslim League, another political party, gained popularity, amid fears of ‘under representation’ and the ongoing neglect of Muslims in wider Indian politics.

On 29th December 1930, Allama Iqbal presented the idea of a separate State that would geographically consist of the Muslim majority areas in the subcontinent. Hence, his presidential address called for a separate Muslim homeland in the North Western and North Eastern of South Asia.

At the time, strong Hindu nationalists advocated the “Two Nation Theory,” an ideology that is accredited as being the basis for Pakistan’s creation. Mr. Jinnah supported the “Two Nation Theory” and led the Muslim League to adopt the Lahore Resolution of 1940 (Pakistan Resolution), which ultimately facilitated the birth of Pakistan.

And, upon creation of Pakistan, the Muslims of India were able to have gained two independent wings (one thousand miles apart).

Sadly, the unsupervised partition of British India resulted in deadly communal riots across India and Pakistan where millions of Muslims moved to Pakistan, and millions of Hindus and Sikhs moved to India.

Post partition, certain disputes arose over several princely states between the two neighbours - including Jammu and Kashmir issue which remains responsible for all wars so far. India claims it as inseparable and Pakistan claims it as a right. While on the contrary, the UN passed resolutions to grant right of plebiscite (self determination) to Kashmiris, India stubbornly manages to deny the right and the dispute lingers on as alive.

And, the ongoing negative socio economic and political environment was the major irritation for East Pakistanis which escalated to a civil war (the Bangladesh Liberation War) and the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971, which lead to the fall of Dacca – and Pakistan lost its eastern wing which is now an independent state of Bangladesh.

Pakistan is lucky to be blessed with natural resources/reserves and a significant amount of deposits of copper, gold, zinc and lead in the Pakistan province of Baluchistan. A new gas field in Nawabshah and coal in Tharparkar, Sindh have been confirmed in recent years by Geological Survey of Pakistan and Mineral Development Corporation of Pakistan in collaboration with Mining firms from Australia, China and other nations. Reko Diq alone has the reserves estimated at “two billion tons of copper” and “20 million ounces of gold.”

Geographically and geopolitically, Pakistan enjoys an important position having deep seas, a long coastline, huge plains, many varying geographic regions, rivers, abundant rains and rich mineral resources. Located in South Asia, the country shares an eastern border with India and a north-eastern border with China. Iran makes up the country's south-west border, and Afghanistan runs along its western and northern edge.

Pakistan displays some of Asia's most magnificent landscapes as it stretches from the Arabian Sea, in the south, to some of the world's most spectacular mountain ranges, in the north. The Arabian Sea is Pakistan's southern boundary with 1,064 km of coastline. The Country as a total area of 803,904 sq km with a land area of 778,720 sq km is nearly four times the size of United Kingdom. From Gwadar Bay in its south-eastern corner, the country extends more than 1,800 km to the Khunjerab Pass on China's border.

Unfortunately, Karachi - the commercial hub is under constant threat of “guerilla attack,” and the criminals/terrorists, target killers, bhatta mafia (extortionists) are freely roaming around. The mushrooming growth of, dacoits, kidnappers, hoarders, and anti Pakistan elements poses danger to the general public and the merchants.

Shamelessly, the ruling elite has broken all past records of corruption and has been defying and ridiculing the judicial verdicts. The jialas and the ruling mafia don’t hesitate to make derogatory remarks against the Supreme Judiciary, and they are blatantly flouting its decisions. State policy to ridicule and disobey judicial verdicts can’t be tolerated.

On top of that, the unscheduled power outage, rampant corruption, inflation, unemployment, and the administrative paralysis are hurting the common man.

Under the tough scenario, celebrating August 14th opens the window of opportunity to promote patriotism and national unity in the best interest of the country.

Though, the media played its role nationwide against corruption, injustice, incompetence and negligence far and wide, yet a special “awareness campaign” needs to be launched for eliminating the hypocrites, hidden hands and the quagmire of feudal politics.

Hopefully, the politically aware youth will make it to the polling stations this time. Indeed, if they vote in significant numbers at the upcoming elections, the current unpleasant status quo will be replaced by the long awaited positive change.

Putting aside linguistic, provincial and religious differences for sake of unity would save Pakistan.