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The Prophet was very clear in telling his Ummah how to determine the beginning and end of Ramadan. This is to remove any possibility for disunity among his followers. How come then, every year we only see disunity among the Muslims at the beginning and end of Ramadan? This is because we have decided to seek guidance in other than the Sunnah of the Prophet.

The month of Ramadan does not begin with the birth of the moon. It does not even begin when it becomes possible to site the moon, or when that possibility falls within a certain time of the day. The month of Ramadan, according to the Messenger of Allah, begins with the SIGHTING of the moon. This means a human eye has to see the crescent of Ramadan. Please look at the following Hadith and ponder upon it for a moment. Abu Huraira narrated from the Prophet:

صوموا لرؤيته وأفطروا لرؤيته (رواه البخاري)

Begin your fast when you see it [the crescent of Ramadan], and end your fast when you see it [the crescent of Shawwal]

In fact, there is another Hadith which is even more clear about this order. Ibn Omar narrated from the Messenger of Allah:

لا تصوموا حتى تروا الهلال ولا تفطروا حتى تروه (رواه البخاري)

Do not begin your fast until you see the crescent, and do not end your fast until you see it

So, according to the Prophet, it does not matter if the moon was out there and possible to see. What matters is whether we saw it or not. The Hadeeth is forbidding us from beginning Ramadan if we do not see the crescent with our human eye!

On the other hand, the Prophet commanded us to continue Sha'baan, again if we cannot SEE the crescent.

فإن غُمَّ عليكم فأكملوا عِدّة شعبان ثلاثين (رواه البخاري)

If it is cloudy, then continue Sha'baan thirty days

No one should dare to think that the Prophet did not realize that the new crescent of Ramadan could be behind the clouds. Yet he still commanded us to not fast that day, by telling us to count it from Sha'baan. In fact, according to the stronger opinion, it is forbidden to fast the 30th day of Sha'baan. But, the method of calculation does not pay attention to this at all. For this year, they already have determined that Saturday is the first day of Ramadan. So, if it was cloudy in the place where the crescent was possible to sight, Saturday is part of Sha'baan according to the Prophet! But, it is part of Ramadan according to the people of calculation. In such case, either the Prophet is asking us to eat and drink on a day from Ramadan, or the people of calculations are asking us to fast on a day which is forbidden to fast. You take your pick!

Last but not least, we have the following hadith, which some people tend to misunderstand. This is the Hadith of ibn Omar:

إنا أمّة أمّية لا نكتب ولا نحسب (رواه البخاري)

We are an illiterate nation, we don't write, neither do we make calculations

Some people may get angry at the people who use this hadith to refute calculation. They think that this Hadith contains an insult to the Muslims because it is describing them as illiterate. But we have to be clear that this is only due to a serious misunderstanding of the Hadith. In fact, once a person understands this hadith, he or she will see that this is praising the Muslims.

First, this is an authentic hadith from the Prophet, and we should accept it, believe in it, and not have ill-feeling towards it. One should fear for his Eemaan if he feels differently about the Hadeeth of the Prophet. Second, this hadith is restricted [muqayyad] to the issue of determining lunar months. In other matters, we see that Islam has encouraged writing and calculations. For example, Allah commanded us in the Quran to write the debt. In addition, all the scholars of this Ummah agreed to use calculation in case of inheritence. But, when it comes to the issue of deciding the beginning and the end of a lunar month, we are not supposed to use either writing or calculation. Those who insist on using calculation are clearly going against the order of the Prophet. In a way, they are also refusing to be part of this Ummah, which the Prophet described as illiterate in this particular matter.

In fact, if a person ponders upon this Hadith, he will see that it is praising the Ummah, not insulting it (yes sometimes it's better to be illiterate!). First, it is easier and more convenient to sight the moon, and we know the Prophet would not be given a choice between two matters except that he would choose the easiest of the two. Therefore, it is a waste of time and effort to spend hours looking at moon patterns and charts. It's not right to make a matter complicated after the Prophet has made simple to all of us. Second, the Prophet made this matter accessible to everybody so no one would come and make a monopoly out of this issue. But, when the matter rests in the hands of some astronomists, many times non-Muslims, now we have become captives to their decisions. Islam however gave the right to make such decision to any sane trustworthy Muslim. Why give that right up?