Whose Shaban is it Anyway? Saudi Arabia Once Again Causes Confusion for Shaban Start Date

When is 15 Shaban 1442 / 2021?

By Imad Ahmed

The night of the 15 Shaban is considered a holy night for many Muslims. Known variously as Laylat al Baraa, Ruwa, Shabe Berat, and Nisf Shaban, it is a date that holds significance across the Muslim world. 

As such, we have been frequently been receiving this question:

QUESTION: When is 15 Shaban 1442 / 2021?

SHORT ANSWER: 

• If you follow local / visibility calendars:  The evening* of Sunday 28 March, and the day of Monday 29 March.

*(NB: Please remember, Islamic calendar dates start in the evening after sunset / maghrib.)

• If you follow Saudi: Conflicting reports. No one seems to be sure. Possibly the same date as above, possibly one day day earlier. Saudi-following mosques in the UK are themselves split. Please see below for explanation.

Moon for Shaban, seen in Teesside

Moon for Shaban, seen in Dundee.

EXPLANATION:

Moonsighters: Sunnah and Simple

For those who follow moonsighting, the answer is quite straightforward. 

• Based on moonsighting, 1 Shaban 1442 = Monday 15 March 2021
• The evening of 15 Shaban is Sunday evening, 28 March
• The day of 15 Shaban is Monday 29 March

NB: Please remember, Islamic calendar dates start in the evening after maghrib / sunset.

This is the case for those who follow local UK sightings, as is also the case for our neighbouring countries in Europe and Africa

Saudi Followers: Mixed Messages from a Mixed Calendar

If you or your mosque follow Saudi, however, the answer is not quite straightforward.

We have become quite accustomed to confusion around Shaban caused by Saudi, and have blogged about the previous two years here.

This year, Saudi have produced a new problem that New Crescent Society has encountered for the first time: two different dates circulating for the beginning of Shaban for Saudi Arabia, from within Saudi sources! 

One of the dates matches ours in the UK (i.e. 1 Shaban was on Monday 15 March), and the other date is for the day before!

Rather embarrassingly for us in the UK, mosques which follow Saudi Arabia are themselves split across these two dates.

So which is it?

1. Umm al Qura date?

The Umm al Qura Calendar (UQC) is the official Saudi pre-calculated calendar, and is used by the government for their administrative purposes. According to the UQC and Saudi government websites, Shaban began a day earlier than us in the UK, Europe and Africa, from the evening of Saturday 13 March.

The problem with this date is, it does not match lunar visibility (see map below):

According to moon visibility, the moon was not visible in Saudi, nor anywhere in the world, according to their Umm al Qura Calendar start date.

This is unsurprising. The UQC does not match lunar visibility (something which the Saudi’s themselves concede on their own website), and tends to calculate its calendar date as a day, or even two days, earlier that actual moon visibility in Saudi Arabia. 

You can read more about the Umm al Qura calendar on our blog here in detail, here briefly, or on an academic website here. Alternative you can watch our video on it here.

Some mosques in the UK are following Saudi according to this start date.

2. Unofficial moonsighting date?

However, on various press releases and twitter feeds, there seem to be a different and contradictory announcement made. These reports suggest that Shaban started on Monday 15 March (and not Sunday, as per UQC).

A different date from government websites, etc.

This date would concede that the UQC date was incorrect, and would give a date matching moonsighting in Saudi Arabia. 

The problem for UK Muslims with these press releases (even from the Saudi Press Agency), is that there seems to be no announcement from Saudi's Supreme Court, which is the body which presides over the calendar in Saudi Arabia.

Unfortunately, this has caused much debate online and in social media, as no one seems to be quite able to ascertain which Saudi source to follow - for example, here:

On the one hand, the Twitter Page Haramain prides itself on having very close contact to Saudi sources, and indeed is often correct about Saudi. However, the Gulf News article cited the government's press agency. Meanwhile, the Saudi Supreme Court has said nothing publicly. 

Amongst this confusion, some Saudi-following mosques in the UK have chosen to follow this date.

So whose (Saudi) Shaban is it anyway?

This year the Saudi mosques are themselves internally split as to when Shaban has begun.

Some mosques which follow Saudi Arabia have gone with the unofficial press reports, commencing Shaban on Monday, meaning their 15 Shaban will be with the rest of the Muslims in the UK. Some have remained with the UQC and have interpreted the silence of the Saudi Supreme Court as a sign to begin a day earlier, and therefore consider 15 Shaban a day earlier..

This is a confusing situation indeed.

Unfortunately, problems with the month of Shaban in Saudi Arabia are nothing new. 

In the last two years, for example, we have written about other problems. Then, we saw Saudi Arabia veer away from its UQC date and say that Shaban had started a day later - but it only made the announcement at the end of Shaban! This meant that all those who followed Saudi Arabia's original UQC date for 15 Shaban were gobsmacked to learn - at the end of the month - that they had celebrated this evening on the wrong date according to Saudi Arabia!

The UQC also has an internal 'glitch', which means Saudi also often go out of synch with the moon, and frequently attempt to look for the Ramadan moon on the incorrect date - you can watch our educational video on it here.

Based on the last two years, we predict that Saudi Arabia's Supreme Court may well clarify the issue by the end of the month. Confirming the beginning of the month at the end of the month, of course, is a very avante garde approach - unfortunately, for half of the Saudi followers in UK, they would have hedged their bets on the wrong date, and when they receive an official confirmation at the end of the month -  it will be too late!

So what's the solution?

We have written on this topic extensively - please read this blog entry.

An extract from this blog entry states:

Proposal

Muslims in the UK to have a UK Islamic Calendar based on lunar visibility in the UK - just as other countries have their own local calendars (e.g: Morocco, South Africa, Bangladesh, Oman and so on).

Is this possible?

Yes. In the past it was believed that the UK was too cloudy to have its own calendar, though we now have almost four consecutive years' evidence to suggest otherwise.

For this solution to be viable, there needs to be the following three things:

1. Enough moonsighting groups nationally, who are trained and attempt to sight every month.
2. A mechanism to collect sighting reports, verify reports, and announce the sightings
3. Community buy-in

We have made a lot of progress with this, with people now sighting the moon up and down the country.

We have proved, indubitably, that the moon is visible in the UK. 

We have demonstrated that there is no need for us to 'outsource' our moonsighting to Saudi, Morocco, or anywhere else.

Insha allah, with your prayers and support, with you looking for the moon with us every month - we can work together in the UK, and enter into the next phase of this journey.

Thanks for reading! Let us know if you have any comments, questions, thoughts, or any further information about the 'correct' date in Saudi Arabia!