When is Eid al Fitr 2023 / 1444AH

When is Eid al Fitr 2023?

by Imad Ahmed

13 April 2023
22 Ramadan 1444

 Q: WHEN IS EID AL FITR 2023 / 1444 AH IN THE UK?

A: It’s likely that Eid will be celebrated on two different dates in the UK, as follows:

SATURDAY 22 APRIL

• For those who follow local UK moonsighting. 
• Also, for those who follow the Eid date of Morocco and other African countries. 

FRIDAY 21 APRIL: 

• For those who follow Saudi. 

Please note, although a Friday Eid in Saudi Arabia is scientifically impossible according to moon visibility, we still predict Saudi will celerate Eid on this earlier date based on their previous Eid declarations.

More details below

NB: HELP MAKE A VIDEO?

I often try and make a video explaining when Eid will be, and why there is a split. Sadly I have been suffering with an illness called Long Covid now for the last 2 years, which has left me bedbound for a lot of the time, and unable to do such activity. 

If anyone, reading this information, wants to make a video, TikTok, or social media output explaining to people when Eid is likely to be - please do so and tag us! 

It could be as simple as you talking and commenting on one of the maps below, and explaining when Eid is. It'd be popular - give it a go, and contact us thorugh social media DM if you need help with the script.

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Q: WHY DO WE HAVE SPlLIT EIDS?

A: The majority of UK mosques outsource their moonsighting abroad and follow the Eid dates of different countries - mainly to Saudi, Morocco and some other Africa countries. 

It's perfectly scientific, normal and natural that different countries across the globe will celebrate Eid on different dates. This is because the crescent for Eid is first visible in different parts of the world on different dates. One country may see the moon, say, on a Thursday, and another country may see the moon on the next day.

When these different countries see the moon on different dates, they will celebrate Eid on different dates. Yet as UK mosques follow different countries (instead of following our own moon!), we end up having split dates for Eid here in the UK. 

To solve this problem, New Crescent Society proposes we return to the sunnah of local moonsighting and no longer rely on outsourced moonsightings. 

Q: HOW CAN WE USE THIS DATA TO MAKE EID DATE PREDICTIONS? 

A: To predict when Eid will be using data, you can look at the moon visibility for the 29th of Ramadan, Thursday, April 20. If the moon is visible, Eid is on Friday; if not, Eid is on Saturday. 

To account for all the UK positions, you have to look at predicted moon visibility for the UK, Morocco, and Saudi.

Visibility map. Green indicates visible.

From HM Nautical Almanac Office

As you can see from the pictures, the moon is scientifically impossible to see on Thursday April 20th in the UK, Saudi, or Morocco. Based on this, we would expect Ramadan to have 30 days, and Eid to be on Saturday, April 22nd for everyone in the UK. 

However, there are some additional complications - as we have mentioned, we think Saudi will start a day earlier than this data suggests! 

Source for data: HM Nautical Almanac Office

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/crescent-moon-visibility-for-eid-al-fitr-2023

Q: WHY WILL SAUDI LIKELY COMPLETE RAMADAN ONE DAY EARLIER?

We predict that Saudi following mosques will finish Ramadan a day earlier and celebrate on Friday, April 21st, even though it will not be scientifically possible to see the moon on Thursday. 

Saudi Arabia’s Eid dates tends to follow their own predetermined admin calendar, the Umm al Qura calendar, which is published years in advance. According to the Umm al Qura calendar, Eid in Saudi will be on Friday 21 April. 

The Umm al Qura calendar dates do not match lunar visibility. This is confirmed on the Umm al Qura calendar website itself:

Source: https://www.ummulqura.org.sa/president_address.aspx

Saudi often produces moonsighting reports that mysteriously "match" the Umm al Qura calendar dates - even if the moonsightings are not scientifically possible! This includes Saudi “seeing” the moon when the crescent is below the horizon! Several academic studies have been written on this phenomenon. 

Hypothetically, there is a slim chance that Saudi will not see the moon on Thursday and celebrate Eid on Saturday, April 22nd. As you can see from the data, this would be the correct date according to science/astronomy. However Arab news channels are already reporting that Friday, April 21, will be Eid in Saudi, which could indicate that it has already been confirmed/leaked in advance that Saudi will "see" the moon on Thursday night.

Q: WHAT IS THE SOLUTION TO THIS? HOW CAN WE HAVE A UNITED EID?

As long as different mosques in the UK follow different countries / different methods, we cannot have a united Eid in the UK.

Over the last six years, New Crescent Society has developed a network of moonsighters across the country who sight the moon, month in month out, and we have demonstrated that we can have a perfectly functional Islamic calendar here in the UK. 

In other words: we no longer need to outsource the moon to other countries. We can have our own Islamic calendar here, in the UK, just like other countries do. 

For example, this Ramadan, we saw the Ramadan moon in 13 different locations in the UK. And look at the joy of the people who sight the moon.

The first person to see the Ramadan moon in the UK, Juned Patel:

Raheel sees the moon in Dundee:

They saw the moon in Cambridge:

Great fun in Sheffield:

And here was the Ramadan moon for 1444 AH, or 2023:

Insha allah we hope over the next few months to be able to engage more mosques and help them learn how to sight the moon. By training more and more people, reviving this sunnah and spreading this knowledge, we hope we can eventually stop outsourcing the moon abroad, and returning to this sunnah position.

We believe that this is a good path to finding unity for Eid day in the future, and with your duas and support, it is eminently possible.

It's such a wonderful experience, as you can see from the above videos. Why would we not want our Muslim community in the UK to particpate in this beautiful sunnah?

And Allah knows best.

TO STAY UP TO DATE WITH LOCAL MOONSIGHTING, FOLLOW NEW CRESCENT SOCIETY ON SOCIAL MEDIA @newcrescentsociety