Bangladesh Moonsighting at Risk: Will New Government Undermine Tradition?

We Hope Not!!

Imad Ahmed
Monday 12 August 2024
6 Safar 1446

Screenshot from Bangladsehi newspaper, Dhaka Tribune

As you will have seen in recent events, after mass protests, the Prime Minister of Bangladesh resigned and fled the country. Bangladesh is now in the process of installing a new government, headed by Dr Muhammad Yunus.

Whilst it is outside the remit of New Crescent Society to comment on this specific political issue, we wish everyone in the country peace, imaan, prosperity and security. 

However, of interest to New Crescent Society are some news stories about the future of Bangladesh's moonsighting.

The new government has, in its earliest days in power, announced new leadership of the moonsighting committee, including new scientific advisors to help the moonsighting practices become more 'reliable'. 

New Government, New Moon?

This seems peculiar. 

Bangladesh already has one of the most reliable local sunnah moonsighting practices in the world. They already have astronomers and meteorologists on their team, so they certainly do not lack for scientific expertise. So what might these announcements allude to?

As it stands, Bangladesh follows a very authentic, sunnah-based, lunar observational calendar. Every month, they send out groups of moonsighters to each of its 64 districts  on the 29th of each month- these are in cities, towns, countryside and seaside locations. Each location has a number of people, including experienced moonsighters and religious ulema. The whole process is aided by the support of astronomers, scientists and meteorologists. If the moon is seen on the 29th, the new month commences - if the moon is not seen, then the month will have continue and have 30 days. It is, overall, a remarkable system.

We hope that these newly announced reforms simply stabilise and keep the current fantastic practice in place. 

Will Bangladesh Follow Saudi's Phantom Moon?

Across the Muslim world, many Muslim countries and communities have abandoned the sunnah of moonsighting, and instead follow Saudi Arabia. This is hugely problematic, as we have extensively covered in video after video and blog after blog, because Saudi Arabia consistently produce moonsightings which are scientifically impossible month after month, leading people to start the month, fast, or celebrate Eid a day or two too early. It is still not clear to us why Muslim governments and communities follow Saudi instead of their own moon, as there is no sunnah precedent for abandoning your own local celestial phenomena and following Riyadh. Many have speculated that there are hidden political agendas behind this, but we have no evidence to confirm nor deny this. 

If these new reforms mean that Bangladesh was to leave its own highly authentic scientific sunna practices, and instead now beings to follow Saudi, this would be a great travesty indeed.  We hope this is not the case. We hope thew new government ensures that the current system is protected, and is allowed to continue as an exemplar as one of the best moonsighting practices in the world.

We hope that Bangladesh’s Islamic Calendar system is not overhauled to simply follow Saudi, as is the case with other countries and communities. This would certainly constitute a departure from the integrity of the sunnah practice as it exists there. 

To learn more about Bangladesh’s moonsighting, you can see a short video from here, where Director of New Crescent Society, Imad Ahmed, joined their moonsighting in Dhaka, Bangladesh: