New Crescent Society

An allegorical poem from the famed poet, Maulana Jalal al Din Rumi. It's based on a incident from the time of Caliph Omar, when a man had claimed that he had seen the new crescent, when in fact he had seen a strand of his own hair draped across his eyes. * IN THE TIME OF OMAR SOMEONE IMAGINED THAT HE HAD SEEN THE NEW MOON The month of Ramadan, in Omar’s reign People ran to a hill above the plain To greet the new moon as a hopeful sign -  One called, ‘Omar, come watch the new moon shine!’ But Omar saw no moon above, and said: ‘That moon’s an image dreamt up in your head! If not, explain how, with my better sight, I can’t see any moon tonight. First rub your eyebrows with a wet hand, then Attempt to look at the new moon again.’ The man did this, then couldn’t see it there; He said, ‘It’s disappeared into thin air!’ Omar explained, ‘Your eyebrow was a bow T hat shot false views at your just like a foe!’ A hair had veiled him – now he felt ashamed T hat vi...

Did Saudi Arabia see the moon? Sighting reports of the New Crescent have emerged from Saudi Arabia tonight, meaning that Saudi Arabia will now begin the month of Dhul Hijjah. Once again, Saudi’s moonsighting report tonight is mired in controversy. Those from the astronomy community have declared that Saudi Arabia’s alleged sighting was scientifically impossible. In other words, the moon was not yet large enough to be detected by the human eye, or even a conventional telescope.  As we can see in the image below, Saudi Arabia falls outside of the visibility curves, and it would not be possible to have sighted the moon there at all. The data used to create this image comes from HMNAO – Her Majesty’s Nautical Almanac Office. You can read more directly from their website, which confirms the moon was not visible in Saudi here . Was the moon sighted locally? Here in the UK, the moon was not sighted anywhere ; nor indeed was it sighted in any of ou...

By Imad Ahmed Director, New Crescent Society A personal blog from the Director of New Crescent Society.  This blog is a personal tribute I would like to make to the Unlikely Sighters:  3  groups of people that I have met or trained that one might not expect to be trailblazers in this field. Each of these 3 groups  have a great understanding of astronomy, and the science behind moonsighting. 1. The Towerblock Skygazers They go to the top of their estate once a month in Hackney, East London, to sight the moon.  As an ex Hackney school teacher, I'm extra proud of this group; it's heartening to see the enthusiasm from the youngsters too. After a year of moonsighting at this estate, they've decided they want to try out some other locations. I've been particularly impressed by their local knowledge and ingenuity whilst they scout public parks, or map which person in their community has access to which rooftop. Their tower block features in our most...

Sighting the moon on the 29th of Ramadan around the world The Prophet Muhammad famously stated that Muslims should fast with the sighting of the new crescent, and should conclude their fasting for Ramadan with the sighting of the next new crescent, and begin the festival of Eid. Thus, on the 29th of Ramadan, Muslims from around the world with gather in groups, searching for the new crescent moon that will mark the beginning of the Eid festivities, and complete their month of fasting. This is done across the world - Morocco, South Africa, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Indonesia, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Oman etc etc etc. Groups go out with ifar, have fun with their friends and family in a festive environment, hoping to catch a glimpse of the tiny sliver of a moon. So how comes everyone else has all the fun, but we Muslims in the UK can't participate in this joyous occasion? The  New Crescent Society  seeks to address this by encouraging moonsighting. We aim to revive t...

Salam everyone! We've been asked multiple times - when is Eid? And will we all be celebrating Eid on the same day? We've written a blog to answer the question. Don't hesitate to comment below with your feedback or further questions! ** Muslims across the UK started Ramadan 1440 on separate dates. Broadly speaking, there are two different positions on moonsighting in the UK, which led to these different dates. They are as follows: Local Moonsighters:  Started fasting on Tuesday 7 May 2019 Saudi Followers: Started fasting on Monday 6 May 2019 If we started Ramadan on different dates, the question then arises - will we end Ramadan and celebrate Eid al Fitr on different dates? The New Crescent Society  predicts that we will all celebrate Eid on the same day in the UK: Wednesday 5 June. Why are we making this prediction? To understand why we think both groups will celebrate on Wednesday 5 June, let us examine each of the two groups in turn. ...

They say it is the moon which controls the tides. No man could change even the direction of a river current, but the moon itself could move an ocean. * No longer against the current When we set sail on this journey, everyone told us it was impossible. There was no way that we could expect UK Muslims to have Eid on the same day. Now, our inbox is full of emails from mosques who want to know more, from community groups who want to start their own sightings. The notion of a unified Islamic calendar in the UK is becoming mainstream. National Hilal Conference 2019, Royal Observatory Greenwich Before and after our historic National Hilal Conference , New Crescent Society has been working hard behind the scenes, meeting mosques, community leaders and imams individually to discuss possible ways forward with regards to the Islamic Calendar. We have met some of the largest and important key decision makers around the Islamic Calendar in the UK. The question we a...