Explanation from Tarjih and Tajdid Council of Central Executive of Muhammadiyah on the Decision of Eid-al-Fitr Tomorrow
Thursday, 29-08-2011![]() |
Responding to questions from some people concerning to tomorrow Ied al fitr where the fasting is only 29 days, is legal? The answer is that the Holy Prophet in some hadith state that the age of the moon is 29 days or sometimes 30 days. So people who fast about 29 days and will have ied al fitr tomorrow is legitimate as they have already fasted for a month. Astronomically, today, Monday, August 29, 2011, the Moon in the sky has been in conjunction (ijtimak), which it has already completed one revolution around the earth, at 10:05 this morning. Thus the month of Ramadan has been already a month old. In the hadiths of the Prophet, among others sourced from Abu Hurairah and Aisha, the Prophet declared that he fasted 29 days than 30 days. According to Ibn Hajar investigation, from 9 times experienced by the Prophet Ramadan, only twice he fasted in 30 days of Ramadan. The rest, seven times, he fasted in 29 days of Ramadan.
Regarding the basis for setting Ied al fitr tomorrow on Tuesday, August 30, 2011 is the ultimate reckoning with the criteria wujudul hilal (1) Moon in the sky for the month of Ramadan has come around the Earth one round Monday at 10:05 hours today, (2) completed one round was reached before the Sun today's set, and (3) when the sun went down today afternoon, the moon is about positive above the horizon. So thus, the criteria for entering the new moon has been met. These criteria are not based on the concept of appearance. These criteria are the criteria to enter a new month without sighting the new moon associated with, but based on the computation of the geometric positions of certain celestial bodies. These criteria specify the entry of a new month with the fulfillment of certain astronomical parameters, namely the three parameters mentioned above.
Why use the reckoning, the reasons are:
1. Reckoning provides more certainty and can calculate the date in advance,
2. Reckoning has the opportunity to bring together the calendar, which is not possible with rukyat. Expert II Conference organized by ISESCO in 2008 has confirmed that it is impossible to unite the Muslim dating system except by using the reckoning.
On the other hand, rukyat has several problems:
1. It can not confirm the date forward because the new date can only be known through rukyat on H-1 (the day before new moon),
2. Rukyat can not unify the date including to unify the day of Arafat fasting, and in contrary rukyat obliged the date to be different because the line curves of rukyat on earth will always divide the earth between those who can determine and those who cannot,
3. Factors affecting rukyat too much, namely (1) the geometric factor (position of the Moon, the Sun and Earth), (2) atmospheric factors, namely the weather and the atmosphere, (3) physiological factors, namely the ability of the human eye to catch the reflected light from the surface months, (4) psychological factors, namely a strong desire to be able to see the new moon is often encouraged hallucinations so frequent claim that the moon has been seen but according to scientific criteria, even with powerful binoculars, the new moon is still impossible to see.
It needs efforts to unify the Muslim dating system so the case these differences are no longer sobering. For that we must dare to switch from rukyat (including rukyat are brought to account) to the reckoning. At the time of the Prophet, rukyat did not cause problems because the Muslims only inhabited the Arabian Peninsula and there were no Muslims outside the Arabian peninsula. So that when the moon was visible or not visible in the Arabian peninsula, there was no problem with Muslims in other areas in the region because there were no Muslims. Unlike today, where Muslims have inhabited many parts of the earth. If somewhere new moon is visible, then it might not look in other areas. Because the appearance of the moon on the earth is limited and does not cover the whole face of the earth. Rukyat will cause problems if there is a certain year in the month of Dhul-Hijjah. In the moon is visible in Mecca, yet not visible in Indonesia, this may raise the issue of Arafat fasting.
So therefore it is necessary unification, and unification needs to be cross countries because of the problems of Arafat fasting. This means that anyone who are trying to propose a unifying calendar system, they must be able to unify the calendar days falling the Arafat between Mecca and other regions of the world that Arafat may be imposed fasting on the same day. It is a challenge to Indonesia astronomers. We regret not many people trying to give attention to the unification across the countries. New debate that occurred is about to determine the criteria of new moon, which is only a small fraction of the overall problems of the unification of the calendar.
While we still have not been able to unify Hijra calendar, so if there is difference we should have a greater tolerance towards one another and respect each other. While at the same time we continue to pursue such unification.
(trans by hm-uhamka)
Tags: idul fitri 1432 H
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