It makes no sense that some people just fix dates based on their whims.

How can this be stopped? What is the way out?

Ramadan Mubarak in advance.

I was coming to start a similar thread. Thank you not for beating me to it.

It is a good thing that we think it is important to find a way out.

The youth are the agents of change anywhere and it is a good thing that we are saddened, as seen in the other thread by our divisive state.

I am of the opinion that whatever we discuss here or agree on should be sent to the secretary of the NSCIA, the JNI(eith the Sultan as its head, MUSWEN and the league of Imams and Alfas of south west Nigeria.


We may not send it to them all. We may not write a letter, we may just send the link.

Whatever we decide should be about making them aware of how the Young Muslims of Nigeria want them to come together henceforth and AGREE on a standard system of moon sighting and its eventual broadcast to the Nigerian Populace.


May Allah help us to arrive at the best conclusions. May He accept our Ibadah.



Ramadan Mubarak.

Ramadan isn't a new thing in Islam. The prophet alongside his companions has observed it before us. What we need in this our country(9ja) is obedience to the sunnah and our leaders(not your local imams o). I think if we followed the sunnah strictly there will be no problem of moon fighting.

busar: Ramadan isn't a new thing in Islam. The prophet alongside his companions has observed it before us. What we need in this our country(9ja) is obedience to the sunnah and our leaders(not your local imams o). I think if we followed the sunnah strictly there will be no problem of moon fighting.

what you stated is not new to us.

We want practical solutions to the matter on ground.

How do you think we can end this

tbaba1234: It makes no sense that some people just fix dates based on their whims.

How can this be stopped? What is the way out?

Ramadan Mubarak in advance.

It sounds like it makes no sense.But I dont think it is as simple as that.

I believe the origin of what is going on is very long ago when all the means of communication we have now werent there.

They resorted into astronomical ways of calculating the dates and made calendars. It was okay then because even if they would get information from elsewhere, say the North, it would take them days.

With the advent of technology, came youths who thought they knew more than the old people, stopped listening to them and started doing what the older generation saw as alien.

The older people decided to form a stronghold and go against anything, one or ruling against what they have hitherto known to be right. Here is how they got it wrong.

Islam/knowledge is never to be forced down a people's throat. I believe that a way out would be that whatever decision we make is an inclusive one. The Imams should see themselves as part of the decision makers rather than people shoved aside for their lack of knowledge or technology or how the world is moving.

I believe the time is now to end the moon fight that always occured every Ramadan. This situation is becoming more embarrassing every year as it normally look like we (Muslims) are disorganise and look childish.

Quran, Hadith and Prophet Muhammed (SAW) have clearly explain the procedure if we are willing to follow them but some of the Imam we have in Nigeria always wanted to show power and authority over their jurisdiction by just declaring anyday they like.

The followings are my suggestions or ways of ending this ugly situation of MOON FIGHT:

1. All the Imam should come together and unite in the interest of Islam, is time we all eradicate our self-interest and let the truth prevail.

2. There should be a Workshop, Seminar or Conference by NSCIA for all the Imam to deliberate on the bad effect of a League of Imams doing meeting to decide the day that Ramadan should start or end but rather following the laid down guidelines which is every clear and precise.

3. Imam should never announce in any Juma'ah Service about a date Ramadan should start unless if moon has already been sighted.

4. Moon sighting should be centralised. If any village, community or state sight moon; they must not pronounce it yet until they call the President of NSCIA on phone and the President of NSCIA must also make sure the person calling has the backing of the Chief Imam of the area; such Chief Imam must testify to the sighting of the moon too, after which the pronouncement will now start.

5. The President, Secretary and other members of NSCIA must have a toll-free lines that will enable anybody that sight moon at anytime to call free along with the Chief Imam of the area to pass such information as quickly as possible. The toll-free line can be a line that will be very easy to remember at anytime for example 080ISLAM, 080NSCIA, 080MUSLIM or other simple numbers like that.

6. Is time NSCIA should emulate other country Islamic Council by acquiring moon sighting Technology, which they will be able to use in determining when the moon will be sighted. With the technology, there may not even be any need for them to be waiting for anybody to call before sighting moon anywhere in Nigeria.

Finally, is time all the Imams, Sheiks, Alfas and other knowledgeable Ummah start utilising their authority towards propagating Islam instead of fighting for unnecessary supremacy... None of us human being have any power or authority that is higher than Almighty Allah.

May Almighty Allah count us among those on the right path and continue to shower His wisdom and knowledge of deen on us (Amin)

Ramadan Kareem in advance (few hours to go)... Marhababika yah Ramadhan, A'lan wa sallam wa marhababikum

Maa salam

deols:

what you stated is not new to us.

We want practical solutions to the matter on ground.

How do you think we can end this

That's the practical solution to the issue on ground. If the ''babas'' obey and recognise the supreme leader in Nigeria I think we will have less problem. I read a post yesterday on Facebook when a brother was trying to educate his father on the issue on ground. The response the father gave him was ''the babas know better''

^ deols,If traditions are inaccurate, why stick to it? Like Allah says:

when it is said to them, ‘Come to what God has sent down, and to the Messenger,’ they say, ‘What we inherited from our forefathers is good enough for us,’ even though their forefathers knew nothing and were not guided. (Surah 5:104)

This thing has lasted for a long time, I do not think, they are unaware. There are tribal undertones as well.

They have simply resisted change.

That said, you are correct about how to bring change.

deols:

It sounds like it makes no sense.But I dont think it is as simple as that.

I believe the origin of what is going on is very long ago when all the means of communication we have now werent there.

They resorted into astronomical ways of calculating the dates and made calendars. It was okay then because even if they would get information from elsewhere, say the North, it would take them days.

With the advent of technology, came youths who thought they knew more than the old people, stopped listening to them and started doing what the older generation saw as alien.

The older people decided to form a stronghold and go against anything, one or ruling against what they have hitherto known to be right. Here is how they got it wrong.

Islam/knowledge is never to be forced down a people's throat. I believe that a way out would be that whatever decision we make is an inclusive one. The Imams should see themselves as part of the decision makers rather than people shoved aside for their lack of knowledge or technology or how the world is moving.

I think another problem we have is kind of ethnic. The yorubas don't always really want to agree with the hausas on the issue of moon sighting. But I think it will be easier to sight in the north. I don't know if I'm wrong, but I've grown up to hear our people saying "that's hausa's fast".

I think there's a need for all these organisations to come as one, and any other organisation should get a certification from the chief organisation, regardless of the differences in any form.

I think this is affecting the muslims in the world scene too. The main problems of the muslims started when we stopped having a caliph. No thanks to us all on that.

golpen:


I think another problem we have is kind of ethnic. The yorubas don't always really want to agree with the hausas on the issue of moon sighting. But I think it will be easier to sight in the north. I don't know if I'm wrong, but I've grown up to hear our people saying "that's hausa's fast".

I think there's a need for all these organisations to come as one, and any other organisation should get a certification from the chief organisation, regardless of the differences in any form.

I think this is affecting the muslims in the world scene too. The main problems of the muslims started when we stopped having a caliph. No thanks to us all on that.

Yeah. I agree with the ethnic part. Some cannot agree that the Sultan is the leader of the Muslims of Nigeria.

The problem is world over, really.

and Yes! We need to preach how Islam is not tribal and we are all ONE.

Has the search for the moon begun?

This makes me sad every year.
Why will some people decide a day to start their own fasting a week earlier just because they don't want to feel inferior/subjected (pardon my use of words) to others in the same country? Even if they don't want to unite with the North, why can't they also make effort to look out for the moon?

I don't think anything we discuss here on the internet will have impact really considering the steps that have been taken so far. One thing I want to remind us is that “Whoever fasts the day of doubt has disobeyed Abû al-Qâsim (Muhammad,peace be upon him)” [Sahîh al-Bukhârî]

May Allah forgive us all

Ramadan Kareem

deols: I was coming to start a similar thread. Thank you not for beating me to it.

It is a good thing that we think it is important to find a way out.

The youth are the agents of change anywhere and it is a good thing that we are saddened, as seen in the other thread by our divisive state.

I am of the opinion that whatever we discuss here or agree on should be sent to the secretary of the NSCIA, the JNI(eith the Sultan as its head, MUSWEN and the league of Imams and Alfas of south west Nigeria.


We may not send it to them all. We may not write a letter, we may just send the link.

Whatever we decide should be about making them aware of how the Young Muslims of Nigeria want them to come together henceforth and AGREE on a standard system of moon sighting and its eventual broadcast to the Nigerian Populace.


May Allah help us to arrive at the best conclusions. May He accept our Ibadah.



Ramadan Mubarak.

Amen

This keep repeating itself annually clearly showing that the Ummah is totally divided, everybody wanna be an authority. I could recall that the sultan has summoned meeting more than once regarding this issue with SW muslim leaders in Ibandan they still can't reach a consensus due to personal ego. I weep for this ummah & may للّهُ see us through.

tbaba1234: ^ deols,If traditions are inaccurate, why stick to it? Like Allah says:

when it is said to them, ‘Come to what God has sent down, and to the Messenger,’ they say, ‘What we inherited from our forefathers is good enough for us,’ even though their forefathers knew nothing and were not guided. (Surah 5:104)

This thing has lasted for a long time, I do not think, they are unaware. There are tribal undertones as well.

They have simply resisted change.

That said, you are correct about how to bring change.

The wrong traditions must be changed but they fail to see it and we have to make them see it.

...Interesting thread

IMO, it won't/cant stop (have frnds complaining abt such since 2004 sef).......BTW am a christian, dnt ban me o!

PLZ...

i dnt tink there is any problm in dat..let just follow wat the prophet told us about it'that if anybody tell u that he/she saw the moon weda true or false we should start the fasting immediately'

Well, The Truth is that the N.S.C.I.A and other League of Imams are presently trying their best I.M.O. The fact still remains that the ethnic dichotomy is the cause of all these, The Yorubas dnt want to believe the Hausas on this issue and vice-versa.
Until all Muslims accept and believe that the Sultan is our Leader nd try as much as posible to Obey him in this regards,the problem will just continue lingering.
RAMADAN MUBARAK

THIS IS AN ISLAMIC THREAD ON THE FRONT PAGE. IAM SURPRISED THAT I ONLY SAW ONE HIDDEN POST ON THE FIRST PAGE. WHY?

BACK TO THE TOPIC:
this is 2013, a digital world, there should be technology that must have been invented to tackle that.

true talk, we can't really profer solutions if we do not understand why the imans in the south west especially always differ with scia and vice versa. unless we understand why, which seem more of ethnic then we can sort out why.

ShehuAba: Well, The Truth is that the N.S.C.I.A and other League of Imams are presently trying their best I.M.O. The fact still remains that the ethnic dichotomy is the cause of all these, The Yorubas dnt want to believe the Hausas on this issue and vice-versa.
Until all Muslims accept and believe that the Sultan is our Leader nd try as much as posible to Obey him in this regards,the problem will just continue lingering.
RAMADAN MUBARAK

vedaxcool:
true talk, we can't really profer solutions if we do not understand why the imans in the south west especially always differ with scia and vice versa. unless we understand why, which seem more of ethnic then we can sort out why.

So you are saying it isnt a lack of knowledge but ethnic bigotry.

so do we teach them the ahadith of the problem against tribalism or do we show them the ills of tribalism.

or do we just leave them and hope that they realise what is wrong.

hmmmm wat do l say?first wat s Ramadam karem pls?

The thing is; if we don't get it corrected now, it doesn't look like it's going to die out with time.

I live in an area where they ethnic dichotomy still takes a stronghold and the funny thing is some youths (even the literates) who follows these babas don't look like they want to learn a thing.

May ALLAH unite the muslims...ramadan mubarakun.

deols:

So you are saying it isnt a lack of knowledge but ethnic bigotry.

so do we teach them the ahadith of the problem against tribalism or do we show them the ills of tribalism.

or do we just leave them and hope that they realise what is wrong.

The Truth is that none of these can actually solve the situation on ground.
I want all of us to agree that things has changed drastically in the last few years. Nw we Muslims are a little bit more organised as regards this issue, The N.S.C.I.A do issue statements stating the commencement and ending of Ramadan. One was carried out on d N.T.A by prof. Oloyede.
The South West League Of Imams under Sh. Ajisafe are also doing same and collaborating with other Islamic organisations.
The solution still remains that much publicity should be done especially to the Rural areas and people should be meant 2 undertand that Islam is nt all abt SELF DESIRE bt strict adherence to d Qur'an, Sunnah and always trying to be with the JAMA'AH.
May Allah help us all

Its only here you find this issue of discripancy in the appropriate ramadan commencement dates.

The arabs who are the progentors of islam have their own calender called the Hijri-arabic or hijra-english. This calender is diff from the gregorian calender which we have adopted here in naija.

The gregorian calender is the usual 12 months january to december which we are used to. The hijri on the other hand is based on the lunar trajectory which is similar to the chinese calender. The hijri is also a 12 month calender which commences with the month of muharram as the fist month and ends with Dhu al-hijja as the 12th month.
The hijri calender also consist of btw 354 to 355 days similar to the western gregorian calender. We are presenly in the 1434 AH according to the hijri and this year commenced on exactly the 14th of november 2012 and we are in the 9th month which is the month of fasting called Ramadan.

The month of rmadan is the 9th month of the hijri and the month set aside for the annual fasting in islam. There is no controversy whtsoever. If you shuld go to saudi-arabia today,every1 commences fasting today 9th of july 2012 which is the 1st day in the month of ramadan.

Every one has contributed well. My heart aches will Ramadan approaches with the fear that we may not start at the same.
To me the solution is us agreeing that whatever the sultan says is final, people say why should that be the case. Like someone pointed out we need more awareness especially from the local imams.
May Allah guide us to the straight path.