Earlier this month, Ramadan ended and was celebrated by Eid al-Fitr. The problem is that a lot of the Islamic community couldn’t agree when exactly that happened. It is a common problem and illustrates some of the interesting quirks of religion.
We’re used to religions splitting apart over hairs, of course. Is transubstantiation literal or metaphorical? Can King Henry have a divorce? Did Jesus visit America and tell men to take multiple wives?
But this article by BBC News illustrates the issues with Eid, where different parts of the Scottish Muslim community celebrated on different days.
Ramadan follows the lunar calendar, with a month of fasting that ends when the new moon arrives. You may think that science could easily answer this question. We know when the new moon appears because the movement of celestial bodies can be accurately predicted. In this case, in the UK, the new moon arrived on Tuesday, 4 June.
But no.
Some argue that they have to see it themselves. Presumably, in case it disappears or something.
Others argue that because other people have seen the moon, that should be acceptable “because that’s the same moon”.
Still others have argued that seeing in the UK does not matter because the UK is not an Islamic country. Therefore, it only counts when someone in Morocco sees the new moon because that is the nearest Islamic country.
Finally, others have said the whole thing is too complex and that it should be celebrated according to what can be seen from Mecca.
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This entry was posted on Monday, June 10th, 2019 at 11:00 am and is filed under Religion & Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.