Iraqi Sunnis, Shiites Remain Divided on Moon Sighting

By Samir Haddad & Mazen Ghazi, IOL Correspondents

BAGHDAD, October 3, 2005 (IslamOnline.net) - For the third consecutive year, Iraq's Sunnis and Shiites remain divided on sighting the moon of the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan, though they agreed not to go by astronomical calculations.

"Iraqis this Ramadan will have two moon sightings after Sunnis and Shiites failed to agreed one a unified sighting date," Hussein Ghazi Al-Samerai'e, professor of comparative Fiqh in Baghdad University, told IslamOnline.net.

Sunni religious leaders have decided to meet Monday, October 3, at Abu Hanifa Al-Nuaman Mosque in Baghdad to document testimonies by individuals about sighting the moon crescent with naked eye.

Sheikh Ali Al-Wai'z, an aide of Ayatollah Ali Al-Sistani, and Sobhi Al-Adli, an Islamic research and studies professor at Baghdad University, told IOL Shiites will sight the moon on Tuesday October 4.

They attributed this to differences between Sunnis and Shiites on the end of Sha`ban.

Differences between Shiite and Sunnis regarding the start of the dawn-to-dusk fasting month surfaced after the ouster of president Saddam Hussein.

Under Saddam, the ministry of waqfs was responsible for the moon sighting and declaring the start of Ramadan.

Shiites used to secretly have their own sighting and beginning of the fast, according to IOL's correspondent.

Naked Eye

Although differences arouse on the beginning of the holy month, Sunnis and Shiites agree on abiding by the naked eye-sighting of the moon rather than astronomical calculations.

"This issue remains a point of contention among scholars but we think that calculations are to help but not replace the moon sighting," Al-Samerai'e said.

"When contradiction occurs between eye sighting and astronomical calculations, most scholars favor the eye sighting."

Sheikh Al-Wai'z and professor Al-Adli agree.

Muslims can only start fasting after a number of credible Muslims testify to having seen the moon with their naked eyes, they added.

Moon sighting has always been a controversial issue among Muslim countries, and even scholars seem at odds over the issue.

While one group of scholars sees that Muslims in other regions and countries are to follow this sighting as long as these countries share one part of the night, another states that Muslims everywhere should abide by the lunar calendar of Saudi Arabia.

A third, however, disputes both views, arguing that Islam is against division and disunity, since Muslims, for instance, are not allowed to hold two congregational prayers in one mosque at the same time.

This group believes that the authority in charge of ascertaining the sighting of the moon in a given country (such as Egypt's Dar al-Iftaa [House of Fatwa]) announces the sighting of the new moon, then Muslims in the country should all abide by this.