RAMADAN TRIANGLE
May God bless you and
your family with peace and prosperity.
Ramadan Mubarak (Happy Ramadan - Eid Mubarak) to those who
celebrate on Friday, Saturday or Sunday, heck even on
Monday. Let's not ruin any one's joy. Let's leave the
judgment to Malik-i-yomiddin (Master of the Day of
Judgment);
it’s been an age old tradition to disagree on sighting of
the moon and or deciding the day of the Eid. Why is it such
heartburn? My opinion is one of the 1.3 billion ones, but I
hope, it will give you an insight into this age old
conflict.
We go through this pain every year, let's accept that, it is
going to be there till eternity, as it has been there since
the very beginning. We can choose to be frustrated, bring
about a change or just let it go.
Arrogance is the root cause of all conflicts; the belief
that my understanding is superior to yours is the sole
reason for this dispute. It is an embarrassment that we have
not brought a resolution to this conflict. We have not even
defined and agreed upon the intent and purpose of Eid.
Eid is an occasion to bring the whole community together, as
Hajj brings the Muslim world together. It is an occasion to
forgive each other's mistakes, apologize for the wrongs and
start it all over with a clean slate of good relations. God
loves those who forgive and those who are humble.
Sighting of the moon is a uniting factor, assuming that the
moon is visible on the same day to all and all communities
connected and prayed on the same day barring time zones.
The difference is between the literalists, essentialists,
and now the scientists are a part of the triangle. Prophet
Muhammad (pbuh) said; celebrate the Eid when you see the
moon.
The literalists interpret that one has to see the moon
him/herself to declare the Eid. Seeing is critical to them,
every thing else is secondary.
The ones, who understand the essence, believe that Eid was
for the community to come together and celebrate. Thus if
one sees the Moon in Chennai, it was good for every one. If
some one in Karachi, Fez, Kuala Lumpur or Mecca sees it...
it is good to go. To this group, celebrating the Eid as a
community is of greater importance.
The Scientists say, they can track down the moon and predict
it precisely, and they prefer to go by that. As the day to
day prayers are based on precision, let everything be
planned, it makes life easy.
There is another group who has come to enjoy the ritual of
looking out for the moon, the anxiety, the waiting and the
surprise is part of the fun to them. They fly from that
point.
Essentialists have no problem celebrating the Eid if every
one goes along on any day, where as the literalist will not
budge, rightly so from their own point of view, there is a
rule and it has to be followed, i.e. ., physically see the
moon to celebrate. Scientists say we could not be clearer
than the factual representation.
Scientist will not gain the attention for at least one more
generation, as it kills all the sentiment and fun of
celebrating and sighting the moon, going shopping... jumping
on the feet and getting ready for the Eid. It is a festive
occasion and the surprise of the day is part of the
celebration.
Two analogies for consideration:
First, you don't want to know the gender of the baby before
it is born and second, making love is an emotional
experience and not a scientific one; science kills the whole
joy of it.
THE IRONY: Praying Salat is mandatory - Fard, a duty. The
timing for five prayers a day is set up to the minute with
no disputes. Whereas Eid is not Fard, it is Wajib –
Recommended, thus there is A room for human input and choice
element in this decision, and when there is a choice,
politics creeps in and it has to be "my way". That is the
problem.
Let's wish happy Eid to those who celebrate on Friday,
Saturday or Sunday, heck even on Monday. Let's not ruin any
one's joy. Let's leave the judgment to the Malik-i-yomiddin.
Eid Mubarak! May Allah bless all of his creation with peace.
