Changing month by the Moon

Imad Ahmed is a 1^st year PhD student in the Faculty of Divinity. His research is focussed on the history of the Islamic calendar and its intrinsic connection to the lunar cycle. Each month, on the 29^th day of the lunar month, he takes groups out to look for the Crescent Moon in the night sky. He established the New Crescent Society to inform people more about the Moon’s cycle. And he now hosts regular Moonsighting events at the Royal Observatory at Greenwich.  

Imad: "One of the unique aspects of the Islamic calendar is that it’s the only religious calendar that I’m aware of where the founder of the religion, the Prophet Muhammed, is also the founder of the calendar. It is based loosely on a pre-Islamic or Arab calendar, but Prophet Muhammad and the Quran made significant changes to it, to the point we can say he inaugurated the Islamic calendar. You can’t say the same about the Christian calendar which is the Gregorian calendar, named after Pope Gregory XIII. You can’t say the same about the Buddhist calendar which wasn’t founded by the Buddha. Or the Jewish calendar which is based on an ancient Babylonian calendar. So the Islamic calendar was founded by the Prophet Mohammed 1400 years ago."

Q: "And the calendar is very much based on the lunar cycle, which follows a pattern of either 29 or 30 days?"

Imad: "All calendars, or all measures of time, were historically related to celestial bodies; the Sun, the Moon and the stars. In the past, all calendars were also local. It was only when we started to have nation states and empires that we could conceive of a global calendar. Up until modern times, calendars were localised to visible celestial movements. In this sense, humanity’s relationship with time is strongly tied up with astronomy within local settings. A month in the Islamic calendar can have either 29 or 30 days. It can’t have 28 days like February or 31 like March. This is because it’s a lunar visibility calendar and it takes the Moon 29.5 days to complete its cycle from one new crescent to another. You can’t have a month with half a day so around half the months in a year have 29 days and the other half 30. On the 29^th day of each month we go out and look for the Moon in the evening. If the new Crescent Moon is seen it means the passing month had 29 days and the new month will commence. If you can’t see the Moon for whatever reason, then you round the month up to 30 days."

Q: "So whereas the Gregorian has fixed points of reference, since we all know when the 30^th or 31^st of the month comes around, the Islamic calendar is more flexible?"

Imad: "The lunar calendar is great for spiritual practice and keeps us connected to nature. However, it is as you say, unpredictable. Muslims have had requirements for other types of calendars which are more predictable, and they were happy to use multiple calendars alongside each other. For example, the lunar calendar doesn’t match the seasons, the solar calendar does that. So for harvest, Muslims have used a solar calendar alongside their religious lunar calendar. In the past it was common to have various calendars running alongside each other…a harvest calendar, a religious calendar, an administrative calendar, a tax calendar and so on."

Q: "I understand your PhD is looking into some of the problems Muslims in the UK face with the calendar. Could you tell us more about that?"

Imad: "In the UK, Muslims have a problem. We do not have a unified Islamic calendar. Instead, different communities around the country construct the calendar in different ways. As part of my research I have found more than 11 different methods of constructing the calendar. It means for events like Ramadan and Eid, Muslims may not celebrate around the country on the same date. This has caused a lot of problems, even friction. If you’re fasting for Ramadan and your neighbour is eating and celebrating Eid, then there can be serious disagreements. I’ve heard of Imams being sacked from Mosques because they say “I do not believe today is Eid”. In other countries, particularly Muslim countries, you would expect the government to step in and manage the calendar. In the UK the story of Islam is still unfolding. When Muslims first came to the UK as migrants, they often came from warmer countries and when they arrived, they would go and look for the Moon, but soon found it was cloudy for much of the year. You can’t have a functional calendar if you keep having to carry over a day so every month becomes 30 days long. In general, the solution was to get word from a different country…so in effect Muslims were outsourcing their sightings elsewhere, say to Saudi Arabia or Morocco. The problem with that is you can’t see the new Crescent everywhere on the same night because of time differences so it’s perfectly ordinary for people in different places to celebrate Ramadan and Eid on different nights. What my research is looking at is whether we can move to a universal calendar within the UK, just like they have in many other parts of the World."

Q: "So this attachment to the Moon fosters a real sense of community?"

Imad: "Yes, and that’s why the Moonsightings I organise are so popular. It’s an emotional experience for many who join them. The Arabic word for the New Moon is ‘hilal’ and this word means literally to 'scream out in joy'. It’s related to an older Hebrew word from which we derive the word ‘hallelujah’ which means to praise God. People find wonder and joy in connecting with nature and the Moonsighting events I organise allows them to do this in a meaningful way. Astronomy is a source of wonder for everyone but it plays a further role in the day to day lives of Muslims. In Islam, the time of prayer is based on where the Sun is. The time of fasting is based on the position of the Moon. The stars were once used to direct people to Mecca for prayer gatherings. So it’s all part of our culture and traditions."

Moonsighting events are hosted each month by the Cambridge Central Mosque. Muslims and non-Muslims are welcome to attend.

For more information about the New Crescent Society visit: New Crescent Society | Facebook

Published 23rd March 2023
With thanks to:

_{Imad Ahmed}

_{Words:
Paul Seagrove}

_{Photography:
Paul Seagrove
Cambridge Central Mosque/New Crescent Society
Royal Observatory Greenwich
KAMURAN AĞBABA / iStock / Getty Images Plus}

_{The text in this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License}