Moonsighting (1)

Ramadan has started and no doubt the questions about moonsighting and so I’ve been asked to cover moonsighting in detail (like the other series of blogs!). Firstly, a note that I have covered one controversial area already in a previous series (http://miqdaad.blogspot.co.uk/2009/11/women-and-moon.html where I discussed Ayatullah Saanei’s rationale for being different  and allowing women’s views to count when it comes to sighting the moon – a very minority view!!!)

Now, coming to moonsighting, it is important to structure the problem in a way that makes it easier to understand – so let’s consider the 3 important angles:

 1. Seeing / visual aid / astronomy: Do you need to actually see the moon? Or is a visual aid enough? Or perhaps you don't even need to see it?

 2. Sharing the night/sharing the horizon: Where must this seeing / visual aid / astronomy occur - must it be local (sharing the horizon); or maybe it can be anywhere in the world that has the same night as you (so if they see it, they can tell you before you start fasting)

 3. Unity: Does any of the above matter when your community is doing something different?

In the next blog we will look at the first point!