Thread by @Simwal

WHEN IS EID?
I have received several calls and messages from people asking me my take on a video in circulation by Qamar Uddin from UK on when is Eid. Qamar Uddin and I are both members of ICOP Islamic crescent observation project icoproject.org

Conjunction of Shawwal crescent will occur on Monday 3rd June at 11:02am, by sunset same day the crescent will be about 6hrs old in Saudi and 8hrs old in Nigeria and the Moon’s altitude ll be less than 5 degrees making it impossible to sight the crescent both in Saudi and Nigeria

( a crescent can be seen with an optical aid from 12 hrs old and 18hrs old with naked eye). So based on the above information just like Qamar Uddin mentioned in his video, it’s impossible to sight the crescent on Monday and Ramadan should be 30 days, Eid should be on Wednesday

Allah a’alam! But based on Saudi ummul qura calendar criteria, if moon set is after sunset even if it’s with one minute, after conjunction the next day is the first day of the new month. So based on this, if there’s a sighting claim on Monday the authority might still accept it.

In Nigeria we ve a different problem, whenever it’s 29th of a month and even if it’s impossible to sight the crescent people ll always claim sighting it ( for reasons best known to them) and some of the traditional leaders ll accept the testimony and forward it to Sultan...

Although the National moon sighting committee always try to verify all sighting claims, it’s sometimes difficult cos they claim based on Sharia if Muslims (Aadil) testify sighting the crescent then it should be accepted.

The reality is Ramadan should be 30days but based on the above reasons it could be 29days if the authority in Saudi and Nigeria accept false sighting claims . So I will say we have 90% chance of completing Ramadan 30 days and 10% of 29 days. ALLAHU A’ALAM!