Thread by @NewCrescentSoc

BEWARE OF SOCIAL MEDIA PICTURES OF THE MOON!!
PICTURE POSTED TODAY FROM SAUDI ACTUALLY FROM OMAN LAST YEAR. #DhulHijjah #eiduladha2022 #UKislamicCalendar #moonsighting

Please look at our last post where we said the moon was IMPOSSIBLE to see today in Saudi, though they have claimed to “see” it. In response, we were messaged by several people, stating Saudi HAVE seen the moon today and have a picture for “proof” on twitter. Please see attached.

Here we have a Saudi astronomer posting a picture of the moon, and saying it has been confirmed that the moon was seen today. By posting this picture, he seems to imply that the picture was from today.

However take a scroll down his own twitter feed to last year. He uses the same image last year, this time saying it was from Oman 2021.

Whilst we are not in any way accusing anybody of deliberate misinformation, this type of messaging can give the wrong impression. Perhaps the astronomer just thought he would embellish his tweet with a stock photo, not thinking it would be used as “Proof” by people.

The problem is sometimes this is confusing - and we have already receiver messages with this picture, claiming Saudi have “proven” their moonsighting with this picture!

AS EVER New Crescent Society hopes that we can work towards a united Islamic Calendar in the UK, neither relying on Saudi, Morocco or any other country - and reverting to the sunnah of local sighting. We hope to work with all groups, positively, on this journey.

JOIN US ON OUR LIVESTREAM SHOW TODAY AT 9:30pm for our own local moonsighting, and chat with moonsighters, astronomers and UK Imams.

Tweet from today:

https://twitter.com/MulhamH/status/1542180878339678210

Tweet with same image from last year:

https://twitter.com/MulhamH/status/1413896550590332929