Fixed Calendar for Ramadan 2006 /
1427
We at For People Who Think are delighted to see that
the Fiqh Council of North America and the
Islamic Society of North America have finally decided to break out of the
ossified constructs of medievalism (moon sighting by at least two reliable
witnesses) and use the knowledge that the Almighty has provided for humankind.
The Qur'an spoke of the stars as guidance, for at the time of the Prophet
Muhammad (s.a.a.w), navigation was done by stars
only. In these times, unless s/he is without modern technology, no pilot or
sailor looks only to the stars, but uses the wealth of modern science and
equipment to plot courses. The same is true for Muslims who pray on a daily
basis using watches / clocks instead of measuring shadows.
For centuries we have studied astronomy and now in the
twenty-first century, we can plot the course of the moon precisely. The Qur'an
asks several times: "Do you not think?" Yet today, we find a group of
Muslims who insist that the practices of seventh century
Posted September 23, 2006