By Marhum Maulana Mufti Muhammad Shafi (One of the most outstanding of learned Alims in the Indo-Pakistan sub-continent)
Many people seem to have concluded that it is necessary for a whole country to celebrate the Eid on the same day; and for this reason they are advocating that the birth of the moon be determined days in advance through the use of astronomical calculations and instruments, and as a result the whole country should celebrate the Eid on the same day, but this is not as simple and desirable as it seems at first. If one gives thought to the matter one would not fail to realise that this point has no importance at all in the religion of Islam.
The basis of the argument that Eid should be celebrated on the same day in a whole country is dependent upon the belief that Eid is a festival or a national occasion, but in point of fact the two Eids, Ramadan, or Muharram are not festivals but expression of Muslim prayers and worship, the determination of the times of which is necessarily different in accordance with the horizon of different regions. When we in Karachi perform our Asr Namaaz, in some seasons at that time Muslims in East Pakistan would be performing their Esha prayers, and of course our Asr is always the Maghrib time in East Pakistan.
In the same manner, when it is Eid in East Pakistan, it is still night in Karachi, West Pakistan. Even if we were to fix one particular date by some means, it would not be possible to apply the same time for our religious requirements at all places; especially if we take into consideration that even if the Muslims possessed empires as in olden times, extending from the East to the West, and we, by the Grace of Allah, had such vast territories, then it is evident that one day’s difference would necessarily creep in.
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but it is unnecessary for us to worry about a unity of this nature because our Ramadhan and Eids are not mere festivals; and even if they were to be considered as such, then it should be taken into account that the festivals would affect not one country alone but the Muslim community of the entire world, in which there could be no place for differences of geographical or racial or any other kind. If it is desirable and good to celebrate the Eid on one particular day, then the entire world should celebrate it on the same day.
But every educated person knows that the vastness between the East and the West do not make this possible. In olden days, the happening in distant lands did not become known immediately. Therefore no one knew what was taking place elsewhere. Nowadays, progress in aviation has brought the world as near and clear as on our own palms and we are able to see where Jumma – Friday – is taking place now, and where it is still Thursday and where people are entering upon the dawn of Saturday.
In such state of affairs it is utterly impossible to hold any pray or act of worship at a time which would apply to the entire world at the same precise moment. In some vast countries ruled by one power too it is not possible to apply the same time to all regions because of the vast differences of the natural time between one corner of the country and another. In this matter, common sense and justice demand that it is necessary to determine the purpose of the objective of unity even paying attention to the matter of requiring Eids to be celebrated on the same day.
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If it is argued that it is more meritorious to celebrate Eid on the same day, then we would say that this argument is based on individual opinion which is not valid in religion until and unless we have the directive of Allah and His Messenger. And there clearly is no directive to be found in the Holy Qur’an or in the Hadith on this point. Rather the practice of the Holy Prophet (s.a.w) the four righteous Khalifas and the Muslims after them have always deferred from this point. Never even on arrangement is made by them to unity these days between the two cities of Mecca and Medina and there is ample evidence that Syria began Ramadhan and celebrated Eid on the days on which Medina did not do so, although the distance between the border of Syria and Medina is not great.
The subject of this difference between Medina and Syria is to be found in Sahih Muslim which quotes a Hadith from Hazrat Kuraid (r.a.) that:
In the country of Syria the moon was sighted on the evening of Friday but it was not sighted in Medina on that evening. The Governor of Syria, Hazrat Muawiya and all the people of Syria began their fast on the Saturday, but Hazrat Abdullah ibn Abbas, the Chief of Medina, and the people of that city began their fasting on Sunday; and one witness’s testimony before the end of Ramadhan, that the moon was sighted in Syria on Friday, but if it was desirable from the religious point of view to begin Ramadhan and celebrate Eid on the same day in all places then it was not a difficult thing for Hazrat ibn Abbas to obtain other supporting testimonies, but in spite of Hazrat Kuraid’s insistence, Hazrat Abdullah ibn Abbas did not pay attention to it.
(Sahih Muslim, Vol. One)
Muslim empires and governments ruled over vast territories for over a thousand years in the past, but at no time in this long period has the thought even occurred in the minds of those in authority, but each region began its Ramadhan and celebrated its Eid in accordance with its horizons and sighting of the moon on different days without any controversy or difference of opinion. They certainly did not make concerted efforts to obtain testimonies from people of distant places. A simple, straight-forward matter has been turned into a variety of differences, controversies and quarrels simply because a desire for a unity born in the minds of some.
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