Members of the Cresent Observers Society of South Africa and the Muslim Judicial Council (MJC) will gather at Three Anchor Bay in Sea Point on Saturday evening for the sighting of the moon for the month of Ramadhan 1435. The sighting will take place immediately after Maghrib, with the announcement to be made live on VOC shortly after. If the moon is sighted with naked eye, it means Muslims in South Africa will commence the fast on Sunday.
In a statement on Friday, the MJC encouraged the community to join ‘die maankykers’ and preserve the old tradition by witnessing the first sight of the moon of the holy month. The community is advised to park responsibly. Parking behind the Civic centre in Glengariff Road is recommended. Those who attend can bring their musallah along for the communal salah.
Meanwhile, the Claremont Main road masjid commenced their first Taraweeh prayers on Friday evening and started the fast of Ramadan on Saturday. The astronomical new moon heralding the start of the lunar month of Ramadan occurred on Friday at 8:08 Universal Time (10:08 am South African time). The Claremont Main Road Masjid has since 1989, recognized astronomical calculation as an acceptable Shar’i method for determining the beginning of Ramadan. VOC
1 comment
was my previous post here removed? it was a “prophecy” of what could happen
etc etc etc,all ok but the problem was not with officialdom etc and not with our maankykers who knew capetown had a chance to see the crescent with optical help and less chance with the naked eye. we also, together with astronomers worldwide, knew that areas north and east had even less chance to see it with the naked eye
we also all knew that other counties east and north of us had NO chance of sighting the crescent
my previous post elsewhere said that it was good that the saudis had decided to go with naked eye sighting and indeed they did so with the new crescent for ramadhaan. but i cautioned that the would possibly as in the past get some 2 or 3 persons to swear to a qadi that they “saw” the crescent
hey presto!! thats exactly what happened, one dr im in contact with from saudi said it was impossible to see from saudia and they were surprised to hear and see the announcement of sighting, another saudi astronomer said he approached the court not to allow the testimony of those who said they sighted etc, to no avail
hey presto 2 , the salafi wahabis got upto 26 folk to say they sighted the crescent, our local maankykers are not so stupid and when the announcement was made the sheikh was clearly troubled with a looong explanation, eventually saying that “for the sake of unity” we will abide by the claimed sighting from up north
many people in all centres did not go with the false information
many arabic speaking countries lifted the error
in the uk those who normally go with makka have apologised for the error and asked folk to fast another day
how long will we be dictated to by the saudis and their minions?