25 Ramadhaan 1432  - 25 August 2011

Rasulullah (sallallahu alayhi wasallam) commanded:

“Fast at its (the moon’s) sighting and terminate (Ramadhaan) at its sighting. If it is overcast, then complete the number (of days of Sha’baan) thirty.”
“We are an Ummi Ummah. We neither write nor calculate. The month is so much and so much and so much….”  With his blessed fingers, Rasulullah (sallallahu alayhi wasallam) indicated that the month has either 29 or 30 days).
Rasulullah (sallallahu alayhi wasallam) had fixed the principle for determining the Islamic months to be Ruyah Hilaal (i.e. the physical sighting of the crescent moon). The second Hadith above, as well as the Ijma’ of the entire Ummah since the age of the Sahaabah, refute the principle of the ‘birth of the moon’ or any method of astronomy for the determination of the Islamic months. It is precisely for negating all sophisticated and scientific methods which are inaccessible to the vast majority of the masses of the Ummah that Rasulullah (sallallahu alayhi wasallam) emphasized that “We are an Ummi (unlettered, simple) Ummah” . In other words, we are simple people who determine the months by the simple method of physical observation of the natural phenomenon of the moon’s visibility to the naked eye. All and sundry have access to this simple method. This Hadith and the Ijma’ of the Ummah refute the use of astronomical calculations for determining the Islamic months.
In negation of this Shar’i method ordered by Rasulullah (sallallahu alayhi wasallam), the miscreant, deviated, body called MJC who recently  proffered Islamic burial rites to an avowed murtad, thereby  themselves becoming murtad, states in  its latest  circular:
“According to astronomical predictions the moon will not be visible to the naked eye not even with optical instruments. This means that we shall be fasting 30 days this year. Eidul Fitr  will therefore be celebrated on WEDNESDAY 31st AUGUST 2011.”
In making this announcement, the MJC has rejected the Shariah’s principle of Ruyah and basis its decision purely on astronomical calculations made by fussaaq, fujjaar and kuffaar. In fact, even if the astronomical calculations are made by pious person, then too, this method is unacceptable to the Shariah for determining the termination of Ramadhaan or for any other Islamic month notwithstanding the correctness of the determination or prediction. Refutation of astronomical calculations is not to be construed as rejection of the accuracy and correction of such calculations. Refutation in this context applies to rejection of the new principle of ‘birth of the moon’ or non-visibility based on calculations. Since this method negates the Shar’i principle of Ruyah, it is a haraam bid’ah, hence refuted. 
It is haraam to abandon a method commanded by the Shariah and which has been the accepted method of the Ummah since the days of the Sahaabah. It is haraam to displace the Islamic method and substitute it with a method which has absolutely no validity in the Shariah. The method of Ruyah (physical sighting) is Waajib. It is never permissible to abandon this method regardless of the visibility or non-visibility predicted by the astronomers and scientists. Irrespective of the prediction of non-visibility and regardless of the time of the birth of the moon, it is Waajib for Muslims to search for the hilaal at the end of the 29th day of the Islamic month. Even if the birth of the moon is just one hour, it remains a Shar’i injunction to search for the hilaal at the end of the 29th day, and to hell with the prediction of the astronomers, and to hell with the MJC’s haraam, stupid announcement.
It is not permissible to abandon the 14 century method of searching for the moon on the basis of what the astronomers wallowing in kufr and janaabat say.
If according to astronomical calculations there is absolutely not the slightest possibility of sighting the hilaal, but  Aadil (pious) Muslims testify to having seen the hilaal, their testimony will be incumbently accepted and  Ramadhaan or whatever the occasion may be will be declared. If Allah Ta’ala wills people to sight the hilaal at a time when according to astronomy sighting is impossible, there is nothing to thwart Him. The testimony of Aadil witnesses overrides the calculations of the astronomers and the scientists.
In view of the divine principle which regulates the commencement and termination of the Islamic months, it is haraam for any person to announce with certitude that Ramadhaan will definitely end on a certain day. This will be known only after the ending of the 29th day.

THE MJC’S UN-ISLAMIC, HARAAM ANNOUNCEMENT IS REJECTED. THE MJC HAS BECOME A WAYWARD BODY PROMOTING KUFR. UNDERMINING THE SHARIAH APPEARS TO BE ITS OBJECTIVE. THE MJC NO LONGER HAS ANY ISLAMIC CREDIBILITY.  HALAALIZATION OF CARRION, KUFR AND BAATIL ARE THE OCCUPATIONS OF THE MISCREANT CONGLOMERATION OF ULAMA-E-SOO’ (EVIL ULAMA) WHO HAVE SURPASSED THE ULAMA-E-SOO’ OF BANI ISRAAEEL IN THEIR VILLAINY OF BAATIL, DHALAAL AND KUFR.

Muslims are incumbently required to search for the moon at the end of the 29th day of Ramadhaan. It is not permissible to abandon this Waajib obligation which devolves on the community collectively. 

The issue of the hilaal and astronomical calculations have been explained in detail in the light of the Shariah in the book, ROOYAT-E-HILAAL AND ASTRONOMICAL CALCULATIONS. This book is available. Write to: The Majlis, P.O. Box 3393, Port Elizabeth 6056