The Disagreement in Observing Ramadan’s

Crescent Exposes Muslims to the Scorn of Some

Dr. Hoffman : “Is it not possible to unify the dates

of the fasting month in the Islamic World, according

to astronomic calculation with reference to Makkah ?”

As he continues to delineate his faith journey which led him to embrace Islam in the 1980’s, Dr. Hoffman, former German ambassador, points out the phenomenon of the disagreement in observing Ramadan’s Crescent which recurs every year in the Islamic World, in spite of the conferences and forums whose final declarations indicate the need for unifying the observation of Ramadan’s Crescent in Islamic countries.

Hoffman wonders : “Who is going to tell me for sure when Ramadan starts? And when does it end ? One may say that determining when and where the new moon appears is an exact astronomic matter today, which is indeed so. However, it is a shame that there is still a disagreement among Muslims about the time their fasting month begins and ends, depending on whether they are Turks, Moroccans or Egyptians. Such a matter would harm fasting as a social event and expose Muslims to the scorn of some.”

Dr. Hoffman blames the disagreement in observing Ramadan’s Crescent in Islamic countries on two causes : “the first of which is that the Ummah is divided into different national states ; thus, a Turk or a Moroccan is not satisfied with the fact that the observation of the crescent has been confirmed in Makkah, for it is necessary for each one of them that its observation is confirmed in Kunai or Fez. This results in the difference in determining the beginning and the end of Ramadan since the location order of the sun, the Earth and the Moon differs from one place to another on earth. In two successive days there is a disparity between the difference in the time of moonrise and the difference in the time of sunrise, for it reaches two minutes with regard to the latter while it reaches fifteen minutes with regard to the former.

The second cause can be more easily accepted. It was customary during the first ages of Islam to confirm the observation of the new moon with the naked eye and not with astronomic calculations or forecasts, which did not cause any problem in the past or in the present thanks to the climatic conditions in the Arabic Peninsula. On the basis of this, some stern Muslim theologians think that the confirmation of the new moon’s appearance with the naked eye by a reliable person is an indispensable tradition, and that astronomic calculations are not enough in this respect. Refusing astronomic calculations is equivalent to not taking into account penal law by furnishing an argument that is legally groundless.

Inflexible Muslims stick to the inherited measures taken to confirm the beginning of the lunar month, even when weather conditions prevent the seeing of the new moon which is actually there. This can result in situations as what happened in 1994 when Moroccans celebrated the end of Ramadan two days after its celebration in Saudi Arabia. Thus, when the celebrations of the end of Ramadan Feast in Makkah were shown on TV on the second extra fasting day in Morocco, some ordinary Moroccans considered this difference as something contemptible and disgraceful. Is it not possible to unify the beginning and end of Ramadan month in all parts of the Islamic world on the basis of astronomic calculations with reference to Makkah, along the lines followed in determining the time of Hajj and that of the Sheep Feast as a result ?

When a Muslim drinks the first cup of coffee on the end of Ramadan Feast day during his first breakfast after 29 or 30 days, he finds that it has a good taste. When performing the Feast prayer in the mosque, he meets only people from whom emanates an internal radiance. Perhaps what is strange, though it is a fact, is that a person feels hungry at midday because he had breakfast, whereas in Ramadan he forgets about lunch, though he did not have breakfast. In this manner, life returns to normal.

I preserve for myself what I call “Ramadan Button”. Whenever there is a need, from time to time a year round, to go without one or two meals, I mentally push on this button which psychologically takes me back to Ramadan with the same conditions and feelings. Immediately after, I endure my hunger, and don’t give it any importance. I always look forward with great pleasure to fasting the next Ramadan though nobody may believe me.

Since we have already talked about fasting and abstaining from eating food, we may now stress that Muslims do not only eat ; on the contrary, they have the right to enjoy eating all that is healthy except pork (including wild boar), dead animals meat, blood products (such as sausages made of blood), by-products of pork (such as pastry whose ingredients include pig fat, as well as pastry which contains alcohol).

 It is a mistake to think that the Qur’an’s prohibition of eating pork is the result of climatic causes alone or of the inability to deal with Taenia in the 7th century. For we know today that eating pork may cause intestine cancer and articulation inflammation, eczema an abscess, the rise of the cholesterol level in blood, and stinging fever as result of the rise of the level of histamine.

Eating food while sitting on the ground around a circular, square or oval piece of leather, and not a table, is not restricted to nomads in the desert only, for it is practiced also by some of my fellow believers in Germany. When we eat our food, for instance, in Dar Al-Islam in Letselbach in Audenvald we prepare a similar piece of leather in the prayer and meeting room and we start eating in the manner of ancient Geeks, but without their alcohol. This is how some Muslims do in the West as an imitation, though only is some unimportant formalities, of the man to whom they owe a lot of favour, Muhammad (PBUH). The aforementioned leather piece has a very symbolic significance in that it reminds us of the fact that we are all travelling nomads on our way back to Allah.

This behaviour is practical, indeed, for carrying this leather piece is easier than moving a table in a house, or transporting it in a car. Thus, a person can use the place, namely, where he eats his food on the leather piece for various purposes. But it should be remarked that it is rare that a person eats while standing, squatting on his heels, or lying down, which would press the stomach. The healthy sitting is achieved by extending the feet towards the right while leaning on the left arm, and thus the right hand remains free for reaching the food.

However, in the Arab World, there are also some people who eat their food while standing as it is done in fast food restaurants in Europe and America. In Algeria, it is customary that people eat whole roasted mutton standing round a table; the fingers of the person who starts cutting the meat first could be burnt. This meat is eaten with bread, onion, salt and cumin. As to the remaining Arab countries, from Morocco to Saudi Arabia, people eat roasted mutton while sitting.

Eating healthy food, for the sake of preserving good health which is in the interest of both the person and his family, is considered -from the Islamic perspective- a religious duty, and a religious observance as a result. This is the reason why a Muslim starts eating his food with Basmala (i.e. In the name of Allah, Most Merciful, Most Gracious) and ends it with Thanks (i.e. Thanks be to Allah). Since eating food is a religious observance, a Muslim does not interrupt eating his food when the muezzin calls to another religious observance, namely prayer, as long as there is enough time left for performing it.

Since eating food is a religious observance, a Muslim tries not to eat immoderately, not to exceed what he is in need of; in other words,  to stop eating even when he feels he is still capable of continuing, and not to fill his stomach to the maximum. Allah says in the Holy Qur’an : “eat and drink : but waste not by excess” (Surat Al-`Araf, Verse 31).

It is necessary for a Muslim to foresee the possibility of receiving unexpected guests, hence the need for preparing food for a number of people larger than that of the actually present people. Islamic traditions consider, in such circumstances, the amount of food required for two people as being enough for three people, and what is required for three as being enough for five. This is the reason why a person in Muslim countries does not feel embarrassed to visit someone at meal times ; that is as the Americans say : “Try your chance with destiny”.

Anyone, like my wife and me, who has been an official host in the Islamic World, knows that it is impossible for a person to predict the number of guests who would be present at his dinning table. It is possible that many guests may not come after having confirmed the opposite. It is also possible that the number of guests may be larger than that of those who have actually been invited, which may cause embarrassment to both the host and guests.

Due to such situations which contribute to making the Arab appear as a careless person, we avoided as much as possible inviting up to 24 people to have dinner sitting around a table, according to a specific order. Instead, we preferred inviting people to a dinner consisting of an open buffet for up to 85 guests who sit around small tables spread almost without any order.

This is why the absence of an Arab guest in a dinner party, in spite of his prior confirmation of attending it, is blamed on many causes, other than constraints related to work, such as when he receives unexpected guests, or when his wife insists on the fact that she has no suitable clothes to wear. But what dumbfounded me, once, was the excuse made by a Moroccan guest in whose honour I organized the dinner party in the first place ; for he told me that he did not feel hungry then. This was, in my opinion, the most genuine cause of excuse in this respect.

My wife and I used to accept all the invitations sent to us, whether they be an invitation from a minister or from my car-driver, from a princess or from our housekeeper. For this is how the Messenger (PBUH) instructed us to do. He who accepted invitations from slaves and did not allow refusing an invitation except for two reasons : first when the invitation will lead to the indebtedness of the host, second when the invitation is made for the sake of vainglory on the part of the host. This is the reason why I refused a lot of wedding invitations since I knew that the bride’s father sought to boast of my presence as ambassador.”