"Saudi Arabia has declared that Ramadan for the year 1431 Hijrah will complete 30 days, and the first day of Eid AL-Fitr will correspond to Friday the 10th of September 2010."

السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته
كل عام وأنتم بألف خير بمناسبة حلول عيد الفطر المبارك. أعاده الله علينا وعليكم وعلى الأمة الإسلامية بالخير واليمن والبركات.
و تقبل الله طاعاتكم، وصيامكم، وصلاتكم. بلغنا الله وإياكم رمضان المقبل، وجعل سنتكم حتى حينه سنة مباركة، زاهرة، مليئة بما يسركم من خيري الدينا واللآخرة

Dr Zulfiqar Ali Shah

The above message which regards the world as flat that has one time zone spoiled the schedule of millions of hard working Muslims in Europe.

The Moslems in Europe made arrangements well in advance to observe the festival of Iid al Fitri (celebration in honour of breaking the month long fast in which people abstain from drinking, eating, smoking and sexual activities from sun rise to sunset) on Thursday the 9 of September. Workers took leave, business meetings rescheduled, hospital appointments altered, dialysis patients swapped their days and etc lest they miss the festival of Iid which is highly venerated day in the Islamic calendar.

Families in the UK and other European countries were tuned early on this afternoon to the Islamic satellite channel based in London to find out the confirmation of the long awaited Iid.  Families who were not connected to the channel were on the phone eagerly enquiring about the progress of the news of the moon sighting.  The children were the most enthusiast group as they were longing to go on spending spree on rides, games, new clothes, new toys and above all a long week end away from schools.

The Islamic channel which turns popular  during religious days seems to have been working overtime this afternoon in collecting information from the main decision makers (the Mullah class not the astronomers) across the globe and every now and then were putting messages at the bottom of their screen. The first posted message read” the countries that follow the strictest calculations confirmed that Thursday is Iid”. Although nobody knew who the strict countries are but the message was enough to put large smile on exhausted and hungry people’s faces -   everybody went on the phone to exchange Iid greetings with his friends and families. Children went crazy and shelved away their books, lunch boxes and home work kits in anticipation of the forth coming fun day – the shine on the their faces can’t be quantified or described in words but can only be captured in Video as that sort of joy visits them only twice in a year (the two Muslim Iids) of which this one comes particularly after a month of starvation, fatigue and celibacy.

After about twenty minutes   the channel posted this second message” The European Islamic council for Fatwa and Research issued a Fatwa that Thursday is the Iid day”. With two messages from a reputable organization, most of the people took for granted that the Iid day is established and walked away from the TV rooms to start their preparation works for tomorrow. Children were especially absorbed in trying on their new clothes, admiring their toys, taking pictures of each other, aimlessly running around in the house and frequently asking questions about the places they are booked to go on tomorrow.  After an hour the channel posted third message” The Islamic channel is pleased to confirm that Thursday is the Iid day”. This message was caught only by the few who were sluggish enough to be watching the telly that outside such religious days, old and uneducated people make the bulk of its audience.  All of a sudden the lazy ones became heroes by divulging the good news to all their acquaintances – three complementing messages were thought to have cemented the confirmation of the Iid day on Thursday.

An hour later the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia announced that Iid is on Friday and such cruel and religious imperialist message wiped out the joy from all and particularly brought children to tears – watching as things are falling apart I believe is the most awful scenario to witness. The Saudi clergy thinks that the world is flat and that there is only one time zone were all countries can see the moon at same time.

 Islam   at present is a universal religion that is practiced throughout the world and logic dictates that such thing as sighting the birth of a new moon should be localised. There is nothing in the Quran, Sunah or consensus of Muslim Jurists that says Mecca is the centre of the world but rather all sources are in agreement that the moon sighting decision is for the locals. Kingdom of Saudi is centralizing what Allah (God) decentralized and in doing so puts shame on Islam.
 
This left a bitter after taste in the mouths of the European Muslims and a discussions of how the fight  back against the illiterate desert sheikhs is gaining grounds and I hope the Saudi hegemony will be sidelined in future by the European and North American elites. The New Year always starts with New Zealand and glides through the rest of the globe but the Christian churches didn’t command that it should start from Rome and therefore it is unacceptable for the Saudis to dictate for the Muslims that the sighting of the moon should be Saudi exclusive birth right. The Fiqh Council of North America (FCNA) and the European Council for Fatwa and Research (ECFR) recognize astronomical calculation as an acceptable Shar’ia method for determining the beginning of lunar months and as such are required to decentralize the Iid dates as Islam passed the time (1,430 years back) the Ummah was confined to Medina.

May Allah (swt) keep us on the right path, and accept our fasting and prayers. Ameen

1. Would like to see AMISOM (occupation forces) leave Mogadishu for peace to prevail.
   
   
2. Would like to see the 23 foreign vessels plus one barge  which are kept in Somali  pirate hands  and the 414 seafarers - including an elderly British yachting couple - plus the lorry drivers from Somaliland to gain safe passage to join their families.

Mr. Abdikarim Buh  
Email:abdikarimbuh@yahoo.com
WardheerNews    

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