This year, as in previous years, the end of Ramadan and Eid al-Fitr—one of our two important religious festivals—are being observed on different days in different countries.
The disagreement over announcing the date of Eid al-Fitr, which is a national holiday in all Islamic countries, has raised many questions. Because determining the date is connected with the astronomical phenomenon of the Moon emerging from conjunction (the new-moon phase), many people ask: in an age when humans can travel through space, and when our leading astronomers can calculate and predict the motions of celestial bodies and astronomical events years in advance with very high precision, can the date of Eid al-Fitr not be calculated accurately beforehand and placed in calendars so that people can plan around this national holiday?
Visibility of the Shawwal 1433 crescent on the evening of 29 Mordad 1391, based on the Yallop criterion (generated with Accurate Times).
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Yallop Accurate Times) |
You can read the discussion of the date of Eid al-Fitr in 1392 here.
Dr. Iraj Malekpour of the Institute of Geophysics at the University of Tehran, who for more than a quarter of a century officially held responsibility for calculating and determining religious times and calendar occasions, says that historical evidence shows Iranians were able to calculate the beginnings and endings of months accurately as far back as four thousand years ago. Today, too, the astronomical moment at which the Moon leaves conjunction can be calculated and announced precisely. [source]