Nice to see Saudi Gazette back online. It had not updated its web pages from Sept. 28 until today.
But today has an interesting piece: The Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) is calling for a single, unified Islamic calendar. To do otherwise, the Organization’s secretary general says, instills disunity in the Umma. That charge will cause some serious heartburn within parts of the Saudi ulema.
JEDDAH – The Secretary General of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) has called upon the Islamic world to follow a unified Hijri calendar.
While extending Eid greetings to Muslims worldwide, Ekmeleddine Ihsanoglu, the secretary general, said the different dates at which the Islamic world celebrates this happy occasion does not reflect the aspired unity on such a blessed event, but is rather an indication of dispersion and disunity and creates confusion in the public opinion.
He said it was uninspiring at a time when scientific and technological progress has made it so easy to determine the dates of our religious occasions that are meant to unite all Muslims. – SG
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October:06:2008 - 17:16
I couldn’t agree with Mr Ekmeleddine Ihsanoglu more, from a non Islamic viewpoint – when I worked in Saudi it was common practice to book seats on flights for 4 consecutive days at the start of Eid – to make certain of one on the first day . However, sighting the Hilal Crescent means sighting it. Here, in Oman, we usually celebrate Eid Al Fitr a day after Saudi (though Eid Al Adha is with Saudi due to its proximity to the Haj) as the moon seems obscured by sunset on different solar dates. Therefore, I would suspect that the Ulema in many countries would have some serious points to raise. A solution would be to have a declared holiday on the first possible day (from a scientific point of view) in each country – while still maintaining the necessity of sighting the moon for the religious practice.